Monday, June 14, 2010

Various Artists: Paris Mix LP

After seeing the posts of Ice's sole EP and Guernica's split LP , I decided to share a very sought-after French coldwave compilation that both of those bands were featured on. This LP, called Paris Mix, was released in 1982 on the Zeb Records label in France. As far as I know, this was the only release on that label, and only 2000 copies of this record were pressed.
The record is split between coldwave and punk tendencies. The aforementioned bands both have strong contributions on this record - Ice has an exclusive (at the time) version of their cold synth classic La Grande Guerre, and Guernica have two incredible coldwave songs that sound very similar to Charles de Goal. I particularly LOVE the three songs from Zona, a female-fronted post punk band that sounds like a mix of Au Pairs, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Charles de Goal. I can't find much info on them, although I vaguely remember them having one other release. Any more material from Zona would be greatly appreciated!
Those artists make up side one. Side two starts off more punk-ish, with a trio of songs from Peggy Luxbeurk. They are the perfect transition between the two different sides, as the last five songs on the second side are rounded out by Swingo Porkies and Prop Sack, who are both straight-ahead punk.
The sheer amount of incredible material on this record make it one of those albums that can truly be called "legendary" (or at least "classic".) My copy has a few pressing errors that cause occasional static at the start of side two, so don't be too annoyed by background noise on a couple tracks! This is well worth the download by any fan of underground French music!

Various Artists: Paris Mix LP
1982, Zeb Records
A1 Guernica - Kamikaze
A2 Guernica - Rebellion
A3 Zona - Vie Parisienne
A4 Zona - Boule Quies
A5 Zona - Citron
A6 Ice* - La Grande Guerre
B1 Peggy Luxbeurk - Sueur Froide
B2 Peggy Luxbeurk - Les Enfants De La Crasse
B3 Peggy Luxbeurk - Univers
B4 Swingo Porkies - Pas Comme On Les Voit
B5 Swingo Porkies - RĂ©solu
B6 Swingo Porkies - Un Monstre Est En Moi
B7 Prop Sack - Comme Avant
B8 Prop Sack - Aujourd'hui



4 comments:

Vanilla Face said...

Nice, man.

Benjamin said...

I agree about Zona. They are by far my favorite band on this compilation and I would LOVE to hear more stuff from them. If there is another release, please find it. I found this compilation through the Ice "La Grande Guerre" song, but was particulary blown away by Zona because I have a soft spot for female fronted Post-Punk. The Peggy Luxbeurk stuff is pretty fun too, but nowhere near Zona. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this - you are a champion!!

NathanG

thesis writing service said...

Must have compilation!! Good artists, great tracks. so cool