Brion Gysin’s Dreamachine recordings set for definitive vinyl edition ahead of major Paris exhibition

Originally produced by French musician Ramuntcho Matta in the 1980s and early 1990s, the release centres on the 32-minute hypnotic title piece, designed as an aural counterpart to Gysin’s legendary stroboscopic light sculpture. The album also features “The Door,” a collaboration with saxophonist Steve Lacy.

The vinyl reissue coincides with a major exhibition dedicated to Gysin at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, scheduled to open in April 2026, marking a renewed focus on the artist's cross-disciplinary influence.

Born in England and a central figure in the Beat movement alongside William Burroughs, Gysin’s work in cut-up writing, permutation poetry and sensory experimentation left a mark on figures from David Bowie to Laurie Anderson. His artistic explorations were deeply informed by time spent in Tangier, where he was introduced to the trance music of the Master Musicians of Jajouka by the writer and composer Paul Bowles.

Producer Ramuntcho Matta, who had previously worked with Gysin on the album Junk, captured these sessions after returning to Paris from New York. In his liner notes for the release, Gysin scholar Jason Weiss observes that “the strands of Gysin’s narrative phase in and out of focus, suggesting that experience and memory can always be revisited through new connecting threads.”

The new edition features audio newly remastered from the original tapes and includes an insert with a photograph of Gysin and Burroughs by François Lagarde, alongside Weiss’s contextual notes. For a generation of listeners familiar with Gysin’s mythos but not his recorded output, this vinyl provides a crucial entry point into his sonic world.

Dreamachine tracklisting

“Dreamachine Pt. 1”
“Dreamachine Pt. 2”
“Dreamachine Pt. 3”
“Dreamachine Pt. 4”
“Dreamachine Pt. 5”
“The Door”