Detailed Reviews [Video Aventures – 1984/2011 - "Oscillations"]

Prolusion. “Oscillations” is one of the releases by the French project VIDEO AVENTURES.

Analysis. In spite of its doubtful title, I’ve asked the people at Musea Records to send me the thing (besides some other albums) for review after I discovered it featured on one of the most popular prog rock sites a few months ago, where it’s presented as an avant-garde, RIO-related outfit with a very solid-looking lineup. When the package arrived, the outing, to my great surprise, turned out to be a compilation of solo pieces by French keyboardist and composer Dominique Grimaud, recorded from ‘79 to’84. My goodness! The seventeen tracks presented are all played by him alone, only featuring a couple of synthesizers as their instrumentation, the titles of the pieces more informative than the creations themselves, despite the fact that most of them are in French. Cucamonga, L'Homme Au Grand Chapeau-1, Jazzou, Sequences SLR, Les Ergs, Costa Rica-2, Inpop, Outpop, The Lord and El Drog are all made up of nothing more than two synthesizer sequences/loops, which just gyrate, of course, their cyclic recurrence interminably endless, if you will. All of the tracks are so incredibly monotonous that, if played again and again, they might drive anybody mad, save those who avoid listening to anything but what they dance to in night clubs. If you think I’m a spy :-), there’s no need to torture me with electroshock or something else – just make me listen to suchlike ‘music’ with headphones for two hours, and I will tell you everything I know and even more! The other tracks, Tiny Tina, Drone EM, Ascenseur Pour les Chats, Mario Paco, L'Homme Au Grand Chapeau-2, Costa Rica-1 and Le Gord, are even worse, though. Deploying a single synth sequence along with one or two odd noises, each of these brings to mind a bizarre DJ-like stuff no DJ would ever use, even the most ‘avant-garde’ one.

Conclusion. What a big deal to choose a couple of sequences and let them sound for some time! This is not even so-called pushbutton music, but is sonic trash-nonsense, resulting from manipulations with synthesizer buttons. Avoid it.

VM=Vitaly Menshikov: June 3, 2012
The Rating Room