#miquette giraudy

[burlveneer-music]

Mirror System - Route 77 - the chillout alter ego of System 7, and as with that configuration, Steve Hillage's guitar is the secret sauce

Route 77, the third studio album from Mirror System, Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy's chillout project, offers a serene sonic journey through spacious, dreamy soundscapes. A mellower counterpart to their work as System 7, Mirror System's music blends soft tech-house rhythms with lush electronics and Hillage's signature guitar. With a travel theme inspired by the vast American Southwest, Route 77 is rich in atmospheric grooves. The album features contributions from The Orb's Alex Paterson, Dan Donovan and Marv Brookes, adding to its laidback yet intricate vibe. Standout moments include reimaginings of Manuel Göttsching's 'Sunrain' and Ry Cooder's 'Paris, Texas', which fit seamlessly into the album's flowing textures. The closing bonus track, 'Sonora Desert Edge (The Abyss)', incorporates a poem by Allen Ginsberg, creating a vivid, immersive auditory experience. Demonstrating mastery of the chillout genre, Route 77 represents an evolution of the Mirror System warm and distinctive psychedelic sound.

[brusiocostante]

The Glorious Om Riff (2007 Digital Remaster)

[viciouscyclesradio]

New Music from Cybotron, Mirror System and Monolake

Parallel Shift — Cybotron (2024, Tresor) re-emerges with new material to follow up Maintain The Golden Ratio, also released on Tresor, at the top of the year. We can only wonder if there is a full-length in the works.

Route 77 — Mirror System (2024, A-Wave) is the lounge/chill-out, downtempo and ambient focused side project of System 7 (Miquette Giraudy and Steve Hillage; of Gong and The Orb fame, including collaborative work with Derrick May) the husband and wife duo who are long-time veterans of the industry. Then finally, the long-awaited

Studio — Monolake (2024, Monolake/Imbalance Computer Music), the Albeton Software Technology developer had distributed this full-length late last summer, originally set to be the next Featured Release for the now defunct, third season of VCR, previously scheduled for the fall of 2024, before the format change.

[mitjalovse]

A couple of veterans did reach the late noughts with themselves being the same as before, yet this shouldn't be seen as an endorsement. Gong, the original version, were still weird, but there might have been a problem there. 2032 might a bit too self-conscious at the times. Sure, the band like them do notice they have a way of doing things and most collectives like them end up releasing the pastiches of their best work thanks to all their idiosyncrasies. I agree, Gong still surprise you, yet they don't achieve the similar shock like they did in the 70's. I mean, the tune on the link sounds like an old rocker discovering there's a virtual world on the internet. Mind you, the choice of topic isn't wrong, the way they deal with that feels lazy.

[c-40]

A-T-3 057 Steve Hillage And Miquette Giraudy

Steve Hillage and his partner Miquette Giraudy who were both members of Gong (sometimes as Sub. Capt. Hillage and Bambaloni Yoni), and are the core of System 7, as well as a production duo (A-T-2 075)

As the tenth anniversary of Kevin Ayers' death has just passed it's worth highlighting Hillage was part of Kevin Ayers' touring band Decadence and contributed to Ayers' 1973 album Bananamour

The two albums For To Next and And Not Or (both names derived from the computer programming language Basic, they're literally basic elements of programming that are still used today, loops, conditional statements) were the last studio albums to come out under Steve Hillage's name. For To Next got to number 48 on the UK album chart in 1983

Steve Hillage - Before The Storm (you can hear the direction the pair are going in)

Steve Hillage - And Not Or

[zef-zef]

Miquette Giraudy (Monique Giraudy)

Miquette Giraudy is a keyboard player and vocalist, best known for her work in Gong and with her long-time partner Steve Hillage.  She and Hillage form the core of the ambient band System 7. She has also worked as an actress, film editor and writer; in each role using different stage names.

[yesterdaysanswers]

Steve Hillage Band, 1979

[photoandlife]

System 7 Live Paris 2009

[vinyl-connection]

Steve Hillage “Rainbow Dome Musick” [Virgin 1979] - Read Vinyl Connection’s review

[astroboyart]

Source: Bandcamp

A musical group based in London, United Kingdom, called System 7, made an album based on Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix.

The album, simply called Phoenix, was mixed in June and July 2007 and released on January 28, 2008. It is a mixture of different styles of music, including psychedelic dance, techno, progressive, and trance.

The entire album can be listened to for free in the sourced link; the album can also be purchased in the same link. A video was endorsed by Tezuka Productions for the fourth song on the album, “Song For The Phoenix”, viewable on Bandcamp.

