Musique Concrète

Musique concrète on vinyl: music made from recorded sound

In short: Pierre Schaeffer founded musique concrète in Paris in 1948: instead of writing notes, he recorded sounds and noises – such as trains – and shaped them into music on disc and later on tape. His studio became the GRM, where many composers worked. The Vinyl Room currently has 18 musique concrète records.

What is musique concrète?

The microphone as an instrument: Argentine composer Beatriz Ferreyra worked at the GRM from the sixties – here with “Huellas Entreveradas”. Plus Michèle Bokanowski, Danish composer Bent Lorentzen and Valentina Goncharova with recordings from 1987 to 1991.

Perrey & Kingsley showed the way into pop with tape loops on “Kaleidoscopic Vibrations”. Today artists such as The Caretaker – with “An Empty Bliss Beyond This World”, built from old shellac sounds – and Félicia Atkinson take up the idea again.

What to look for

With archive releases and reissues, label, catalogue number and year of release help you tell which edition you have – it’s noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

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→ The Caretaker · Electroacoustic · Experimental · Electronic on vinyl · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

What is musique concrète? Music made from recorded sounds and noises that are processed and put together.

Who invented it? Pierre Schaeffer founded it in Paris in 1948.

What is the GRM? The “Groupe de Recherches Musicales” in Paris, the studio where many works of musique concrète were made.

Is there new musique concrète too? Yes – here, for example, The Caretaker, Félicia Atkinson and Lucy Railton.