Risk-taking French organisers Murailles Music started out in 2004 as a booking agency which was quickly setting up 200 or 300 concerts a year. It didn’t take long for the Nantes based team to start acting as a producer too, helping artists realise more ambitious projects. In 2011 the organisation added a record label to its activities.

Sourdure
“Rondaleira”
From De Mòrt Viva

Ernest Bergez’s Sourdure project draws on the traditional musics of the French Massif Central Region, mixing it up with original songwriting and influences from the Middle East and Mediterranean as well as Bergez’s own cheeky absurdism. Originally a solo project – with Bergez playing violin, foot percussion and modular synthesizer while singing in Occitan (a native language which stretches across parts of France, Spain and Italy) – the arrangements have been fleshed out on his latest album by the addition of eight more players. Murailles Music (MM) have been working with Sourdure since 2015 in a live capacity, but this is their first release of his recorded music – a co-release with French labels Les Disques du Festival Permanent and Pagans.

L’Ocelle Mare
“Temps En Terre 2”
From Temps En Terre

Thomas Bonvalet is another artist who MM has worked with for some time. On his fifth album, the former guitarist with post-rock duo Cheval De Frise is now predominantly a percussionist who employs a wide range of sound making tools to realise his almost mechanical pieces that fizz with nervous energy. Profiling L’Ocelle Mare in The Wire 406, Claire Sawers writes: “Hearing it on record doesn’t do him full justice. A major part of his performance is visual, using his entire body like a kind of avant garde one-man band.” His earlier solo works were recorded in caves, forests, urban spaces and a protestant temple. Temps En Terre is a co-release with Kythibong.

Powerdove
“War Shapes”
From War Shapes

Powerdove are the experimental pop project of Annie Lewandowski who is also an improvising pianist recording with the likes of Fred Frith and Caroline Kraabel. The band have included Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, and for some time now Thomas Bonvalet (see above) has been a key member of the trio, helping to bring a chaotic and constantly surprising feel to the arrangements on the three excellent albums the group have recorded for MM: Do You Burn (with John Dieterich), Arrest and War Shapes.

Lucas Ravinale Et Loup Uberto
“La Biondina Di Voghera”
From Canti e percussione

With over 200 concerts cancelled during the last 12 months, MM has put more energy into the label with six releases (including De Mòrt Viva) scheduled for this year. Canti e percussione is an EP by a duo who comprise two thirds of the group Bégayer and which will come out in the autumn as a co-release with NAHAL Recordings. It documents some of Ravinale and Uberto’s raucous renditions of traditional songs from Northern Italy, with both artists playing percussion and singing.

Ensemble 0/Moondog
“Fujiyama 1”
From Elpmas Revisited

The legendary Moondog – the proto-minimalist who composed in Braille – originally recorded his album Elpmas at the studio of Mouse On Mars’ Andi Toma in 1992. Unlike his other records, Elpmas was constructed entirely on a computer, using samples and without live musicians. Ensemble 0 were the first group to realise this music with live instruments. They continue to tour the music, and a recording of their performances was issued by MM (as a co-release with Super Loto Editions and Ici d'allieurs) in the form of two 10" records and an 84 page graphic book which follows the themes of the music: the natural world, Japanese musical forms, and the treatment of indigenous peoples.

Christine Abdelnour
“Confinuum #23”
From Confinuum

Pierre Lambla
“Confinuum #52”
From Confinuum

Mosin Kawa
“Confinuum #49”
From Confinuum

Confinuum is not an album as such, but an evolving project originated during the first lockdown as a musical chain, in which each musician responds to the offering of the previous one. The project shows off the range of artists MM is involved with as a label, promoter and producer, and is available as a name your price download. MM founder and artistic director Julien Courquin said they wanted to see what different responses and moods the social restrictions would inspire. The name, he explained, “is a mix of 'confinement' and 'continuum' to evoke these long days of isolation. We've now reached 70 episodes. I think it will follow the end of the pandemic. So I hope it won't be that long in the end!”

Read Phil England's Unlimited Editions column on Murailles Music in The Wire 446. Subscribers can also read online.