Fille Qui Mousse - ''Trixie Stapleton 291''{1972}[France](experimental)

Bioghraphy: One of the most mysterious groups from the French experimental underground of the early '70s, Fille Qui Mousse was as radical as the German band Faust, and utilized similar studio trickery. Their one album never got properly released, and they might have been forgotten if not for being included on the influential Nurse With Wound list of influences in the early '80s. Fille Qui Mousse was a leftist political collective led by journalist/musician Henri-Jean Enu in the very early '70s in Paris. In 1971 they obtained a record deal with the legendary Futura label, which had mostly released avant-jazz at that time but were expanding into more experimental rock. The record was recorded in the summer of 1971, most likely in one day, and then mixed in December of that same year. Over a year passed before about a dozen test pressings of the record were made in early 1973. Unfortunately, Futura was having financial problems at the time and these 10 or 12 copies were all that existed, becoming one of the most rare, sought, and yet virtually unobtainable LPs of French avant-rock. Finally, in the mid- to late '90s, several CD versions of the record were released, under the titles Trixie Stapelton and Se Taire Pour une Femme Trop Belle, often without song titles or the names of performers or composers (which weren't listed on the test pressing), until the Fractal release of Se Taire in 2002.

Album: Often referred to as the French Faust, FQM's album mixed collage, psychedelic rock, surreal poetry, and organically tapped noise purity with the absolute best of experimental 70s rock-and-beyond. "Straight off, we plunge into that Faust structure...riffing with a psychedelic bent, hints of Gong too...we move into bizarrely constructed patterns of percussive sound and chopped-up rock music, and just as a musical focus takes shape it disappears. A poem, recited by a girl, over an urban landscape populated by numerous barking dogs then gives way to an intensely strange mangled web of sound that's almost brain numbing. And, yet more in the way of strangeness is a piano based piece that recalls some of Roger Doyle's early experiments. The only actual song has the most bizarre lyrics (in English) and is followed by an excursion in distorted and processed guitar. Next is where the folk music comes in, but even with gypsy violin FQM's interpretation of folk is strange and twisted. Finally, we return to the psychedelic jamming that opened the album, but with a jazzier edge, ending the album perfectly.

Only recommended for experimental music lovers and Nurse with Wound list collectors.

Fille Qui Mousse - Antinomique: