Fluents Rare Gem...word, quite buttery

Cortex - Troupeau Bleu LP 1979

RARE GEM OF THE WEEK VOL. 1

big ups to Haze and Lou for having me. Diggers what up. Since this is my first post let me tell you whats up. Im gonna be bringing you some flyness in the form of jazz, funk, disco, reggae, this, that, the 3rd, the whole works. Each week I'll be dropping a new gem for you to get down to, so that means every week your lazy ass has to check back to see what I added. It makes sense right. Im not a music expert but I'll break it down. Word, so let's start today's lesson with some French Jazz-Funk Flava with the group CORTEX.

Since I cant speak French, decyphering their biography isnt somethin im trying to do. Maybe one of you bi-lingual cats can translate some lyrics. What I do know is this shit is fresh. The album on the whole is so ill, in a way it's similar to that 75-79 jazz funk you're probably used to, has alot of those same funky elements...but it's mad original at the same time, as the production takes on an eerie quality. All the tracks are built around Alain Mion's Piano as the main weapon of choice, real heavy on the Rhodes. About half the tracks in fact feature Mion playing the rhodes piano. But besides that, what makes this album interesting is the blend of vocals over subliminal instrumentals. Mireille Dalbray laces the dream vocals that act as a crucial piece that completes the sound. She's not just singing, her voice is acting like any other instrument in the mix. She just floats over the tracks with a beautiful voice, and the end result is sexy and hypnotic goodness. kinda like that.

Cortex - Troupeau Bleu (title track)