Mere Pawns in the Great Space Race

Earlier this week NASA celebrated the 40th anniversary of putting some good wholesome American men on the moon. It was one giant leap for mankind, and one great big Nerr-Nerrr-Ner-Nerrrr-Nurrrrr to the Russians who had, until now, been lapping the USA in the great space race.

But no one spared a thought for the lonely cosmonaut, sitting in his rocket, orbiting the moon, watching the live footage on his miniature control panel. He thinks of his girlfriend down there on earth, as he whistles a forlorn little ditty into his Soviet-issue tape recorder…

Sometime in the early-90’s, a Berlin flea-market trader flogs a batch of old Soviet reel-to-reel tapes to Brezel Göring, he uncovers the crackly long-wave radio noise-laden humming of the love-sick cosmonaut, and Françoise Cactus pens an ode to all the long-lost space-men drifting out there in the cosmos.

Stereo Total – Cosmonaute
[buy Stereo Total: iTunes | Bungalow Popshop]

As the NASA moonwalk transmission came to a close, and the end credits rolled, a celestial melody of early electronic music wafted gently from the speakers. The French had hi-jacked the broadcast a little late in the day, but the spotlit-Moog majesty of this song lingered like the grainy shot of the Stars and Stripes flapping gently in the lunar wind.

Jean-Jacques Perrey & Gershon Kingsley – Pioneers of The Stars
[by Perrey & Kingsley: iTunes | Amazon uk]

ps. We will be dropping in these and more space-y music at L’Amour Electronique tonight:

1st Man in Space

It was 40 years ago today, Neil and Buzz went to visit the man in the moon. But we heard a rumour from ground control that Phil was the first man in space on his street.

Over to you Dr. Fox...


We'll try and dig out some more space-race music this week if we have time, stay tuned.

SETLIST from 27 June 2009

Sarah was away, so we called upon French mademoiselle Estelle to take over her DJing duties. She told us rumours that were rife about French popstars when she was young (like the one about Sheila being a man...)... We grew tired of conservative Clash fans and risked a lynching by playing Nouvelle Vague's cover of Guns of Brixton... Then Estelle had to go home early after one too many Pernods (oh dear)...

Here's what was played.

