Platform 23 Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Billing themselves as an ethno-industrial outfit, French group Vox Populi! have more in common with the German kosmische movement than the sound of their own fair land. They came from serious stock, including Axel Kyrou's mother who was a musique concrete pioneer at GRM, which set them up to make a bold and challenging debut album Myscitismes, originally released on their own Vox Man label in 1985. Combining advanced studio manipulation and liberal FX treatments with a pastoral folk thrum, motorik synth work and a heavy dose of pan-continental mysticism, they created a stunning and forward-thinking work that sounds shockingly relevant in the here and now. Finally reissued after more than 30 years, now is the perfect chance to grab this trailblazing slice of sonic sorcery.

Review: So-called 'ethno-industrialists' and Paris-based outliers Vox Populi are next in the spotlight for Platform 23 Records as it continues on its mission to unearth archival treasures both known and unknown. Half Dead Ganga Music is widely thought to be one of the group's most cohesive records as it meanders through lo-fi drones, muggy ambient and voodoo ritualism. Founder Axel Kyrou and partner Mythra who provides the ghostly vocals cook up alluring yet oddball sounds with obscured bass, rich layers of tape processing and weirdly uplifting gloominess. A superb album that sounds as new and innovative now as it did when it was first released all those decades ago.