Organic Intelligence XII – French Dystopian Sci-fi bangers (1976-79)

It’s 1976. UK and American music fans are denouncing the self-indulgence of prog and convincing themselves that punk is the solution – more authentic, more real. But reality, we now know, is only for those who can’t handle science fiction. So at the same time in France, mostly unheard by each other, bands dotted around the northern half of the country start making dark, imposing, paranoid music. It draws on their country’s underground music of the first half of the decade, Krautrock and science fiction (SF) and cosmic horror.

Here are five tracks from a sliver of time that will make you think there was a Dystopian SF Banger scene across the Channel… even though there wasn’t. Each of these is a representative album track from a band that made only one album. And a common thread from interviews with the artists is that they felt that they were on their own. “The recording industry in France wasn’t interested in our kind of music”, says Claude Cuvelier of Mar-Vista.