Dominic
Liz Brady – Un Garçon Dit a Une Fille
Boy From Brazil – Le Claquer De Doigts
Les Hou-Lops – Blue Jeans sur Le Plage
Jenny Rock – Hooray Pour Johnny
Gillian Hills – Rentre Sans Moi
Zouzou – Tu Fais Partie du Passé
Bertrand Burgalat – Albo
Schneider TM – The Light 3000
Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan – Electronic Movements: Syncopation
Claude Dubois – Je Tourne
Silicon Teens – TV Playtime
Verity
Kraftwerk – Ohm Sweet Ohm
The Human League – Empire State Human
Deux – Game & Performance
Anne-Marie Peysson – Qui Ne Risque Rien
Marie Laforêt – Manchester et Liverpool
Michel Polnareff – L’Oiseau de Nuit
Magnetic Fields – Smoke and Mirrors
Soft Cell – Bedsitter
The Knife – Pass This On
Depeche Mode – See You
Estelle
Christophe – Les Marionettes
Jenny Rock – Douliou Douliou St Tropez
Pulp – Le Roi des Fourmis
Patrick Coutin – J’aime Regarder les Filles
The Teenagers – Homecoming
St Etienne – La Poupée Qui Fait Non
Vanessa Paradis – Be My Baby
Alain Bashung – Osez Joséphine
France Gall – Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son
Dominic
Karo – Sur Ta Moto
Minouche Barelli – Boum Badaboum
Les Surfs – Je Ne Suis Pas Trop Jeune
Marie Laforêt (avec Gérard Klein) – Le Vin De L’été
Leonard Cohen – First We Take Manhattan
Françoise Cactus – You Can’t Put Your arms Around a Memory
John et Jehn – 20L07
Die Perlen – Jeudi Noir (Tony Punk remix)
Michèle et Ses Wouaps – Dam Dam
Les Elegantes – Mon Soldat
Verity
Jacques Dutronc – Les Playboys
Stereolab – Ping Pong
Pete Shelley – Homosapien
Serge Gainsbourg – Un Poison Violent, C’est Ca L’amour
Erasure – Chorus
Mareva Galanter – Pourquoi Pas Moi
Hot Butter – Popcorn
Deux – Dance With Me
Estelle
Michèle Torr - Dans Mes Bras Oublie Ta Peine
Les Rita Mitsouko – Marcia Baila
Daft Punk – Da Funk
Claude François – Alexandrie, Alexandra
Nino Ferrer – Oh! He! Hein! Bon!
Jacques Dutronc – J’aime Les Filles
Les Chausettes Noires – Daniela
Jane Birkin – Melo Melo
Joe Dassin – Dans Les Yeux D’Emilie
Dominic
Claude François – Eloise
Zizi Jean-Maire – Mon Truc en Plumes
Jacqueline Taïeb – Bienvenue au Pays
Françoise Hardy – Je Pense à Lui
Jina Miko – Dum Dum
Serge Gainsbourg – Initials BB
Charlotte Leslie – Les Filles C’est Fait Pour Faire L’amour
Verity
France Gall – Cet Air La
Françoise Hardy - L'amour Ne Dure Pas Toujours
Serge Gainsbourg – Lemon Incest
OMD – Red Frame/White Light
Jean-Michel Jarre – Magnetic Fields pt.2
Stereolab – French Disko
Estelle
Daft Punk – Harder…
Felix Da Housecat (feat. Miss Kittin) – Madame Hollywood
The Mogs – Kelly Blame (French vocal)
Nino Ferrer – Mirza
Divine Comedy – Europop
Dominic
Annie Philippe – C’est La Mode
Large Number – The Number People
Michel Legrand – Digue Ding Ding
Stereo Total – Supergirl
Emmanuelle – Le Reel Façile
Michel Polnareff – La Mouche
Nouvelle Vague – Guns Of Brixton
Verity
Vanessa Paradis – Joe Le Taxi
Serge Gainsbourg – Requiem Pour un Con
Brigitte Bardot – Everybody Loves My Baby
Goldfrapp – Satin Chic
The Droyds – Take Me I’m Yours
Sandie Shaw – Pourvu Que Ca Dure
Jacques Dutronc – Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi
Estelle
Monique Thubert – Avec Les Oreilles
Hervé Vilard – Fais La Rire
Alain Bashung – Gaby Oh! Gaby
I Am – Je Danse Le Mia
Dominic
Jacques Brel – Amsterdam (en public, Paris Olympia, 1964)
Fabiene Delsol – I’m Gonna Catch Me a Rat
Brigitte Bardot – Gang Gang
Les Bel-Air – Ils Parlaient Dans Mon Dos
Verity
Magnetic Fields – (Crazy For You) But Not That Crazy
Yazoo – Don’t Go
The All Seeing I – 1st Man In Space
Jacques Dutronc – Les Cactus
Dominic
The Chap – I Am Oozing Emotion
Françoise Hardy – Ce Petit Coeur
Stereo Total – Holiday Innn
Neil Young – Sample + Hold
Brigitte Bardot – Contact
Verity
Bis – Love Will Tear Us Apart
OMD – Enola Gay
Human League – Sound Of The Crowd
France Gall – Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges
M – Pop Muzik
Le Tigre – Deceptacon
Dominic
Baby Birkin – St Tropez
Ronnie Bird – Chante
The Tornados - Telstar


mp3s for your listening pleasure
Estelle chose
Patrick Coutin – J’aime Regarder les Filles
[buy Patrick Coutin: iTunes | Amazon]
Verity chose
Deux – Dance With Me
[buy Deux direct from Deux!]
Dominic chose
Jacqueline Taïeb – Bienvenue au Pays
[buy Jacqueline Taïeb: iTunes | Amazon]

L'Amour Electronique is this Saturday

This Saturday you will find us once again on top of a hill overlooking Brighton station, dispensing a generous 6-hour cocktail of electronic goodness, French bubblegum pop and filthy dirty synthcore. Sarah will be absent, but we will be joined by Estelle (who may or may not be DJ'ing under the pseudonym DJ La Cûntte). Estelle is French and she will almost certainly teach us a thing or two...

See last month's setlist below for an idea of what you may be likely to hear should you come.

Address: The West Hill, 67 Buckingham Place, Brighton, BN1 3PQ
here's a map, should you need it.


Last night we were enlightened as to what the monkey sounds on Bonnie & Clyde are. The instrument is called a Cuíca. Thank you to the good gent who informed us of this, we hope to se you on Saturday...

Onomatopoeia

An English lesson, circa 1991: “AWWWWWWN-OHHHHHHH-MAAAHHHH-TOHHH-PEEEEEEEYAAAAAHHHH-AAHH-AHH!”

It’s okay; don’t be scared, that was just my old English teacher metamorphosing into a disturbing living embodiment of Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living. Yes, it was a terrifying sight that could easily have scarred a youth in his formative years. But in retrospect, I can see she was trying to use the word in a way that would demonstrate its very essence. And I haven’t forgotten it since. Gold Star for my teacher.

