French musician/composer
Franck Vigroux is a multifaceted artist whose works range from electro-acoustic and experimental electronic music to modern composition, improvisation, radio works, avant rock, and more. Primarily known as a guitar player, he also manipulates electronics and turntables, and has composed works for contemporary classical ensembles. He is equally prolific as a solo artist and as a collaborator, and has worked with
Elliott Sharp,
Zeena Parkins,
Mika Vainio,
Reinhold Friedl (
Zeitkratzer), and numerous others.
Vigroux founded D'Autres Cordes in 2002, and the label has released dozens of recordings by himself as well as similarly unclassifiable experimental artists such as
Hélène Breschand and
Bruno Chevillon. He also established D'Autres Cordes as a performing arts company in 2008, and has presented works by Philippe Malone,
Marc Ducret, and others.
Vigroux made his solo debut with the Lilas trilogy beginning in 2003, and subsequent efforts such as Récolte (2009) and We (Nous Autres) increasingly incorporated elements of noise and industrial techno. Additionally, he collaborated with
Matthew Bourne on a 2015
Kraftwerk tribute titled
Radioland: Radio-Activity Revisited. He continued moving in a noisy, post-industrial direction with albums like 2021's
Atotal.
In 2002,
Vigroux collaborated with trombonist Stéphane Trepp and soprano vocalist Cécile Rives on an improvisational album titled
Les 13 Cicatrices. Both artists contributed to
Vigroux's trilogy of solo works: Lilas Triste (2003), Looking for Lilas (2004), and Triste Lilas (2005). In 2007,
Vigroux worked with Japanese spoken word artist
Kenji Siratori on a limited CD-R titled Pituitary Desert; that same year also saw the release of Hums 2 Terre, a live collaboration with
Elliott Sharp.
Vigroux's noisy, glitchy solo album Récolte appeared in 2009, and he also collaborated with
Matthew Bourne that year, resulting in the full-length Call Me Madame (Good News from Wonderland).
Vigroux released a collaborative 12" EP with Jean-François Oliver on the Trig label in 2010. Other releases that year included the electronic solo album Camera Police; Broken Circles Live, an orchestral work performed by Ars Nova Ensemble Instrumental; and Venice, Dal Vivo, a recording of a 2008 live collaboration with
Joey Baron,
Bruno Chevillon, and
Elliott Sharp.
In 2012,
Vigroux released Transistor, a collaboration with Michigan-based experimental musician Ben Miller. He also issued another solo album, We (Nous Autres). A second album with Miller, The Din of Eon, appeared in 2013, as well as
Vigroux's solo album Prisme. The following year saw the release of Tobel,
Vigroux's collaboration with
Reinhold Friedl of contemporary ensemble
Zeitkratzer. He also released a solo guitar album titled Ciment, as well as Centaure, a noisy industrial techno-leaning 12" EP on
Shapednoise's Cosmo Rhythmatic label.
Vigroux returned to the label in 2015 for the release of Peau Froide, Léger Soleil, a collaboration with kindred spirit
Mika Vainio. He also recorded another collaboration with
Bourne, this time a tribute to
Kraftwerk's
Radio-Aktivität.
Radioland: Radio-Activity Revisited appeared at the end of 2015 on Leaf.
2016 saw the release of solo efforts Rapport Sur le Désordre and Camera as well as Tobel II with
Freidl. Following his solo LP Barricades (2017),
Vigroux released
Ignis in 2018, a posthumous collaboration with
Vainio, who died in 2017. Two solo EPs, Désastres and
Théorème, appeared in early 2019, followed by the full-length Totem. The one-sided LP Tension 24, the
Phill Niblock collaboration BestialRE, and the Raster-issued solo album Ballades Sur Lac Gelé all appeared in 2020. The EP Matériaux was released in 2021, and full-length
Atotal appeared at the end of the year. ~ Paul Simpson