Kashmir / Patrice Guenat / Laurent Beguelin, Switzerland

Alarme! (aka Je Suis...). 1979 Kiswell. (Je Suis... was the original private issue)
Histoire Cruelle. 1982 Kobold.

Kashmir's debut Alarme! is similar to other electronic duos like Eden (France), Jonathan (Germany) and Space Art (France).

I hear their second album Histoire Cruelle better than the debut. It is, however, not an easy album to describe. Four listens in, and I'm not sure what I can tell you here. It's a mix of Tangerine Dream styled electronic, new wave synth pop, keyboard heavy progressive rock with fat fuzzy guitar leads and early Klaus Schulze styled dirges. There's a lot here to discover, and I think it could be a grower.

---1/22/24

In hearing Histoire Cruelle again last night for the first time since, it really doesn't fit neatly into any kind of bucket. In my overall ranking system (not music rating) I have a +1 metric for being "unique". This album gets awarded that one point and that appellation generally buys shelf space at the UMR household. When hearing it with my current perspective, I'm also moving it out of the progressive electronic collection and into the x-wave collection. 80s music as it were. And while its foundation remains steadfastly that of an electronic based musician, it's very clear band leader Patrice Guenat is striving for more variety. This is also magnified by the fact that no less than 10 musical guests appear on the album.

Patrice Guenat / Laurent Beguelin - Les Reflets du Lac. 1986 label unknown.

2/14/24: Strawbsfan back to the rescue! Here are my notes:

While researching the band again, I had finally found some info about the third Kashmir album Les Reflets du Lac. Except it wasn't really a Kashmir album at all. I decided to reach out to my friend (Strawbsfan) who had provided me with the Histoire LP originally. As it turns out, he did have a copy to share with me (online)! So let's see what the contents contain: After the electronic rock of Kashmir's debut, and the bizarre 80s amalgamation that was Histoire Cruelle, it should come as no surprise that this third effort is different than both. The first side (I think) is made up of eight short vignettes. Starting off mostly as a pleasant new age album with the unfortunate 80's digital synth technology being pushed towards the front. It does get interesting in the middle section with the French narration and an orchestral brass movement. This leads to the 18 minute lengthy suite 'Les Oiseaux du Parc', the music does appear to be a classical oriented symphony about "birds in the park". Throughout one can hear Klaus Schulze (especially the use of digital percussion), Deuter, Jean-Michel Jarre, Jerome Froese era Tangerine Dream, and a host of others from the middle 80s. Unpredictable as ever, Guenat offers up challenging music for the discerning listener.

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Priority: 3 (for Histoire Cruelle)

6/17/11 (new entry); 1/22/24; 2/14/24