A description of the album can be found on Bandcamp:

System 7 take their unique and personalized psychedelic techno style to a new and higher level on their album PHOENIX. System 7’s project is inspired by the manga graphic novel series 'Phoenix' by Tezuka Osamu - one of the founding fathers of Japanese manga culture. The project grew from a meeting a few years ago between System 7’s Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy and Tezuka’s daughter Rumiko Tezuka who has her own techno label Music Robita in Japan. Rumiko suggested that System 7’s sound would fit perfectly with her father’s Phoenix stories and his universal message. The resulting album release is a collaboration between Music Robita and System 7’s own label A-Wave. This project has led to an ongoing collaboration between System 7 and Japanese animation team Mood Magic – including manga animators famous internationally for work on 'Animatrix' – which has resulted initially in a superb promotional video clip for the first track on the album Hinotori. 'Honitori' in Japanese means literally 'Bird of Fire'. The clip uses 21st century Japanese manga animation techniques to transform the original Tezuka images in ways that work perfectly with System 7’s music track. This video has been endorsed by Tezuka Productions. The Phoenix music portrays, in a variety of ways, travel through time and space, life, death and rebirth, with each track inspired by characters or images from the books. System 7 have also worked on these tracks with a number of musical collaborators including Jam el Mar (of Jam and Spoon), Son Kite, Eat Static, Slack Baba, Daevid Allen of Gong and Mito from the Japanese band Clammbon.

[hmel78]

In conversation with Dave Sturt ...

GONG

In September of 2016, ‘GONG’ released their new album “Rejoice! I’m Dead” Some say it couldn’t, or shouldn’t have, be done. How could Gong exist without Daevid Allen? 

For those who are unaware Daevid passed away in March 2015. ‘GONG’ has had many, many line-ups - Formed when Australian beatnik/freak Daevid Allen quit ‘The Soft Machine’ and moved to France at the tail end of the ’60s. Since debuting in 1970 with “Magick Brother”, the band have remained fluid, even playing without their founder from the mid-to-late ’70s; fracturing and reassembling and constantly taking on new shapes and forms: an undeniably amorphous unit. David Bowie told Vanity Fayre in 2003 that Daevid Allen’s “Banana Moon” is one of his favourite albums, and today everyone from indie artists Temples and Ty Segall to hip hop artist Madlib and techno DJ Surgeon are inspired, and borrow, from ‘Gong’s’ music and ideology. The funky grooves, avant-garde flourishes and counter-cultural stance is timeless. So timeless that ‘Gong’ is proving that it can fully exist, even without their creator and guiding light.  “Rejoice! I'm Dead! came together over several weeks in an East London rehearsal studio. It depends on your knowledge of ‘Gong’ history and what you may feel constitutes as a Gong record, but “Rejoice! I'm Dead!” is classified as their 28th album and it would appear that the ‘Gong’ legacy is the strongest it has been since 1974 . In the words of bassist Dave Sturt: “You bet it's a fucking Gong record!” The current line-up features  Kavus Torabi (vocals/guitar), Fabio Golfetti (guitar/vocals), Dave Sturt (bass/vocals), Ian East (sax/flute) and Cheb Nettles (drums/vocals) - and unanimously they have taken on the mantle of “steering the Teapot further into outer space and the inner ear” ... Helen Robinson caught up with Dave Sturt recently, to find out more ...

HR :  ‘GONG’ has had a total of 52 official members in its 50 year history ; 47 past and 5 current.
What is it about ‘Gong’s’ music which compels musicians to continue to hold the band together in some shape or form?

Dave Sturt : An interesting question..... The Gong family is really unlike anything else. It's so much more than the 5 or 6 musicians on the stage. It's a worldwide collective of freaks, mystics or those who just don't quite fit in to the mainstream .... those who are searching for a different way to be.  It's an ongoing adventure- may it never stop. 

HR :   When you first joined in 2009 you were the new guy! Did you jel straight away? Had you been a fan prior to joining? 

DS : I knew of Gong back in the 70s but it wasn't until the 80s when I began to really appreciate what they had created. I had latched on to the Steve Hillage Band first - I really loved “Fish Rising”. So it was a real honour to audition for the band with Steve and Miquette. I felt comfortable right from the start. My personal journey melded with Gong's at just the right time – I had experience of many kinds of music but needed a focus. Gong wanted a creative bass player with something to offer . . . kismet!

HR :    At the time - alongside Daevid Allen - the line-up consisted of original member Gilli Smith who had returned to sing vocals, with two of the 1970’s staple members Miquette Giraudy, and Steve Hillage - what was it like having them all reunited in the same creative space?

