Search - Present :: Triskadekaphobia / Le Poison Qui Rend

RIO Soundscapes

Thomas A Overstreet | odenton, maryland United States | 02/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the first and second albums by Present on one CD put out by Cuneiform records who have a passion for this style of music. Present is considered a RIO (Rock In Opposition) group along with Henry Cow and Univers Zero who create some of the most challenging music ever heard. Many would consider this music as dark but for myself I find it Magestic like a soundtrack to an epic film leaving no need for a film. The musical concepts being developed here are not easy to grasp but with repeated listenings you will find yourself drawn in and very rewarded. These albums recorded in the early 80s and this Cd is still considered one of the great all time RIO albums making it a time proven classic. Do yourself a favor and check it out, if you can't stand it sell it on ebay.Thom"

Slipping Into Darkness

El Kabong | 08/28/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"2-on-1 Present cd, recapping their first two platters. Unlike that HUGE recent disappointment, Morte Macabre, which promised gore yet delivered snores, these albums - Roger Trigaux's first two post-Univers Zero projects, dating from somewhere in the early 80s (the cd housing both dates from 89) - are not the kind I like to play late at night with the wind howling and the dogs baying out on the moors. This is some scary stuff, plain and simple. Yet although the musicians comprising this edition of Present are all highly-touted (Trigaux has long been considered Le Fripp Francaise, and the rhythm section of Christian Genet and Daniel Denis come likewise highly-pedigreed) the most impressive figure here, as well as the tail wagging this particular dog, is the relatively low-profiled keyboardist Alain Rochette. Having never considered the piano an instrument that seethes psychosis, I was mighty surprised to find Rochette a master at creating near-unbearable tension with just a few judicious key-plonks throughout both albums. Where Univers Zero went after a similarly unnerving soundscape in a kind of suicidally-dark chamber music setting, Present really gets you standing on the chair, knotted rope around your neck, with a much simpler and more direct approach...there's less audio clutter, which allows them to focus their sound and set controls for the heart of darkness with pinpoint-accuracy. Although LE POISON, the second album here, is 'sunnier' (ha!) and more melodic, it ain't by much, and not nearly enough to shake off the city-of-the-dead vibe suffusing TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIE (which translates into 'fear of the number 13', an appropriately evocative title for this opus). Best summed up by the track 'Repulsion': if you've ever seen that nightmarish Roman Polanski film, you'll know what to expect here. Present sound like they're trying to compose a soundtrack heard only inside a madman's skull. (The hell with trying, they've DONE it.) Not recommended for recently-released mental patients or anyone living next door to one."

Different albums; both great.

Patrick Alexander | Las Cruces, New Mexico | 12/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The song "Discipline" from King Crimson is probably the best thing to compare Triskaidekaphobie to. Highly complex and repetitive, with prolonged, subtle crescendos and a general sense of barely restrained tension. Drives co-workers crazy after a while. La Poison Qui Rend Fou contains one of the best vocal lines I've ever heard on its first track. Unlike Triskaidekaphobie, this album has something that, at least very distantly, approaches funk. More of a sinuous thing than the crystalline precision of Triskaidekaphobie."