Synths, Sax and Situationists - The French Musical Underground 1968-1978 - Ian Thompson

Synths, Sax and Situationists - The French Musical Underground 1968-1978 by Ian Thompson / 534-page paperback published in 2025 by Roundtable / ISBN 9780645492804

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At the dawn of the '70s, in a country still reeling from the aftershocks of World War 2, an underground movement of rock musicians resolved to tear it all up and start again.

Welcome to France, 1968.

Music fans in the English-speaking world are well-versed in the parallel Krautrock scene that sprung up across the border in Germany, but they are almost totally unaware of the French musical underground. There the radicalism of May '68 collided with the counterculture, post-psychedelic rock, and free-jazz to produce some of the most distinctive and vital music made anywhere in the '70s.

Synths, Sax & Situationists tells the story of more famous bands like Magma, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Gong alongside almost-forgotten groups like Cheval Fou, Fille Qui Mousse, and Barricade.