Saturday 30 August 2008

Dam Dam ou Dum Dum

Look, here comes Michèle, she’s been hanging out with that peculiarly monikered gang Ses Wouaps.
















She’s got a sweet spot for her Wouaps, with their preppy, geek charm and their twangy guitars, and they love her for that spooky operatic wail of hers. Together they made a record with a nonsensical title and a sinister undertone, the kind of thing Joe Meek liked to knock out in his Holloway Road bolthole - the vampiric Moontrekkers making a horrorshow din, and a peroxide beehived gal on lead vocal.

Are the lyrics littered with references to bloody carnage and death? Not to these ears, but it would certainly sit moodily alongside any death disc. All drenched in reverb, it gives me those same goosebumps I get when I hear Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton and Give Us Your Blessings by The Shangri-Las.

Michèle et Ses Wouaps – Dam Dam


Jina Miko’s got the bubblegum pop thing down pat – the cute untrained voice; the odd nagging telephone ringing in your eardrum sound; the little ‘woop’ before the Lipstick On Your Collar-esque guitar solo comes in; and a production so hot and distorted it sounds like the tape was melting when they laid it down...

But the best thing is it sounds like she’s saying “Dom Dom” rather than “Dum Dum”, and I’m a sucker for any French girl who calls my name…

Jina Miko – Dum Dum



Thursday 21 August 2008

L'Amour Electronique - dansez la décadanse this Saturday

You are cordially invited to join us for a soirée of pop music spanning the following genres/styles:

French Pop
(Ye-Ye, Gainsbourg, Dutronc, chanson, Quebecoises, Space disco, Polnareff, Pop a Paris, etc)
Synthesized Pop
(Post-punk, kraut, new romantic, 8-bit, Moog pop, synthcore, casio-core, nu-rave, etc)
Electronic Pop
(electronic pioneers, musique concrete, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, theremin sounds, electronica, electroclashing, etc)

see earlier posts for setlists and podcasts from previosu nights

In case you haven't realised, the night is called
L'AMOUR ELECTRONIQUE
it takes place at
THE PENTHOUSE, ABOVE THE FREEBUTT, PHOENIX PLACE, BRIGHTON
starts: 8PM
ends: 1AM
FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT
and drinks offers too.

Come and dance La Décadanse - Serge will explain how...
Serge Gainsbourg et Jane Birkin - La Décadanse

Friday 15 August 2008

L'Amour Electronique approves of bendy-legged dancing

This chap was at L'Amour Electronique in June. We marvelled at his super-duper, jumbo cord, rubber-legged dancefloor moves...




Maybe he'd been watching Sylvie on his Scopitone before he came out that night...
Sylvie Vartan - Est-ce Que Tu Le Sais?




But we all know, Johnny taught her a few moves back when they met...
Johnny Hallyday - Le Twist




It's okay though, because Johnny and Sylvie got married and were the "Golden Couple" of the post-yé-yé generation

Sunday 10 August 2008

Podcast and setlist - 26 July 2008

watch out for Sarah's Devo double-header - c'est fantastique!

Verity
Françoiz Breut – Vingt à Trente Mille Jours
John Foxx – You Were There
Jeanne Morreau - La Tourbillon (Jules Et Jim OST)
Glass Candy – Life After Sundown
Ruth – Polaroid-Roman-Photo
Baccara – Parlez-Vous Français?
Depeche Mode – The Meaning of Love

Dominic
Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas
M.A.R.R.S. – Pump Up The Volume
Serge Gainsbourg – Hotel Particulier
Gillian Hills – Rentre Sans Moi
Michel Polnareff – Beatnik
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental – Day Breaks, Night Heals
Ladytron – He Took Her To A Movie
Brigitte Bardot – Gang Gang
Glass Candy – I Always Say Yes
Françoise Hardy – Fleur De Lune

Sarah
Laurie Anderson – O Superman
Japan – Fall In Love With Me
Sylvie Vartan – De Bonheur
Alice Dona – Les Trois Couleurs De L’Amour
John Foxx – Glimmer
The Associates – Those 1st Impressions
Peepholes – Milk + Honey
Relaxed Muscle – The Beast Master

Verity
Jacno – La Poupée Qui Fait Non
Françoise Hardy – Ça a Raté
Kraftwerk – Ohm Sweet Ohm
The Buggles – Johnny On The Monorail
Soft Cell – Bedsitter

Dominic
Fabienne Delsol – I’m Gonna Catch Me A Rat
Stereolab – Tempter /
French Language Disque
Von Südenfed – Fledermaus Can’t Get It
Norman Frechette et Les Hou-Lops – J’Etudie Mon Grec
Anna Karina – Rollergirl
Space – Magic Fly

Sarah
The Human League – Rock ‘n’ Roll
Stereo Total – Cannibale
The Chap – Fun and Interesting
Metal Mickey – Lollipop Lollipop
Kid Carpet – I Don’t Want To Fall In Love With You
Kemper Norton Collective – Denaissance (live)

