Funk | Soul Used Vinyl 149 Items

Cover with beginning of seam split on top spine

Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover with a beginning seam split at the upper edge.
Records are close to VG+

Still sealed.

Light scuff on side B.

Green Vinyl Edition.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Sealed copy with bumped corners and a small seam split!

beginning seam split

Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover as new with slightly dented corners.

Green vinyl

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2022.

Limited Red Transparent Vinyl Edition.
Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Records are close to VG+

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs. Cover close to NM

Crystal Clear Orange vinyl. Cover with beginning of seam split on top spine

Still sealed with hype sticker.

Cover is missing.

Still sealed. tiny wear

Red / Black Vinyl.

Sticker residue on front.

Clear/Blue Marble with Red Splatter Vinyl Edition.
Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Record with just a few paper scuffs.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Still sealed with hype sticker. tiny wear

CD comes in a soft case, instead of the original crystal case. All booklets included.

Orange vinyl version!

hand stamped white label is close to NM

Vinyl seems unplayed. Cover has tiny corner wear. Limited edition.

Colored Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs. Cover signed by the band on the back. Copy n° 061/300

Copy close to NM

Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Records are close to VG+

2022 reissue. Still in shrink but opened with hype sticker. Clear and splattered vinyl seem unplayed.

Exclusive Silver Vinyl Edition.
Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover as new with slightly dented corners.
Record is close to VG+.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Blue Vinyl Edition.
Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover as new with slightly dented corners.

Creole poetry, folk mysticism and heavy-grooving cosmic synths combine on this unprecedented survey of spiritual Martinique polymath Gratien Midonet’s first four albums.



“I always broke free from the rules, from codes being too narrow,” says poet, musician and sonic shaman Gratien Midonet. “I have always had this sense of peaceful knowledge that there is no separation between genres, beings and universal things.”



For Midonet, pushing musical boundaries was less a choice than an extension of his spirit. A self-taught guitarist and composer,



drawing on his childhood memories of bélé and beguine rhythms, Midonet’s musical life developed in parallel to his academic and spiritual pursuits. Studying philosophy and psychopedagogy in France, it was his fascination with pan-Africanism and animism which fuelled the transcendent energy of his music. Although Midonet honed his sound in France, the four albums he released during the



late ‘70s and ‘80s were heavily inspired by diasporic nostalgia, or what he describes as the “smells and colours… subliminal noises… fruity notes, the memories of funeral wakes, the bombastic organ of the cathedral and the gasps of the drums” of his childhood home on the Caribbean island of Martinique.



Fittingly, it’s there that Midonet achieved cult status for the title track of his 1979 debut, Van An Lévè, which became a protest anthem for the island’s independence movement, and was briefly censored by the French authorities. Look no further than ‘Mari Rhont Ouve La Pot’, which opens this collection, to hear the propulsive mix of cosmic synths, acoustic folk, and Creole lyricism that became the essence of Midonet’s sound. Released on Martinique label Touloulou, Van An Lévè was followed in 1980 by L’inité, whose tropical acid folk (‘M’en ka Monté Mon’) and majestic, violin-led melodies (‘Kannaval Sakré Pou Tout Z’Heb Poussé’) confirmed Midonet’s unique and intuitive approach to composition.



Not content to skip effortlessly between genres and influences, Midonet also began pushing the boundaries of the album form itself. His third album, Bourg La Folie, released in 1984, was a soundtrack for a lost film about the mysticisms of carnival, while his fourth, Fô Ou Tchimbé, took the form of a ‘conte musical’ (a narrated story accompanied by music) presented at the Pompidou Centre, and spoke to Midonet’s literary prowess as a fierce proponent of the Creole language.

Record is close to NM.

Limited Edition, Clear Grey Vinyl close to NM

Limited Edition. 180 gram vinyl.
Record is slightly warped but still enjoyable.
Cover with a beginning seam split at spine.
Includes OBI.

Cover with slightly bent corner and light creasing.

Golden vinyl. Numbered Limited edition. Seam split. PVC sleeve with hype stickers.

Limited Edition.

Cover with seam split.
Records are slightly warped but still enjoyable.

60th Anniversary Edition, 180g Vinyl.

Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover as new with slightly dented corners.