Magma are a French avant-garde rock band from Paris, formed in 1969 by drummer and keyboardist Christian Vander. During the 1970s, they released six proper studio albums and a live disc on the Philips, Vertigo, Utopia, and Eurodisc labels. Their debut, Kobaïa (1970), introduced the Kobaïan language and ritualized vocal arrangements. 1001° Centigrades (1971) and […]
Cruciferius was a French jazz-rock/psych band that released the 1970 album A Nice Way of Life on Barclay-subsidiary Egg. Bassist Bernard Paganotti turned up in the Üdü Ẁüdü-lineup of Magma and headed the spinoff Zeuhl bands Weidorje and Paga Group. Guitarist Marc Perru and François Bréant re-teamed in Nemo with Albert Marcœur. Members: François Bréant […]
Köhntarkösz is the fifth album by the French Zeuhl ensemble Magma, released in September 10, 1974, on A&M. The album presents a brooding, atmospheric exploration of the mystical narrative surrounding Köhntarkösz, a seer who enters the tomb of the ancient sage Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré to uncover hidden knowledge. Bandleader Christian Vander shapes the album around the title cycle, unfolding […]
Üdü Ẁüdü is the sixth studio album by the French Zeuhl ensemble Magma, released on September 10, 1976 on RCA’s Utopia imprint. The album marks a shift toward bass-centered pulses and industrial futurism while retaining the group’s experimental roots. Worldbeat fusion and ghost-dance motifs permeate the shorter tracks, while the side-long epic develops a tense, […]
Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh is the fourth album by the French Zeuhl ensemble Magma, on May 6, 1973, on Vertigo (France) and A&M (abroad). The previously rejected, more acoustic choral version becomes electrically amplified here, driven by dense brass voicings, sharpened percussion, and the addition of guitarist Claude Olmos and bassist Jannick Top, whose arrival replaces […]
1001° Centigrades — initially titled Magma 2 — is the second album by the French Zeuhl ensemble Magma, released on October 5, 1971, on Philips. The narrative from their first album continues as the Kobaïans return to Earth and share their knowledge, ultimately meeting resistance that culminates in confinement and ideological tension. Louis Toesca and […]
Magma is the debut album by the French progressive-rock band Magma, released in October 1970 on Philips. The double-album presents a sprawling concept about refugees abandoning a doomed Earth to build a society on the distant planet Kobaïa, conveyed largely in the constructed Kobaïan language. The ensemble combines jazz-rock frameworks with classical phrasing, shifting pulses, […]
Tristan et Iseult is a soundtrack album by French Zeuhl musician and Magma figurehead Christian Vander, released in 1974 on Barclay. The album is the score for the avant-garde French film of the same name. Recorded as a Vander-led project with core Magma members, the work would later integrate into the band’s canon as Ẁurdah Ïtah, the […]
Part 1 – Part 2 is the first of three studio albums by Christian Vander’s Offering, released in 1986 as a two-LP set on JARO. In 1988, all four sides were issued on a single CD as Offering I – II by Zeuhl-specialty label Seventh Records. Tracklist: A1. “Offering (Part One)” (7:57) A2. “Earth” (10:29) […]
Univeria Zekt were an alter ego of French super-band Magma, supplanting the popular nameplate for the 1972 release The Unnamables on Thélème Philips. Members: Christian Vander (drums, vocals, percussion), Klaus Blasquiz (vocals, percussion), Francis Moze (bass, organ), François Faton Cahen (piano), Claude Engel (guitar, flute, vocals), Teddy Lasry (saxophone, flute, organ), Jeff “Yochk’o” Seffer (saxophone), […]
Bébé Godzilla is an album by ubiquitous French Zeuhl keyboardist Patrick Gauthier, released in 1981 on CY Records. Tracklist: A1. “Bébé Godzilla” (5:20) A2. “Le Grand-maître Orient” (2:18) A3. “Mixtur-Trautonium” (2:51) A4. “Benoit et les Riverboppers” (4:10) B1. “Heldon” (4:20) B2. “Riding on White Horses” (1:30) B3. “En passant par la Transylvanie” (4:58) B4. “Nör” […]
Fusion was a French jazz-rock supergroup comprised of core Magma personnel Christian Vander, Benoît Widemann, Didier Lockwood, and Jannick Top. In 1981, they released the album Fusion on JMS. Their earlier live set constitutes the Utopic archival disc Paris 80. Members: Didier Lockwood (violin), Jannick Top (bass), Christian Vander (drums), Benoît Widemann (Fender Rhodes, Minimoog, […]
