Kiosque D'Orphee - Une Epopee De L'Autoproduction En France - 1973-1991

3LP compilation of private press recordings made in France between 1973 and 1991 - covering everything from leftfield pop, psych, trippy folk, spiritual jazz, spaced-out rock and ambient, across 23 unique tracks.

Kiosque d'Orphée was taken over by Georges Batard in 1967. He was a sound engineer who used a Neumann tube engraver to engrave acetates from the tapes he received, before printing the precious vinyl in the press factories of the day, where he was able to produce very small runs of between 50 and 500 copies.

Le Kiosque d'Orphee was neither a label nor a publisher, but a structure that allowed you to press your own vinyl, at a time when it was quite an adventure to get your first 45 rpm or 33 rpm album released! When you finally had your own record, you could give it away or sell it to friends, family or after concerts. You could also drop it off at the nearest record shop, with undisguised pride. It was also a calling card that could be sent to radio stations or music labels, in the hope of launching a career. At the time, the advertisements published in the press by the Kiosque d'Orphee opened up the field of possibilities for provincial composers. It was now possible to make their own record, without having to go through the process of signing with a label.

This album is the conclusion of a long investigation by compiler Sacha Sief, which begun six years ago. It took a long time to find the records, scattered all over the place, in the homes of collectors and sometimes the musicians themselves, and then to listen to them, sometimes painstakingly, to unearth these gems. From this work, 23 tracks remain, but there are dozens of others that could have been included.