Magma Computer

In a world narrative dominated and controlled by powerful, wealthy individuals with vested interests in skewing the truth, what trust can be placed in our governments, our leaders and our sources of information to guide us to evolve as a species?

French avant-prog unit Art Zoyd formed in 1969 around the core of bassist Thierry Zaboitzeff, percussionist Jean-Pierre Soarez, and violin player Gérard Hourbette, with guitarist Rocco Fernandez, pianist Patricia Dallio, percussionist Daniel Denis (who later formed Univers Zero), and a changing lineup of half-a-dozen additional instrumentalists. In 1975, Zaboitzeff took over the group and changed its musical direction. The personnel would be narrowed to include two violins, electric bass, and trumpet, as evidenced by their debut full-length, Symphonie Pour le Jour Ou Bruleront les Cités, self-released in 1976. Its reception won them an opening slot on a tour with Magma.

Although not released until 1993, Le Berceau de Cristal was originally the soundtrack to Philippe Garrel's 1976 film of that name, providing an appropriately hallucinatory backdrop to Nico's musings and her oneiric encounters with various pseudo-mythological characters. Le Berceau de Cristal shows continuity with 1975's Inventions for Electric Guitar, enveloping listeners in analog ambient-minimalist soundscapes that anticipate the work of subsequent generations of electronic musicians.