igor wakhevitch: docteur faust

Housed in a fantastic and menacing sci-fi cover courtesy of Druillet and bearing the famous dedication: 'A mes grands amis Robert Wyatt et Mick Rattledge,' Wakhevitch's second album was a step beyond it's predecessor into a music alchemy that defies categorization and the one that started to define his trademark sonic collage of styles and moods. Like the previous record, this was the music for a Norbert Schmucki ballet Ergonia, premiered at Festival D'Avignon 1971, and featured top French players of the era like Janick Top on bass. Oozing darkness and mystery, Wakhevitch displays a wide array of mind-bending tricks that take the listener to a wild and trippy ride into occult zones starting from the spoken word passages and open drum break of 'Aimantation' to the psyched-up delirium of 'Sang Poupree.' Elsewhere delirious acid passages, hypnotic bass riffing, stoned funk beats, wild free-rock freak outs, avant-garde orchestral drama, dubbed-out passages, and Wakhevitch's trade-mark collage and sound manipulation make up to a really unique listening experience that submerges and puzzles the unexpecting listener. A psychedelic kaleidoscope full of intense moods, from stoned to thrilling drama, from meditative and mystical ritual trance to way out tape and synth manipulation that in spite of all contrast, holds together well. Much like the similar collaged, contrasting, and now much revered opus 'L'Enfant Assasin Des Mouches' by Jean Claude Vannier or some of Faust's work. Originally released by Pathe Marconi in 1972, it has become over the years Wakhevitch's hardest to find album and one that's been chased also because of his striking cover-art, made by no-other than Jean-Pierre Druillet, one of the top exponents of French 70's sci-fi comics school together with the great Jean Henri Gaston (better known as Moebius) which revolved around the seminal Metal Hurlant magazine.