SOLEIL D'ORK

For most he's everybody's favorite bassist in Christian Vander's eccentrically wild and adventurous band Magma but JANNICK TOP has enjoyed a fruitful career collaborating with a number of other acts including Fusion, Heldon, Space, Speed Limit, STS, Troc and the one-off live gathering as Utopic Sporadic Orchestra. Add to that impressive resume, TOP has also carved out a sparse yet lively solo career by releasing his own material mostly in archival form from tracks he's recorded throughout the years.

While catching the prog world's attention with his stunningly brilliant 2008 "Infernal Machina" which showcased his eclectic bass virtuosity in the context of zeuhl, jazz and Bulgarian folk music, TOP has collaborated with many other artists throughout the decades and in 2001 released some of his secret valued solo recordings that never found their way onto any of the projects he was a participant in. The result was this archival collection titled SOLEIL D'ORK which was named after a track on the 1976 Magma album "Üdü Ẁüdü."

This album features six tracks including the near 23-minute sprawling reinterpretation of Magma's "De Futura." The album features tracks recorded between 1974-1980 during his hiatus from Magma however the fourth track "Mekanik Machine" is actually credited to Magma, features Christian Vander and friends and is presumably a TOP penned track that didn't quite make it onto any particular Magma release. Likewise the track "De Futura" is a reworked version of Magma's 18-minute B-side from the "Üdü Ẁüdü" album with Richard Pinhas on guitar.

As one can imagine this is an odds and sods sort of album with tracks recorded at different times to reflect musical moods and whims that didn't jive well with any of the projects TOP was engaged in with a very diverse palette of styles that don't add up to a cohesive album's worth of material but rather a collection of intriguing one-offs that showcase TOP's virtuosic bass playing skills. While evoking the majesty of Magma, the opening "Epithecantropus Erectus" offers a bouncy bass groove that could be interpreted as danceable however the menacing gruff nonsensical vocals and freaky keyboard runs keep it in the dark dank underworld of zeuhl. "Utopia Viva" sounds a bit more like Magma only with more experimental production including echo effects as well as what sounds like a banjo? No way! A strange mix of freaky keyboard contributions and a greater emphasis on guitar rock heft, TOP's bass playing techniques are undeniable but like the majority of his music features rather Teutonic wordless vocal parts that keep it in that Magma mindset. "La Musique Des Sphères" offers a more spaced out journey with sparse percussion and a trippy progressive electronic atmosphere that sounds like an angel's choir. Presumably this was inspired by his affiliation with electronic pioneer Richard Pinhas' Heldon project and sounds like Heldon with the marital percussion of Magma.

"Mekanik Machine" is basically a Magma track and sounds like any of their classic 70s albums with its members performing instrumental duties including Christian Vander on drums, Claude Olmos on guitar, Patrick Gauthier on keys as well as Klaus Blasquisz on vocals. "Soleil "D'Ork" is a bizarre track as it starts with a wild vocal call with freaky synthesizer swirlies. TOP's distinct bass antics quickly jump in and the track proceeds sounding like an ancient post-rock track with cyclical loops, trippy atmospherics and a hypnotic excursion into the wild. The shamanic vocal calling is pretty wild! This one is unlike anything else on the album however TOP's bass playing always makes it clear he is involved as it forever retains that Magma-esque zeuhl groove.

The strangest track has to be the 23-minute "De Futura" which is a reworking of the Magma track but starts out unrecognizable as such as it starts off as a progressive electronic type of track with spoken word narrative in the German language. After a short while though a bouncy drumbeat jumps in and Pinhas offers his best take on Frippian guitar wizardry as heard in the Heldon project. More Teutonic wordless vocals add a sense of intensity. It's a bizarre motorik sort of electronic drumbeat. Around 14 minutes the tempo is increased the guitar, vocals and keys get more turbulent and frenetic. A very strange version but pretty cool as the keyboards sound like UFOs with sirens.

The closing "Glas" is primarily an ambient track with swirling winds as the backdrop with a slow plodding bass note and subdued monkish vocal chants. It's like a journey through the Sahara during a sandstorm. Overall this is an interesting album of tidbits that may not quite match the majesty of "Infernal Machina" but pieces together the lost years when TOPP stepped out of Magma for a breather. Not really cohesive as an album but rather a collection of interesting experimental tracks that showcase TOP's unique bass gymnastics in different contexts beyond the usual Magma inspired zeuhl but then again there's plenty of that too! Too bad JANNICK doesn't release more solo material because i'm actually quite fond of it. Distinctly unique and completely different spins on the world of zeuhl and beyond.