DOMINIQUE GRIMAUD
UN CERTAIN ROCK (?) FRANÇAIS
Format: cassette + 2 books-collages (1977, 1978) + documents in box
Label: Ar(t)chiv’ (France)
Recording date: 2023
Release date: 2023
Ranked in The Wire in the Top 15 of 2023 by Byron Coley
Dominique Grimaud: Samples, electronic, collages.
The object contains the two original volumes published in 1978, to which a cassette soundtrack has been added. It was made from the words, statements, sounds, laughter and delirium of the protagonists of this post-1968 music scene, captured in interviews, meetings and sometimes on recordings. Added to this is an article in the form of brief volume n°3, published in 1986 in the German magazine Bad Alchemy (Recommended Records Germany) and a collage of press articles published at the time of the original release of the two works. The boxes are made from reused vintage vinyl record sleeves. Each copy is unique, with a different extract from the original typons (negative photographic plates) used to print the books in offset. The techniques used are those of cut-up, art brut, pad printing and transfer. For three decades, the two volumes of Un Certain Rock (?) Français were the only works devoted to the music of the post-May '68 movement, until the publication in 2008, by Editions Le Mot et le Reste, of L'Underground Musical en France, co-written with Eric Deshayes.
Dimensions : 31 cm / 24 cm / 2 cm
Contains :
- one cassette-collages
- two 35 and 43-pages collages-books (in French)
- press documents
- sale price: 20 euros at Souffle
Continu.
Press:
“Dominique Grimaud sort une K7, un œuvre d’art, un écrin fait à la main de bout en bout. De la musique, des mots accidentés, chevauchés, mis en musique, en son, en issues multiples et impénétrables. Bien malin qui saura dire comment l’alchimiste a procédé. Des reproductions… Ça fourmille dans une boîte de pandore au cadre semblable à une toile de maître. Cela aurait pu être un bel objet… Mais c’est bien mieux que cela. La reproduction des deux volumes de Un certain rock ( ?) français est fascinante. Façonnés à la main, les quarante exemplaires sont disponibles au Souffle Continu… Je ne vais pas vous faire l’affront de vous dire où le meilleur disquaire du monde se situe car tout le monde sait qu’il est au 22 rue Gerbier, en face du Père Lachaise. Alors plutôt que d’aller célébrer les morts, fussent-ils célèbres, allez donc saluer les vivants.” Laurent Nerzic (Facebook/Souffle Continu, 18 /05/2023)
English translation : “Dominique Grimaud releases a K7, a work of art, a case handcrafted from start to finish. Music, rugged words, straddled, set to music, to sound, to multiple, impenetrable outcomes. It's hard to say how the alchemist did it. Reproductions... They swarm in a Pandora's box with a frame like a master's painting. It could have been a beautiful object... But it's much better than that. The reproduction of the two volumes of Un certain rock (?) français is fascinating. Hand-made, the forty copies are available at Souffle Continu... I won't insult you by telling you where the world's best record shop is located, because everyone knows it's at 22 rue Gerbier, opposite Père Lachaise. So rather than celebrate the dead, however famous they may be, go and salute the living.” Laurent Nerzic (18 /05/2023)
“I love French underground music in its many forms. Anyone with a similar hankering should check out this new box, compiled by French writer/musician Dominique Grimaud. There is a cassette filled with a collage of obscure material (both musical and spoken) by various artists, ranging from a 1970 piece by Patrick Vian to a 2017 track by Guigou Chenevier. Music and spoken pieces are rubbed together like sticks, creating enough smoke and fire for anyone. There are also reissues of two volumes of a 1978 zine full of info on everyone on the scene, plus various other goodies. A beautiful object and lots of excellent information (no matter how long it takes to digest).” Byron Coley, THE WIRE
