Underground: Cursed Rockers and High Priestesses of Sound

by Arnaud Le Gouëfflec, Nicolas Moog (Artist), Edward Gauvin (Translator)

The essential illustrated bible of independent music! Although not widely known, each of these artists has changed the history of music. So, to celebrate the incredible contributions of these unsung heroes, Arnaud Le Gouëfflec and Nicolas Moog have brought their stories to vivid life. Discover the sensitive and manic-depressive genius Daniel Johnston; the Peruvian queen of exotica, Yma Sumac; the improbable blind and homeless Moondog; the classy bargain hunters of The Cramps; the legendary Patti Smith; and many, many more.

Genres: Music, Graphic Novels, Comics, History, Graphic Novels Comics, Nonfiction

315 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 14, 2021

Reviews

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid graphic novel looking at various underground musical artists and movements (i.e. krautrock, drone, exotica, etc). Yes, the men outnumber the women almost 3 to 1, and some of choices do seem to also coincide with what Thurston Moore also thinks is cool (which may or may not be a plus for you; I am neutral), but the book really made me want to listen to a whole playlist with these artists. Some of them, I was already familiar with, some I'd never heard of, but the text is informative and the art is good. I definitely recognized some of those album covers, even as a small sketch within a lower resolution digital ARC. Even if you think you know all there is to know (looking at you, certain breed of music snob), this is still worth a gander because the author is French, and I imagine that a European perspective offers some insight to certain artists that an American might not have previously considered.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember all the music you would listen to that others didn’t know of and thought was strange? It’s here in this book.

I hope this graphic novel introduces people to music they never knew existed and end up enjoying.

In some respects, this book was a big trip down memory lane for me, especially with my synthasesia.

Give this one a go and discover some new music to enjoy.

[Laurent QUERE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arnaud Le Gouefflec a été professeur de français dans la région brestoise pendant 25 ans jusqu'en 2019; en parallèle il mène une carrière artistique à laquelle il se consacre désormais à 100% : chanteur, musicien, auteur de chansons et de BD, romancier, organisateur de festivals, créateur de label musical.... A la fin des années 1990, il est guitariste dans un groupe, Le Petit Fossoyeur, qui obtient son quart d'heure de gloire dans la région brestoise et au-delà. Il a écrit toutes les paroles des deux albums du groupe (le premier album, que je réécoute souvennt, mérite franchement que tout amateur de musique y jette une oreille (des textes comme "Monsieur Biclaud et le fantôme" ou "La cavalcade d'Attila" on n'en entend pas tous les jours)).
Vingt ans plus tard, nous sommes toujours dans le domaine de la musique avec cette bande dessinée anthologique d'environ 300 pages, illustrée par Nicolas Moog. "Underground - Rockers maudits et grandes prétresses du son" est consacré à des musicien(ne)s qui ont grandement influencé l'histoire de la musique ou à certains courants musicaux (krautrock, black metal, dub...)
Chaque histoire retrace la vie d'un ou d'une artiste; ce qui est bien, c'est le mélange entre quelques artistes populaires (Brigitte Fontaine, Patti Smith, Boris Vian, les Cramps), beautiful losers (Townes Van Zandt, Daniel Johnston...) ou (de moi) complètement inconnus (Tall Dwarfs, ELiane Radigue, Un drame musical instantané, Lydia Lunch). Chaque histoire mentionne des artistes influencés par le protagoniste du portrait, on verra ainsi apparaître Eliott Smith, Siouxie, Billy Corgan, Bonnie Prince Billy.... c'est intéressant car cela ouvre des portes sur de nombreux groupes et artistes méconnus mais influents, sur lesquels on a envie de jeter au moins une oreille. Une discographie très complète vient d'ailleurs clôturer l'album et permet d'avoir quelques pistes pour découvrir les oeuvres souvent pléthoriques des artistes ici exposés. De plus le dessin est parfait, clair, avec des touches réalistes, des traits d'humour. Et surtout à chaque page transparaissent l'amour et la bienveillance de Le Gouefflec et Moog pour les artistes dont ils tirent ici le portrait (ça m'évoque parfois le "Culottées" de Pénélope Bagieu). Bref : vivement un tome 2!

