Meltdown of Planet Earth

Repress. Offset printed coated cover with Pantone 2271C, offset printed insert and offset printed labels
France is a trio from the Occitane region in France. the trio consists of Jeremie Sauvage on electric bass, Mathieu Tilly on drums, and Yann Gourdon on amplified hurdy-gurdy. The sound of “Meltdown Earth” is akin to the aural experiments done by Tony Conrad and Faust with their “Outside the Dream Syndicate” LP released in the mid-70’s. It’s long form drone music that has more in common with the DIY brunt of Cromagnon (ESP-Disk) than a more academic monocle stance of museum minimalism. This band conjures more Stooges (L.A. Blues) than Theater of Eternal Music. One could say, it’s the logical extension of what Spacemen 3 were doing with their “extended nod music”, but France seem to bring the dirt, earth, and mineral of the Occitane region to their sound Originally meant to be a 150 copies run destined for wholesale to distributors and shops. 75 copies were lost in shipping somewhere in France… never to be found
This edition (300 copies) rescues this significant LP for the new wave of French savant garde Artwork – Standard In-Fi Visuals Bass – Jeremie Sauvage Drums – Mathieu Tilly Hurdy Gurdy – Yann Gourdon Mixed and Mastered By – Vincent Mare Insert – Donnie Ka Print – Olivier Bral Typography – Lionel Catelan The Strange World Of… France, La Nòvia & Friends In 1984, Nice-born Valentin Clastrier released an album called La Vieille À Roue De L’Imaginaire – the hurdy-gurdy of the imagination. More familiar with cabaret clubs than folk balls, Clastrier had first picked up the hurdy-gurdy circa 1970 and his non-traditional approach radically expanded the expressive possibilities of the instrument, introducing new techniques and, thanks to a collaboration with luthier Denis Siorat, a prototype electro-acoustic hurdy-gurdy