De futura (Magma, 1976)

This long epic by Magma, taken from the album "Üdü Ẁüdü ", proves how unpredictable and still pleasant their music can be. Yes, Magma aren't always arcane and tricky: this song starts like a sci-fi soundtrack, with a well recognizable  riff, then goes through a jazzy bridge and here you are an ironic and also military choir. When the bells sound, a funky-rock passage comes in and weird vocals play with the bass and the drums to bring back the military and funny theme.

This was Magma's sixth studio album.

Next, an atmospheric interlude including some electronic devices, a slightly distorted accelerating bass line, sci-fi effects again on an incredibly complex rythm, finally a rather heavy rock riff and the closing cymbal-driven section. Strange to say, such a musical mess flows like a river through a variated landscape, and you reach the end of the song in no time, following the rythm section and seeing alien worlds and races with your mind's eye. And this one's played just by the hardcore trio of the band... Weird, but also very, very good. Bravo!

Naü Ektila (Magma, 1970)

Magma did almost everything when it comes to creative and eclectic prog and I'm not saying I like the whole lot. For sure, this is my favourite track from their debut album. It has many faces, this song, based on pastoral, sweet sounds and including free jazz, rock'n'roll, improvisation-like jams, creative percussions and so on.

This challenging double LP set up Magma's long story.

It's a strange and puzzling trip through different moods and landscapes along a delicate flute and 12 string guitars fil rouge not so far from early King Crimson. But, of course, all the other elements in the track are totally unpredictable. Still, when they surface they're never unpleasant and the listener tends to accept them the way a child grabs a new toy before coming back to his favourite one. Curiosity and imagination, these are the key words.

Köhntarkösz Part 1 (Magma, 1974)

The Freng band Magma are rightly considered as the weirdest and most stimulating act of their generation and this 15 minute Köhntarkösz first installment definitely proves it. As most of their discography, this is part of a big picture about planet Kobaïa and their inhabitants' strange habits. Written by the band's drummer and leader Christian Vander, this track is sung in Kobaïan language, such as invented by Vander himself.

Mysterious, liturgical, martial, arcane... in a word: Magma!

The subtitle of the song explains this is the musical description of the ritual  access to the local hero Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré's tomb. We can roughly divide this epic into three sections: the first one is a slow and liturgical, mostly choral and arcane, the second one slightly moves towards a jazzy and rhythmic mood, while the last part combines the features of the previous ones with an extra martial accent. The whole track is ruled by Christian Vander's creative, unusual drumming, but all the band members contribute to the final effect.

Troller Tanz (Magma, 1976)

The French Magma are among the most imaginative and unpredictable bands of the planet and often their tracks are well beyond my poor musical culture and need several listenings in order to fully appreciate them. But this is an apparently easy song, taken from the album "Üdü Ẁüdü", a good starting point to explore Magma world.

No, these aren't trolls: just Magma...

This Troller Tanz (or Ghost Dance) is exactly what the title says: a divertissement somewhere between horror and humour, mainly instrumental featuring only some spoken words in the language the band invented, the Kobaïan. As usual with Magma, rythm is the most important element of Troller Tanz, along with vocal effects. You actually see those trolls from the planet  Kobaïa dancing and howling around and the music surrounds you, boiling like a cauldron on the fire. Warning: risk of burning!