The Free Pop Electronic Concept
A New Exciting Experience
Vampi Soul/ Fuse


For those of you that are neither sci-fi nor early electronic music nerds, the theme song for 'Futurama' is homage to the song Psychˇ Rock (1967) by seminal French electronic composer Pierre Henry, himself one of the earliest exponents of the musique-concrˇte movement. Henry was a fearless experimenter; he even cut a record with the rock band Spooky Tooth, 'Ceremony' (1968) that a lot of people still can't get into. Needless to say Henry had his imitators, some of them fixed on aping the new sounds, others arriving at a similar zone as if by coincidence.

The brothers Antonio and Fernando Lameirinhas from Portugal released their first single as The Modes in 1964 and from there changed their name to Jess and James respectively, cut a stack of 45s and three LPs, and met American ex-pats Scott Bradford (organ) and Stu Martin (drums). Together they started experimenting with a more elongated, "jammy", even, sound that married grooves and bursts of colourful harmonics with wildly juxtaposed snippets of electronic sounds. In short, the brothers got jazzier, proggier, wackier and heavier, and the sole album from The Free Pop Electronic Concept (1969) is the result.

I'm not sure how much Pierre Henry these guys were listening to, but the similarities are clear. The record however, truth be told, is a total blast. It's just as you might have imagined when hearing its title, perhaps a little light on the "free" side but nonetheless brimming with great instrumental psych pop. Only two songs are "pop" length (between three and four minutes) and the remaining three get pretty wild in a kitschy, good-times pop kinda fashion. The longest track, F.P.E.T. No. 1 is nearly 15 minutes of rumbling, jazzy drums, tumbling percussion, chunky basslines, zinging guitar solos, heaps of piano and organ sounds and, the cherry on the top, those sugary phantom squiggles from vintage synthesisers. It's very 60s-sounding and very enjoyable, a welcome diversion for those us that like our psych and prog a little more on the heavy side.

Lenin Simos