Vox Populi are a French collective, active and evolving since the late 1970s. They describe their music as “Ethno-Industrial”: where Folk song and percussion dissolve in a sheen of 4AD feedback fizz, punctuated by skronks of Post-Punk sax. When it`s Pop, “Aither” is a kind of Gallic Dip In The Pool (1) meets Gong (2). When it`s Ambient, it recalls Rex Illusivii`s more accessible work (3), and the complex hum of Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe bonding with Ariel Kalma (4). Horns trumpet like elephants, heralding electronique Noir cocktail bar sleaze. A dark eastern promise reminiscent of Fist Of Fact`s “First Strike” (5). The bed-sit Jazz guitar strum of Weekend`s “La Variete” (6), smashed by Tubby`s echo (7). Towards the close of Side A, the record reaches an epiphanic, beatific peak, before dropping into Dub proper. Just bass and the filtered sound of footsteps in the rain.

Side B travels to somewhere decidedly more “Avant”. A Musique Concrete collage of overheard conversations, bird song, insect buzz, the rush of leaves busied by the wind, and drum circles playing the patterns of running water. Atonal Joujouka (8) squawks are thrown down a lift shaft, the trailing debris rattling like seashells in slow motion, crackling like flame. Down and out into Tangerine Dream`s “Alpha Centauri” (9). A New Age reverberating around a Cosmic cave.

• Reference Links:
• (1) Dip In The Pool
• (2) Gong
• (3) Rex Illusivii
• (4) Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe & Ariel Kalma
• (5) First Strike
• (6) Weekend
• (7) King Tubby
• (8) Joujouka
• (9) Alpha Centauri