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much what you'd expect, this has short biographies, in comic form, of the recording world's more maverick examples. Coldplay fans need not apply, for here we get Sun-Ra, The Residents, obscure French jazzy chanson providers and more, plus short essays on black metal (well, ish), dub, and Krautrock. It's fun, seeing what turns up next and if you know them or not (a lot of these acts I had never heard of, tbh). It's also fun at times trying to work out who these people are supposed to be – is that Bjork, or Richard Ashcroft, with the bad hair and sucked-in pout? And since when did John Peel look more like Zinedine Zidane?

Some might cringe that their favourites are not here, and I could provide a few names for a sequel – Merzbow (who does kind of appear), Sunn O))), Einsturzende Neubauten (ditto) and so on for starters. Some might think the 2x3 grid the great bulk of the pages here are made from a bit too staid, given the subjects. Me, I had a fine time checking this over, but knowing how little free jazz (indeed any jazz) and I get along, it will be a cold day before I put many of these creatives on my playlist. Which makes these short introductions, then, even more appropriate. If only for authenticity with the visuals this might have got more than four stars.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific successor to the Big Book series of comics Paradox Press put out in the 90s. It's packed with stories from outsider artists from all kinds of genres. There's more recognizable artists like Jonathan Richman or Captain Beefheart all the way to people I'd never heard of like Yma Sumac and Eugene Chadbourne (who used to sell cassettes at shows tucked into a sock). I really liked that the writer is French so that there were plenty of European artists in there as well. Any fan of eclectic music owes it to themselves to give this a read. The only thing missing was a playlist to listen to while reading this. Regardless, it's given me a bunch of new musicians to seek out. Yeah, I don't care at all that most of them are dead. Good music is good music.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyed this book about a lot of musicians i wouldn't come across in my wanderings.
tow things i didn't like - michael moorcock's forward is noted on the cover, all 3 paragraphs of it. kind of falsely trying to get readers to by the book. it happens on a lot of books, v. annoying.
the other thing i don't like is this book is translated from the french but the translator, Edward Gauvin, isn't mentioned on the cover.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of cool folks was a bit exhausting and reached a point of me thinking, "Is this person/group really underground?" I dunno...I read through this in an afternoon because I was familiar with a good deal of the people, but I probably should have taken more time. It seems the translation, fact-checking, and editing was a little sloppy, which was a bummer. That said, it's a good introduction for people who want to expand their music interests and includes a discography at the end.

[Mike S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of good history of music from outside the margins but the scope understandably (given the source) skews French. Easy to pick up and put down and read an artist or two at a time. I've had this in my hands way too long, time to return it to the library where I'm afraid no one else in Hancock County will give it a second glance.

[Vz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although very encyclopedic with short entries for each artist (many of whom have proper books for biographies or documentary films), it still gave a lot of context to music you'll hear when you try to search for anything out of the ordinary, but sometimes with a more personal angle, and in others more in the context of the music (and artistic) environment as a whole.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Underground, indeed! Many of the artists in this book are ones I'd never heard of. All of their stories hold some interest, but the small biographies of each artist don't necessarily compel me to seek out their music, which is good because some of the music appears to be impossibly unobtainable anyway.

[Julie Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing art and a superb encyclopedic quality. I imagine gathering the biographical details of these intriguing artists was a monumental endeavor.

[Corey J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got a few good recommendations from this book full of stories about outsiders in music.

[Xavidickers74 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comic que repasa la vida de los grandes artistas de la música de los 60 a los 90. Alternativos o malditas, fuera del circuito comercial. Interesante.