Funk | Soul Used Vinyl 75 Items

Promo hand stamped white label.

US original.

Slightly warped vinyl, but still enjoyable (looks almost unplayed). Still in shrink, but opened

Cover with seam split.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Cover closer to NM

Vinyl closer to VG+. Promo copy with white labels

bent corner

Close to Near Mint copy.

Clear w/ Red [Blood] Splatter Vinyl.
Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover with a beginning seam split at the upper edge.
Includes original inner sleeves with seam splits.

Sealed copy with a bumped corner!

Gatefold cover with small, beginning seam split! Records with a few scratches!
Original inner sleeves with seam splits!

Record is close to NM.

close to NM

Still sealed with hype sticker.

Turquoise Blue Vinyl close to NM

White Vinyl.

Cover and vinyl are close to NM.

Note: INCOMPLETE!
Record 1: Side A is missing!

Writing on white labels. Vinyl close to VG+

tiny wear. With insert.

Cover is close to NM!

Cover with a slightly bent corner!

Record Store Day 2015 numbered Limited edition reissue on 180 Gram with blue 7"! Still in shrink but opened with hype sticker. Slight corner wear.

All three innersleeves, sleeves and the box have splits at the bottom. Includes 10 monochrome photo prints.

Still in shrink but opened. Cover has tiny wear.

Still in shrink but opened.

few paper scuffs.

Vinyl close to VG+

Clear Vinyl.
Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover as new with slightly dented corners.
Includes poster.

Small light scuff on side A.

Record is close to NM.

3CD in a 8-panel digipak with booklet. Slight wear.

Limited Edition.
Black Vinyl Edition.

Cover as new with a dented corner.
Record is close to VG+.

Vinyl close to VG+

Cover and vinyl are close to NM Original inner sleeves. tiny wear.

Vinyl is close to NM. Original inner sleeves. tiny wear.

US reissue.

Stamped white label copy. Few paper scuffs.

Cover with slightly bent corner and light creasing.

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.

180gr vinyl is close to NM

hand stamped white label is close to NM

Cover with storage wear and sticker / sticker residue on the front!
Vinyl is close to VG+!

Sticker residue on front.

Still shrink wrapped but opened.
Cover with a beginning seam split at the upper edge.
Includes booklet.

tiny wear, few paper scuffs

Copy closer to NM

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