Thanks to Waxidermy & The Growing Bin blogs for bringing this album to my attention. Released in 1980, René Roussel’s Rubriques on the French Editions Montparnasse 2000 record label is the sound of the future all the way from 1980. After listening to the tracks, my immediate thought was, where did René Roussel get his ideas from?

The first track Caramel sounds like it could have been recorded last week never mind thirty years ago. It is almost eerie how the minimal drum loop and stabbing synth sound anticipates the future sounds of Chicago and when the broken piano melody comes in near the end, you suddenly realise, René Roussel not only duplicated the sound and structure of house music but anticipated it by at least five years.

Rene Roussel - Caramel [1980]

If the first track echoes the music of Marshall Jefferson and Jamie Principle, then the second track Manigance sounds like nothing less than the sound of Detroit techno and more specifically, the third wave techno futurism of Derrick May, and Cybotron with its strange Strings Of Life neo-classical beauty.

Rene Roussel - Manigance [1980]

If it were not enough that René Roussel engaged in an act of sonic precognition with two different but intertwined genres of music; Chicago house and Detroit techno, this third offering Noctilucque sounds closer to and has more in common with the early nineties ambient music paradigm of Peter Namlook, (and other horizontal sounds coming from the Fax label) and the UK’s Mixmaster Morris AKA Irresisitible Force than it does to Roussel’s electronic contempories such as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Richard Pinhas. There is a curious early nineties feel about the minimalist synth sounds and the way the rising and falling tones are repeated.

Rene Roussel - Noctilucque [1980]

So there we have it, sonic anticipations of  future music recorded by someone called Rene Roussel (who I can find no information about whatsoever), released thirty years ago on a relatively obscure French library music label and retrieved from the memory hole by some cool bloggers. I think that for anyone who thought albums like Black Devil Disco Club and Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat were just amusing anomalies, they should start wondering how many more records like Rubriques are out there just waiting to be discovered? Enough to start re-writing the linear causal narrative of late 20th century western electronic music perhaps…

Sonoko - Souvenier de la Mer

Belgium 1987. Full name of the artiste is Sonoko Yasuda.

Tonic - Dancing In The Moonlight (1980)

Bouncy, unpretentious… and Belgian. Sold for as low as €0.5 on the Net. Thanks to Antoine Bonan from Belgium for the hints.

Bernard Estardy and his magic synthesizers.

Sexy Soxy - Million Dollar Melody (1982)

And yes, the pressing sounds that muffled. It doesn’t appear to be specific to this record, that’s really a shame.

And yes, it’s maybe not worth one million dollars but it’s yet another one hundred euro track programmed in the webradio for your listening pleasure.

Platinum Status - Computer Pop (1985)

From the library music album Sound Stage 27, and credited to Ann Dudley (from The Art Of Noise fame.)

Once again, Massiera and Torelli are on board. The “concept” behind the single appears to be all about phone calls, first a son tells his mother that he loves her, then a depressed man looks for a feminine presence over the phone. Yep, they’re in top shape.

spAceLex - Oh no love, Mrs Partybox (right click to save)

Kudos to spAceLex from Discobots for kindly sharing this DJ set here. Check out his myspace for a proud follow-up: Frisbee is fun, and more.

Logic System - Automatic Collect pitched

Spinned at 45 rpm, pitched down. Japan 1981.

La Doppia Faccia - Alibi (1980)

All hail Dream Chimney TOTD (and special agent Thunderbals) for letting the world know that such a groovy track exists, MP3 addicts can get the full song here.