Genre b(l)ending: An introduction to eclectic world of Crammed Discs in 20 records

Aksak Maboul
Onze Danses pour Combattre la Migraine
(1977, re-issued 1981)

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Although it came out 3 years before I founded the label, this album is really the birth certificate of Crammed, a kind of blueprint for many of the things which followed, with bits of make-believe African, Balkan and Berber music, some fake jazz, pseudo-Steve Reich and Bartok, drum machines & electronics… At the time, Aksak Maboul consisted of myself and Vincent Kenis (who went on to discover and produce Konono No.1, Kasai Allstars, Staff Benda Bilili etc).

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The Honeymoon Killers
Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel
(1982)

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This was the label’s first international success. The band (which also included V.Kenis & me) was provocative, with a strong pop sensibility, and became the darlings of the music press all around Europe (including the UK, a rare feat for a French-singing act), as well as Japan. The band even made the front cover of the NME, which – believe it or not – was a very serious publication at the time.

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Zazou Bikaye
Noir et Blanc
(1983)

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Still one of my favourite Crammed releases, this album started out practically as a test-tube experiment: inventive French producer/composer Hector Zazou invited Congolese vocalist Bony Bikaye and electronic musicians CY1 to get together in a studio, which resulted in this head-on collision between traditional Central African vocals and uncompromising analog electronics. A cult success to this day, the album was described at the time as “an imaginary collaboration between DAF and Fela Kuti”. A magical moment in the history of European/African fusion which, I believe, remains incomparable.

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Minimal Compact
Deadly Weapons
(1984)

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Blending funky rock rhythms and incisive guitars with flavours from their native Middle East (some of the band members came from Israel, Iraq, Turkey), they were one of the influential post-new wave bands. Produced by Peter Principle (Tuxedomoon) & Gilles Martin, this is probably my favourite album of theirs. One of the tracks even became an underground club hit in the US (in what they used to call the D.O.R. genre — “dance oriented rock”.)

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Benjamin Lew
Nebka
(1988)

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A photographer, writer, and a true poet with an analog synth, Benjamin Lew recorded 4 albums (from our Made To Measure series), full of inspired, hypnotic and instantly recognizable musical landscapes. You feel like you’re embarking on a dream journey to the Sahara or the Far East. You’d think that some of the pieces feature non-European musicians or samples but: no… this is just Benjamin’s imagination, his old synths and his friends.

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