DS : It was a privilege but, initially daunting. I had briefly worked with Daevid a few years before but to have them all in the same rehearsal room was something else. 

I began to get to know them properly in the tour bus around Europe - promoting the 2032 album.  They were all incredibly bright, free thinkers- truly inspiring. 

HR :    2012 saw another big shift in the band’s line-up -  you stayed ; was that by choice, or at the request of Daevid?  Who decided on who was going to fill the positions?



DS : Well I was very keen to continue with the band but it was Daevid who chose the line up that best suited his vision of where he wanted ‘Gong’ to go. On tour he spoke many times of his wish for Gong to continue without him and he chose pretty well.

HR :    Have the rotations of band members been essential to keep it fresh for the main body of songwriters ; for something ‘new’ to be brought to the table?  Or was it simply a tough band to exist in?

DS : Daevid never wanted to play safe. He always wanted to be surrounded by creative people so I guess that was the driving force.  Since Ian east and I have been involved the biggest change was when Steve and Miquette left to re focus on System 7.  Daevid was keen on making the band more guitar focused so Fabio was invited to join - and then later Kavus got the call. 

HR :   You’ve been with the band for the longest, out of the new line-up - do you feel that you have the chemistry right this time, to move forward as a unit and stay together?

DS : Absolutely - no question. This band is a perfect mixture of passion, skill and creativity. The gigs are a blast from start to finish – and we also have a great crew including the Fruit Salad lightshow and projections.

It feels slightly odd – being the longest standing member! It has been a bizarre eight years.

HR :    Following Daevid’s passing in 2015, and Gilli’s in 2016 - did you all consider calling it a day, or is it always going to be imperative to keep their spirits alive through the music?

DS : It was Daevid's wish that the band should continue. We were keen to carry on but unsure that it would work without him. We had gigs booked to promote the I See You album but Daevid was too ill to join us from Australia so Kavus took centre stage and we were astonished by the response. Also, previous members of Gong were very supportive.

Gilli's last tour with the band was in 2012 – and her health was failing then. She had to miss some of the concerts because of a broken foot. Our last gigs with her were in Japan and she spent the last few years of her life in a care home where she held court and entertained guests up until the end.

HR :   Cue studio album #28 - “Rejoice! I’m Dead”. 
It features Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe, and Graham Clark, along with some post-humous vocals from Daevid. 
Did you feel that you needed to include these in order to transition the band from what was always essentially Daevid’s project, to a new stage in it’s development?

DS : That was partly the reason, but it felt completely in keeping with the the direction of the album. I was particularly keen to include the track Beatrix. It was such a lovely moment that I'd captured on my hand held recorder. We were in an apartment in Brazil - Daevid was listening on headphones to a jazzy musical idea of mine - and he began to improvise a poem about a very special woman in his life. It was so sweet and poignant. 

The album is obviously a reflection on Daevid and life and death so it's seemed completely right to have his presence in there . . . . it really felt as though he was in the studio with us as we composed and arranged the tracks

HR :   The album is receiving some rave reviews, and doesn’t seem to have disappointed the loyal following - were you nervous prior to it’s release, or confident that what you had produced was going to hit the proverbial nail?

DS : We were supremely confident that we had created something really special. The process of composing and recording was a joy. We just followed our own inner voice – without any pre-conceived direction - everyone contributed with ideas that we then arranged, juxtaposed and honed into a beautiful shiny thing.

HR :   With the current line-up being a relatively new group when it comes to working together as ‘Gong’ (not essentially new to each other), how difficult was it to write new material in the vein of some 50 years of compositions, which for the first time were not under the creative influence of Daevid, Gilly, or other alumni?

DS : We are all composers as well as players – and four of us wrote or co-wrote most of the tracks on the previous album I See You so we had no problem in continuing the process. The main key difference was the lyrics. We had no intention of pretending to write like Daevid or Gilli – that would have been completely bogus. Instead Kavus developed the main lyrical ideas throughout the time that the tracks came together – and a truly fine job he did! I wrote the lyrics for the track Model Village – the first time that I'd attempted such a thing.

HR :    For anyone who may be unaware of Gong, and their impressive back-catalog - could you describe the new album in a nutshell, and give virgin listeners an idea of what they can expect?

DS : The title – Rejoice! I'm Dead! - is a line from a poem of Daevid Allen's – 'All I Ask'. It completely summed up Daevid's attitude to death and it informed the concept of the album. That transition into the great unknown – something we all will face at some time. So – should we face it with fear and trepidation or embrace it as part of life's great journey? No one gets out alive so let's enjoy life, live it to the full and don't waste it by worrying about something that you can't avoid.So, the album is euphoric, inspirational and slightly ironic, with the occasional social comment. Musically it is, in turns, powerful; beautiful; intricate; and mystical.

