★Born Bad Records
Star Feminine Band
Through all of these songs, each of the Star Feminine Band members brings their own inspiration. André composes all their songs. He admits: “They bring their ideas. The dream of these girls is to become international stars. They must show the importance of women throughout the world. Speak of Africa, accomplish great missions around the values of women. They talk about female genital mutilation, abuse and violence against girls. We want to include these subjects in the political debate in Beni…
African Electronic Music 1975-1982
2018 repress; Double LP version. Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey is truly one of a kind. He entered the music scene with his African compositions for classical guitar. He gave recitals while pursuing a career in journalism and then as an international civil servant. The same creative impulse also led him to write pop songs, some of which (based on novels he had written) became big hits in Africa and in the French-speaking world. But few people know that in the '70s, Francis Bebey delved into …
Psychedelic Sanza 1982-1984
* Repress! Includes printed inner sleeves * Double LP version with printed inner sleeve. Born Bad Records presents the music of Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey, circa 1982-1984. "The first time I saw a sanza (a type of African 'thumb piano'), it was just sitting there on a piece of furniture in my family's living room/dining room -- a space that our father also transformed into a recording studio every day. It seemed more like a box than a musical instrument: a mysterious instrument, which ar…
Dakhla Sahara Session
LP version. Includes an eight-page insert and a download code. The random-access memory of an hourglass. On the one hand, there's Cheveu, the French three-member band, whose soundtrack has never ceased to question music codes by exceeding various genres and pushing back their limits. On the other hand, you have Group Doueh, a Sahrawi band from the Sahara desert (Dakhla). Their music spans across many styles and hammers tradition with unprecedented finds. In between both their remote musical univ…
Alexis Le-Tan & Jess Presents Studio Ganaro: Space Oddities (197
LP version. Includes printed inner sleeve and download code. During the '60s and '70s, three distinguished old gentlemen who had built their careers playing "made in France" exotic jazz -- Roger Roger (1911-1995), Nino Nardini (1912-1994), and Eddie Warner (1917-1982) -- met every evening in the Ganaro recording studio, playing like kids with their new toys: souped-up keyboards that looked more like prototypes of spaceships to explore the Milky Way. Flying high on whimsical and joyful inspi…
Mobilisation Generale
Born Bad Records, the on-point French label that has brought you some of our favorites of the year, will release this week a compilation of French protest jazz from the 70s called Mobilisation Generale. The compilation, which you can stream below, is a fantastic look at a small slice of history that could use a little more attention. On BBR's Bandcamp, an entire oral history is written out to accompany the release, which features some truly innovative freeform jazz and poetry, and we've reprinte…
Spielt Noise Boys
This is one of the most essential minimal synth wave projects, originally issued in 1980. After that, Stephan Eicher would form the band Grauzone. As a child, particularly with his little brother Martin, Stephan used a multi-track ("made in Eicher" by connecting several cassette machines together) to record little audio theater pieces. He would later organize Dada happenings and concerts, together with a small group of friends who called themselves the Noise Boys. In addition to Stephan on …
BIPPP : French Synth-Wave 1979/85
Sounding as current as any of the recent output from France's Ed Banger, Kitsune or Institubes labels, and on influential blueprint for the evolution of the French electronic music genre at large, the majority of the performers featured on B.I.P.P.P. never made it beyond limited DIY pressings of 500 or 1000 copies of 7" vinyl singles.