Organic Grooves Used Vinyl 145 Items

Cover with slightly bumped corners

Copy without OBI.

Blue white splattered vinyl seems unplayed. Gatefold cover with OBI has tiny corner wear. Original inner sleeve. Limited edition.

Swedish repress from 2020.

7" included. Cover with bent corner

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.

Black vinyl. Unsealed to check color. Still in shrink. Cover with seam damage on top spine and a bumped corner..

No obi.

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

Blue and Orange vinyl.

Clear vinyl!

Still in shrink, but opened, with hype sticker

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

US reissue from 2020. Black Vinyl Edition Limited to 500 copies, comes with obi strip. Still sealed, seam split in top spine.

Ships in a brand new plain sleeve.

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

Limited to 500 copies.

Still sealed.

Only record 2, record 1 is missing! Red vinyl is close to NM. Original inner sleeves. Stuffed corners. 2020 reissue Limited edition. With insert

close to NM

Copy close to NM. N° 0793/1000

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.

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

Sealed copy with a bumped corner!

20th Anniversary Record Store Day edition, Pink splatter vinyl. Copy closer to NM

Vinyl close to NM. Cover with beginning of seam split on top spine.

Copy is close to VG+!

four CDs with a full-color, 144-page, cork-cover book in a cigar-style box. Stuffed corners