Rictus - Christelle ou la Decouverte du Mal. 1981 France

Rictus' debut is very much a deep underground album from France. Raw and primitive overall but with some cool compressed fuzz guitar sounds and a vintage 60's organ to go along with Fender Rhodes, Moog and even some cheap 1980's era synthesizers. At times the album recalls Nuance's Il est une Legende, especially concerning the ferocious fuzz guitar leads. There's also some dramatic Ange style vocals that are reassuring in this setting. There's almost nothing 1980s about this album, other than the aforementioned keyboards (and even at that, they are rarely deployed).

CD: 2012 Strawberry Rain (Canada)

An extremely rare album, the original LP was pressed in a limited edition of 250 copies for friends and fans, with the surplus ending up in a village record store. I can remember having this one on a curiosity list going back to the mid 1990s. Le Kiosque D'Orphee is a very similar label to FLVM, and was basically an LP pressing plant for those who could provide a master tape. The CD is housed in a nice mini-LP sleeve, complete with liner notes, photos, and bonus tracks. The bonus tracks are from later versions of the band. The leader of Rictus was directly involved with this reissue.