*****PODCAST BEGINS*****
Verity
Pulp – Countdown
Dauerfisch – Peter Thomas Kam Nicht Zahlen
Mareva Galanter – Pourquoi Pas Moi?
Add N To (X) – Adding N To X
Petula Clark – L’Agent Secret
Magnetic Fields – Smoke and Mirrors
Deux – Game and Performance

Dominic
Holy Fuck – Royal Gregory
Jacques Dutronc – Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi
Clothilde – Et Moi Et Toi Et Soie
Brezel Göring – Ich Bin So Süchtig (mit Christiane F)
Christine et Ses Copains – Mon Mini Croulant
John et Jehn – 20L07
Françoise Hardy – Les Petits Garçons

Sarah
Nicole Croisille et Pierre Barough – Un Homme et Une Femme
Fayrouz – L’Amour De L’Autre
Depeche Mode – Boys Say Go!
Devo – Satisfaction (I Can’t Get Me No)
Devo – Praying Hands
Giorgio Moroder – From Her To Eternity

*****PODCAST ENDS*****
Verity
Stereolab – John Cage Bubblegum
New Order – Round and Round
France Gall – Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges
Louis Philippe – L’Oiseau De Nuit
BBC Sporting Themes/Ray Davies – Breezy Bounce
Jacques Dutronc – La Leçon Gymnastique du Professeur Dutronc

Dominic
Hot Butter – Popcorn
Of Montreal – Suffer For Fashion
Die Perlen – Jeudi Noir (Tony Punk remix)
Stereo Total – (I Hate) Everybody In The Discotheque (version by Echokrank)
Frank Alamo - Ma Biche
The Mae-Shi – Lamb and Lion
Blue Sisters – Il Va T’Aimer

Sarah
Grace Jones – La Vie En Rose
Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygene
Dauerfisch – So Gut
Miss Pain – Shelf-Location ROM (r@zorbla.de hardcover remix)
Captain Sensible – Happy Talk

Verity
OMD – Enola Gay
Dominic
Stella - Pourquoi Pas Moi?
Sarah
Christie Laume – Rouge-Rouge
Verity
Serge Gainsbourg et Brigitte Bardot – Comic Strip
Dominic
Françoise Hardy – Non Ce N'est Pas Un Rêve
Sarah
Orlane Paquin – Le Train De 10h03
-FIN-

DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST
[This podcast has now been archived, download it from here, 73.3mb, duration: 64m03]

Monday 4 August 2008

Computer L.O.V.E. pt.1

This Devo mix of Datarock’s Computer Camp Love surfaced a little while ago. It seems like the ideal marriage: what are Datarock, if not the present day Devo?

Are we not men? We are Data!
















The mix: it’s not really a huge departure from the original – but they’ve added some vicious Whip It-esque percussion hits (though I hear “She’s not that kind of a girl”) there’s also a nice little twist when Judy (“that’s a nice name”) gets a cameo appearance, and tells her side of the story, apparently she faked the big ‘O’ (and we’re not talking about her Roy Orbison impression)…

Datarock - Computer Camp (DEVO Mutato Mix)

Talking of the big ‘O’:
Look mum - It's Yellow Magic Orchestra














YMO Anecdote 1: One morning about half a year ago, We had to get up at some really stupidly early hour to do something really stupidly important. So we set the radio to come on at stupid-o’clock on Radio 2. I have this strange half-dream/half-awake recollection of hearing Yellow Magic Orchestra playing in the background whilst some montone DJ, who’d presumably been moved to the graveyard shift as a punishment, waffled endlessly to himself and the 2 insomniacs who were still tuned in. Thankfully my mind’s eye was picturing 8-bit colour explosions and pixelated mayhem, rather than DJ Monotone, in his grey shirt, whispering down his grey windshield...

Yellow Magic Orchestra – Computer Games

YMO Anecdote 2: Our reporter on the frontline who goes under the alias Feline1, relayed to us news of a small-scale synth-geek uprising when Yellow Magic Orchestra played the Royal Festival Hall in London on 15 June. It seems that even though they were billed as YMO, they only actually played about 3 YMO songs. Naughty. Feline1 wasn’t best pleased and felt like demanding his money back…

Yellow Magic Orchestra – Computer Games


Talking of Feline 1: On my birthday last year he gave me a CD-R of ZX Spectrum Madness. It seems he sat down on his trusty old ZX Spectrum 128K and played some of his favourite games and simultaneously recorded the soundtracks to some of them. So I get to hear some ace 8-bit anthems from the likes of David Whittaker, Dave Rogers and Rob Hubbard. And now you do too.

This one’s quite a jaunty little number, just perfect for going out for a spin in yr hydrofoil (or yr hydrofool) on a Sunday afternoon.
like Alexander Graham Bell here














Rob Hubbard – Theme from Hydrofool (ZX Spectrum 128K)
[nb. watch out for the abrupt ending]

........................................................
addendum:
Thanks Lew for pointing out the ZX Spectrum game is actually called 'Hydrofool'. I'll be the first to admit my knowledge of ZX Spectrums starts and ends with playing Horace Goes Skiing during the last Computer Science lesson of the school term when I was about 10...

If anyone goes out for a spin in their hydrofool this week, be careful, they handle a lot differently from the old hydrofoil pictured.