Ok, this is a mad album. One of those records where you quickly get the sense those involved have collectively pulled from any number of sounds and influences from the past 40+ years of music, but channeling them all through an approach that sounds wholly their own. Immediate end of year list contender for me, Clive. Everything Is Being Recorded All The Time is probably the most accessible release so far from Few Crackles, the French label responsible for some very hard to pin down, blink and you’ll miss them records from ssabæ, but it will still confound a few.

Troubadours are described by Few Crackles as a “tentacular collective oscillating” around Laura Lippie, KIM KHAN and Dr Winzo, with the album material gathered from three years of “sonic explorations in Lyon, Abbecourt, Berlin and Den Pasar.” Lippie was last seen on Test Pressing on that wicked Fracatso album for Versatile, and she’s also contributed to the aforementioned ssabæ releases, but the other two are unfamiliar names to me. That sense of the unknown drew me in though, as did the jagged, nightmarish cover-art from Clara Cimelli. What a trip it is!

The album is anchored around a few key vocal tracks in ‘Adropisadropisadrop’ and ‘Facetime With My Soul.’ The former introduces the album, setting the tone with a beguiling combination of Lippie’s hushed Franglaise rapping and plinking cold wave rhythms riding over a luxuriant bass line. Meanwhile, ‘Facetime With My Soul’ finds Kim Khan on mic duties, rapping over a slanted children’s lullaby rhythm with a tweaked out funk bass line that takes all the heft in the absence of any drums. This one is a real ear worm.

Complementing these tracks are moments where Troubadours wear their weird proudly. Both “Furcifer” and “Interior Rainbow” (side note: delightful title) sound like chopped n screwed takes on those early Wah Wah Wino white labels, with the latter featuring some wonderful flute from Diane Barbé. “Fentynol” is Troubadours at their most free-wheeling; Lippie’s heavily saturated vocals hoarsely raging about the drug endemic over improvised, abstract electronixxx from Khan and Winzo. Few Crackles state the album was pulled into shape from long studio sessions and this track is most reflective of that approach.

Perhaps the stand out track for me is “Realistic Avatar,” an intense, percussion-heavy tripper featuring Kim Khan’s nonsensical vocals subjected to some unpredictable pitch-shifting to the point you wonder it's garbled AI-speak. The results sound like a modern take on Danny Alias proto-house classic “Civil Defense.” It’s one of several tracks from the album that are perfect for zonked out radio shows and dj sets.

If this all sounds anything close to your kinda bag and want to explore this collective some more, check out the Troubadours Bali Special guest mix for Few Crackles on NTS from early January which features an hour's worth of goodness culled from their three-month stint in the country.

Everything Is Being Recorded All The Time by Troubadours is out now on Few Crackles in digital and vinyl formats. Buy it from Bandcamp here.