ALTAÏS

The world of Zeuhl music is full of obscure one-off acts that seem to have disappeared as quickly as they introduced themselves. Altaïs is a virtually unknown act even within the avant- garde niche community, and for good reason; they only ever released one EP before vanishing. Having now been released almost three decades ago, its a good bet that we will never hear anything more from this band than the sixteen minutes of music here, but for what it is, 'Altaïs' is a very good snippet of Zeuhl music. Featuring a style that falls between better known acts Magma and Shub-Niggurath, Altaïs build off of the innovation of greater acts, and create something both whimsical and terrifying.

This album opens up the way it ends; with spacey ambiance and the ethereal wail of Sandrine Fougere, who sounds eerily similar to Shub Niggurath's Ann Stewart. Her operatic soprano shares the sound with a less melodic male accompaniment that sounds much more within the Zeuhl canon. Phillippe Goudier barks and howls as Altaïs hits their musical stride, that being a dense jazz fusion observation. The pianos and rumbling bass both lead the band. Throughout the music of Altaïs, there seems to be a constant conflict between the light- hearted, whimsical sounds of Magma, and the horror-inducing style of Shub-Niggurath. In the end, the latter appears to win this contest, and perhaps a little too well. While Altaïs make a very intriguing effort here, their sound is far too close to that of Shub-Niggurath, be it their plodding rhythms, operatic soprano voice, and general atmosphere of creepiness.

Altaïs is not an essential act in Zeuhl, nor are they a particularly astounding obscure gem, as some may hope. What they are though, is an interesting supplement to the Zeuhl that you may have already heard, an apocalyptic jazz-fusion combo that excites, but alas, has been done better before.

It is obvious that Altais has been listening a lot to Magma. Their music is a lighter, a less complicated version of Magma. The music is also pretty much leaning towards spaced out jazz at the same time as it is well within the tried and tested Zeuhl formula. Strange male vocals, operatic female vocals, galloping piano, well articulated bass lines and some good keys. All boxes has been ticked.

The quality is good throughout and I will probably include this EP in my rotation next time I connect the turntable to the USB port again. I have heard worse and I have heard better Zeuhl. It is well worth checking out, though.

3 stars