U Totem - Strange Attractors (95)

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01 - No Mo Ippon
02 - Daikon Batake
03 - Ginger Tea
04 - Another June Sky
05 - Karucha Shokku
06 - January Sky
07 - Purple Smoke
08 - Tipps' 911
09 - Agent White Fox
10 - Chen's Gate
11 – Postcard
12 – Redskin
13 - Another Ginger Tea


Of all of James Grigsby's productions, whether it is with the Motor Totemist Guild or U Totem, Strange Attractors is the work he will be remembered for.

This album, weaved on a complex story line jumping back and forth from 1957 to 1985 to 2012, contains some of the best music avant-prog had to offer in 1990s.

The lineup for this album is mostly Sanjay Kumar (keyboards), David Kerman (drums), Eric Johnson (bassoon), Emily Hay (flute, singing), Steve Cade (guitar), and Grigsby (guitar, bass, computer, tapes), with a few guests.

The music takes the complexity and symphonic side of Canterbury progressive rock and perverts it in a Henry Cow meets Art Zoyd kind of way, blending into it free improv and atonal classical music elements. Although very complex and hard to get into, Strange Attractors remains a rock record (unlike some of Motor Totemist Guild's later works).

The playing is stellar, surprises abound, the more avant-gardist pieces ("Daikon Batake") being balanced by high-octane prog rock numbers ("No Mo Ippon").

"Ginger Tea" and "Another Ginger Tea" are two of the most accomplished pieces of progressive rock's most avant-gardist ensembles, turning this album into a classic.

Art Zoyd - Marathonnerre II (93)

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1 Métaphase
2 AKA Jour de Pluie
3 La Belle et la Bête
4 Anamorphose 1
5 Anamorphose 2
6 Anamorphose 3
7 Porte de Châtillon
8 Azpp
9 Mariée À la Nuit
10 2. Zwischenspiel
11 Tournoi
12 2ème Expérience de Vol
13 Le Lac des Signes
14 3ème Expérience de Vol


The second volume of Art Zoyd's music for Serge Noyelle's interdisciplinary piece Marathonnere differs from its companion, which was released simultaneously.

It features the same lineup and is still genuine '90s Art Zoyd, but the music comes closer to the group's early sound.

More anthemic, with the snare and bass drums taking a larger part, it will appeal to fans of Phase IV, despite the fact that the music is dominated by keyboards.

The mechanistic approach found on the other album (and most of the group's output) is reinforced. Gérard Hourbette's three-part suite "Anamorphose" is a definite highlight, so are Zaboïtzeff's haunting "Le Lac des Signes" and "Mariée de la Nuit."

The latter features one of Hourbette's meanest viola solos of the decade. With this volume it seems the music stretches out of its utilitarian role to take on a life of its own.

It lacks the leitmotiv of the first Marathonnere, but yields more rewarding separate pieces. Released in 1993, Marathonnere II was later repackaged as the two-CD set Marathonnerre I & II.