I think I've finally achieved my aim of playing on, what may well be recognised eventually as, a classic album.

HR :   And down the line ... The band claim they you will continue to ‘fly the teapot further into outer space, and the inner ear! 
 Is it likely that any past members will be invited back to the fold for future projects?

DS : It's said that once you've been a member of Gong you never leave - so the door is always open. It's a very friendly, co-operative family – so everything is possible.

HR :   Outside the Gong realm, your solo album “Dreams and Absurdities” was released in 2015. Given all your other commitments, how long was it in the making? 

DS : Dreams & Absurdities came together slowly. It would have happened sooner if I hadn't been so busy over the last 10 years. I have a classic bass player mentality – I'm very supportive and unassuming and I give my all to whichever project I'm working on – which has meant that my solo album never became a priority, until, for some reason, everything fell into place.

HR :   It’s a  purely instrumental  record  - a departure perhaps from the music that people are used to hearing you play. Does it reflect your personal musical comfort zone?

DS : Well, some people will be very used to me working on instrumental albums. I recorded two with Jade Warrior and three with Cipher (my duo with Theo Travis). I find great beauty in instrumental music – especially when it evokes emotions of longing and soundscapes of imagined worlds.

HR :    The album features  a number of impressive guests - notably your  Gong colleagues, and Bill Nelson.   
Bill describes you as “an artist of the highest calibre” - coming from him that’s quite a recommendation isn’t it?!

DS : I am still truly astonished that I have been able to work with such great musicians – and to be held in such high regard by them is overwhelming. I've played with Bill for over 10 years now and it's been a joy. I was a big fan of Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise and I've had the honour to play material from both bands with the man himself.

HR :   You’ve worked with a number of high profile musicians during your career - what was the most challenging project t o be part of?  And if you could collaborate with anyone at all - who would it be?

DS : The most challenging was probably a session early in my career when I was hired to play on an album by a Canadian band called Strange Advance. Also playing on the album were drummer Andy Newmark (John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music) and Earl Slick (David Bowie). It was produced by the great composer and arranger Michael Kamen. It was a huge learning curve for me. It was a great experience but I felt that I was hanging on by my fingertips! In the end, things didn't go well with the producer/artist relationship – and the album was re-recorded in Canada with different musicians.

Who would I like to collaborate with? That could be a very long list! Peter Gabriel, Harold Budd, Jan Garbarek, Andy Partridge, Kate Bush, Steve Jansen, Bill Frisell, David Torn, Michael Brook, Zakir Hussein, . . . I could go on . . .

https://www.davesturt.co.uk/

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Dallas Acid

Dallas Acid is a trio from Austin, Texas that first convened in 2015 to play music inspired by the synthesizer-oriented ensembles of the 1970s. Laaraji is a zither player who had been busking for years in New York’s Washington Square Park before Brian Eno heard him and asked him to come on down to the studio. Their LP, Day of Radiance,marks the intersection of the new age and ambient music genres. Laaraji and his musical partner Arji OceAnanda shared a gig with Dallas Acid in early 2018, after which they went into the studio. This encounter yielded a collaborative LP, Arrive Without Leaving. The members of Dallas Acid compiled this list.

We are sure that most people reading this will probably know about these records already, but these are ten of our favorite, all-time classics that have had the greatest influence on our music. There are literally hundreds of others we should include, but these should be easy to find for those who are unfamiliar and curious. In no particular order:

Steve Hillage—Rainbow Dome Musick

Canterbury’s epic prog guitar master collaborated with long-time partner Miquette Giraudy in 1979 on Arps, EMS & some modular Moogs, taking our favorite moments from their work with Gong and solo albums to create this early ambient masterpiece. Rediscovered as come-down music in the height of KLF-fueled rave culture in the late 80s, Rainbow Dome Musick offers a different approach to the ambient genre than the work of Eno and the Krautrock pioneers. The two sides of this LP are very effective in creating a reality with no beginning and no end.

Popul Vuh—Hosiana Mantra/Aguirre

It was so hard to pick just one Popul Vuh record, so we picked two! Both recorded in 1972 and yet worlds apart, the soundtrack for Werner Herzog’s Aguirreis dominated by its beautiful minimalist Moog compositions. OnHosiana Mantra, Florian Fricke goes acoustic with a full band and vocalist Djong Yun, producing reverent, meditative, therapeutic, and maybe slightly unsettling compositions that will definitely make you a better person after just one listening.

