France's near-revolution of May '68 was the zenith of that generation's struggle for a new kind of life. It kicked the country's small, but vibrant, counter-culture into overdrive, and birthed a local underground music scene. The bands it spawned made music with much less rock purity than groups from the UK and US. Their musical and cultural influences foregrounded improvisation, dis-junction, and genre-blending: Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, free jazz, and radical politics. The introduction of the synthesizer in the early 1970s added fuel to the fire. This collection of French underground music inaugurates a series to accompany Synths, Sax & Situationists, the first English-language book to investigate this movement. It focuses on the music of the second wave of bands that emerged in 1972/3, which saw radicalized psychedelic and jazz in-fluences merge with the future-music possibilities offered by new technology. Featuring Nyl, Etron Fou Leloublan, Lard Free, Heldon, Jacques Berrocal/Dominique Coster/Roger Ferlet, and Delired Chameleon Family.

A1. Nyl - Nyl
A2. Etron Fou Leloublan - Face A L'extravagante Montée Des Ascenseurs, Nous Resterons Fideles A Notre Calme Détermination
A3. Lard Free - Acide Framboise
B1. Heldon - Perspective IV
B2. Jacques Berrocal/Dominique Coster/Roger Ferlet - Pièce à Lanum
B3. Delired Chameleon Family - Raganesh