Legendary underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and guitarist Dominique Cravic founded Les Primitifs du Futur in 1986 craving real Parisian musette instead of poor imitations heard in variety shows.
It sounds like they’ve stepped right out the 30’s, the members of Les Primitifs du Futur brilliantly blend world-musette and Django-style guitar into old-fashion originals.

What the Parisian band actually plays is ‘musette’ a style developed in France at the turn of the century before exploding in Paris in the 30’s and '40s. Mixing popular folk dancing from Auvergne with swing, gypsy inflections, and polka, musette is by definition dance music.

The Primitifs’ leader, guitarist Dominique Cravic, wrote most of the material and gathered a crack team of experts on such instruments as the ‘jazzo-flute’, the ‘xylophone’, the ‘cabrette’or ‘the musical saw’. The band pays tribute to musette, mixing it up with as many dance styles as possible, leading to unholy dancefloor experiments that call to mind a Parisian fantasy in which 40’s-style gangsters hang out with gypsy bad boys.

With their three albums made up of original compositions, the Primitifs du Futur remain at the forefront of the renaissance of ‘chanson française’ manifestly occurring in France today.

The group first came to public attention via its most famous member - the American cartoonist Robert Crumb. Even when he is not performing, they’re still exciting...