ATEM 1975-1979: From Canterbury to Krautrock and Post-Punk

Gérard Nguyen’s Atem 1975-1979 landed on my desk several weeks ago and it was with a considerable amount of excitement that I flipped through the pages of the book trying to decide where to begin reading.

This new Camion Blanc publication compiles an impressive selection of interviews and articles published in the French fanzine Atem during the late 1970s. This voluminous book brings us back to this fantastic period of time when music’s transgressive and communicative potential was at its highest. Atem 1975-1979 sheds additional light on the Canterbury, Krautrock and post-punk scenes. It also includes material on iconic singers-songwriters (Nico, Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, etc.), experimental music and France’s “underground musical” (Heldon, Lard Free, Albert Marcoeur, Magma, as well as Hector Zazou and Joseph Racaille’s ZnR).

Atem began as an association dedicated to the promotion and defense of “musiques nouvelles ou de traverses.” The Nancy-based collective formed in 1973. True to its mandate, Atem spent the greater part of the seventies organizing concerts, releasing records and publishing a highly-praised fanzine (16 numbers were published between 1975 and 1979).

The material reprinted in Atem 1975-1979 is organized alphabetically and this serves the book well. Nguyen does not rely on a thematic or narrative structure to keep it all together. Instead, he judiciously allows the articles and interviews – a total of 44 – to stand on their own (they were chosen arbitrarily).

Some of the book’s highlights include: (1) a 10-page celebration of Agitation Free’s experimental brand of rock music, (2) a series of exchanges between Richard Pinhas and Robert Fripp on music and philosophy, (3) an interview with Philip Glass in which the composer shares his thoughts on minimalism, Eno and punk music, (4) a previously unpublished interview with Can’s core members shortly after they recorded Out of Reach, (5) Suicide on rock ‘n’ roll and minimalism, (6) Henry Cow on Henry Cow and Slapp happy, (7) and Gérard Nguyen on the aural explorations of Richard Pinhas’ Heldon.

Atem 1975-1979 is currently only available in French. This will hopefully not discourage you from grabbing a copy or getting someone to translate parts of it for you. I can assure you that it will be worth the effort if you are seriously interested in any of the artists listed below.

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Atem: “Un fanzine, avec tous ses excès, ses partis pris, un magazine de fan, non professionnels, tapé sur une machine à écrire Japy avant la machine IBM à boules. On ne savait pas qu’il y aurait un jour des ordinateurs et la P.A.O., de la musique en CD, en MP3, à télécharger etc. Bref, que les good old days seraient bientôt derrière nous…” – Gérard Nguyen

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Artists featured in this book:

Agitation Free, Kevin Ayers, Tim Buckley, Can, Ingrid Caven, Chrome – Throbbing Gristle, Kevin Coyne, Nick Drake, Brian Eno, Faust, Robert Fripp, Philip Glass, Peter Hammill, Hatfield and the North, Heldon, Henry Cow, Hugh Hopper, Micheal Hurley, Incredible String Band, Kraftwerk, Lard Free – Urban sax, Magma, Phil Manzanera, Albert Marcoeur, John Martyn, Nico, Yoko Ono, Pearls Before Swine, Steve Reich, The Residents, Bridget St John, Suicide, This Heat, Tom Waits, Robert Wyatt and ZnR.