Klaus Schulze—Moondawn

This 1976 LP was our introduction to Klaus Schulze’s work with sequencers. Cyborgand Irrlictwere both big influences on us texturally and structurally, but hearing the way he seemed to use the sequencer to drive composition changed the way we approached songwriting. This is the first in a series of great albums for Klaus over the next couple of years, but it also feels like the first LP to feature his classic analogue space station with all components operating in optimal harmony. Plus, you get to hear Harald Grosskopf (who’s own solo 1980 LP Synthesistis fantastic) play some pretty crazy percussion on the record.

Fripp & Eno—(No Pussyfooting)

Shortly after leaving Roxy Music, Brian Eno had been experimenting with an extended tape-delay system (first developed by Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley) and teamed up with virtuoso guitarist Robert Fripp to create one of the most unique and revered recordings of Ambient/Experimental/Electronic music. 1973’s (No Pussyfooting)is not quite yet ambient music as we would come to know it but offers some incredible exploration into what was then an undefined genre. Fripp’s technique and concoction of effects would be known as Frippertronics, and while many over the 45 years since have attempted to imitate, none has matched the exceptional playing on this LP.

Ashra—New Age of Earth

Manuel Göttsching’s reputation as an innovative guitarist with Ash Ra Tempel had been well established by the time he released this 1976 adventure into synth-guitar experimentation. ARPs, Farfisa and an EMS are given equal importance as the echo-driven guitar hypnosis technique that came to define his style. Still too dirty to be true “New Age” this LP captures Göttsching at his most innovative and tasteful, with the perfect balance of darkness and light.

Spiritualized—Lazer Guided Melodies

I was very luckily to see Spiritualized with this classic line-up in Los Angeles on the Rollercoaster US tour back in 1992. Those first few records with Kate on keys and Will on bass are still our favorites. So magical - the perfect combination of minimalist restraint and calculated explosions of ecstasy. This EP collection has an incredible transportive quality that just hasn’t been outdone since.

Nico—Desertshore

This 1970 album is definitely a dive into the darkness but might be the most beautiful of all the records we’ve listed. While John Cale’s influence & contributions are clear, it might be the furthest Nico strayed from the Velvet Underground days. You are immediately overpowered by the droning harmonium and rendered almost immobile by her stark words and monotone vocals. If you survive a single listening without an intense emotional reaction, you truly contain the stuff from which all future anti-depressants should be made.

Gavin Bryars—The Sinking of the Titanic

Ex-Scratch Orchestra member Gavin Bryars used bit of dark humor as the inspiration for this slow-moving composition for strings. As the Titanic sank, legend has it, the ship’s band continued to play on. First released in 1975 on Eno’s Obscure Records, the recording is increasingly affected over time to simulate the changes in sound reverberation as they sank further into the ocean.

Terry Riley—Shri Camel

Using a YC-45D modified for just intonation and an early digital delay, Terry Riley adds an Indian tonality to his signature minimalist style. Composed in 1975 but not released until 1980 Shri Camel feels more open and tranquil than many of his previous recordings. Transformative.

LARAAJI—Essence/Universe

Essence/Universe by Laraaji

Obviously we hold the entire LARAAJI catalogue in great esteem, but this 1987 release, re-issued a few years ago on Brian Eno’s All Saints label, is probably our favorite. The ambient master’s zither is more affected than on his other recordings, creating incredible, almost super-natural, reverberated washes of shimmering ecstasy. The two side-long tracks achieve a vibration which is uniquely meditative, even for a musician who’s entire life’s work has been defined by its thoughtfully measured cosmic flow.

[kimludcom]

Mike Oldfield 'Tubular Bells' Live at the BBC 1973 (HQ remastered)

Steve Hillage Band Gong Unconvention Amsterdam 2006 Recorded at the Melkweg club in Amsterdam in November 2006, the former Gong guitarist performs a collection of tracks from his 1970s solo albums. Steve is accompanied by Miquette Giraudy on synthesisers, and Gong regulars Mike Howlett (bass) and Chris Taylor (drums)

Tracklist:

1 Hello Dawn

2 It’s AH Too Much

3 AftaGlid Part 1

4 AftaGlid Part 2

5 Aftaglid Part 3 - The Golden Vibe

6 Solar Musick Suite Part 1

7 Solar Musick Suite Part 2 - The Dervish Riff

8 The Salmon Song

9 These Uncharted Lands

More info about Steve Hillage https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Hillage Mike oldfield bbc 1973 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXatvzWAzLU

[zef-zef]

Steve Hillage & Miquette Giraudy

[yesterdaysanswers]

[youreprobablywonderingwhyimhere]

Do you have a minute to talk about this picture posted by Miquette Giraudy on her instagram?