The Yé-Yé genre is littered with nonsensical song titles (see previous post Dam Dam ou Dum Dum), and they certainly didn’t shy away from the onomatopoeia-ic. Serge was a particular fan; his lyrics are peppered with clever word plays and vocal tics.

Here’s one he wrote for Minouche Barelli (sweet name / terrifying set of pipes). It’s like a Eurovision* heart attack, boom-bang-a-bang-ing** and exploding out of every black and white telly across the continent. You can imagine Gainsbourg taking her aside and directing her to method-act like her life depended on it. He counts her in “Cinq, quatre... trois, deux, un, zéro…”

BOUM BADABOUM! BOUM! BOUM!

She belts it out, drowning out every instrument in the orchestra, bar the brass section. And she gives them a good run for their money too! Now run for cover!

[image source]

Minouche Barelli – Boum Badaboum
[buy it: Amazon.uk]

*It made the number 5 spot for Monaco in Eurovision 1967. Sandie Shaw romped it barefoot with 'Puppet on a String'
**This was 2 years before Lulu performed 'Boom Bang-a-Bang' at Eurovision 1969.

Something a little quieter now… Mareva hushes down Sonny Bono’s ode to childhood innocence lost. Her duel with Jacno is like a dew-y focussed fairytale shot on grainy cine-film, accompanied, Morricone-style, by a lone ukulele and music box plucking out the fragile melody.
BANG!
BANG!
A pair of toy pistols unfurl red and white flags…

[image source]

Mareva Galanter (avec Jacno) – Bang Bang

[buy it: iTunes | Amazon.uk]

Mareva made these beautiful Scopitone-style videos to accompany her Ukuyéyé album

But we can’t overlook Serge and Brigitte’s ode to onomatopeia, where Serge takes BB by the hand and they leap inside a comic book world of technicolour explosions and brash’n’bold sound effects.
SHEBAM! POW! BLOP! WIZZZZZ!

Serge Gainsbourg et Brigitte Bardot – Comic Strip

[buy it: iTunes | Amazon.uk]

SETLIST from 23 MAY 2009

Here's the setlist from last month. We were joined by our friend and Socialist Leisure Party member Andy who treated us to some sweet and noisy music... See below for mp3 tasters.

Sarah
The Knife – Girl’s Night Out
B-52’s – Hero Worship
Quix*O*tic – Anonymous Face
Fad Gadget – Love Parasite
John Foxx – He’s A Liquid
Momus – The Cabriolet
Serge Gainsbourg – Intoxicated Man
Verity
Vanessa Paradis – Joe Le Taxi
Goldfrapp – Crystalline Green
France Gall – Baby Pop
Pierre Doris – J’ai Pas eu Peur
Simon Bookish – Metal Horse
Deux - Paris Orly
Stereo Total – I Love You, Ono
Dalida – Petit Elephant Twist
Future Bible Heroes – I’m A Vampire
Andy
Leg - Amphibian Love
Frederik Schikowski - ein oktourbass macht noch keinen sommer
Watoo Watoo - perdu
Syntheme - 144a arcacia overdrive
The Names - Nightshift
Elysian Quartet - Prokofiev String Quartet no 2
Telex – Moskow Diskow
Oh Penelope – Lait au Miel
Music At Nite - city to city
Go-Kart Mozart - selfish and lazy and greedy
Bearsuit – Welcome Bearsuit Space Hotel
Edwyn Collins – Welwyn Garden City
Dominic
Serge Gainsbourg – Requiem Pour Un Con
Françoise Hardy – Tout Ce Qu’on Dit
Les Bel-Air – Ils Parlaient Dans Mon Dos
Chorus Reverendus – Dans Son Euphorie
Jean-Jacques Perrey – The Flight of the Bumblebee
Les Gamines – Vis Ta Vie Mon Gars
Dominique Walter – Les Petits Boudins
Chantal Goya – Laisse Moi
Brigitte Bardot – Contact
Delia Derbyshire (BBC Radiophonic Workshop) – Dr Who (original theme)
Sarah
Giorgio Moroder – From Here To Eternity
Grace Jones – La Vie En Rose
Michel Arnaud avec Serge Gainsbourg – Les Papillons Noirs
Sophie Makhno et Colin Verdier – Obsessions 68
Christie Laume – Rouge Rouge
Toni Basil – Space Girls
Pulp – Separations
Verity
John Foxx – Europe After The Rain
Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence
Michel Polnareff – L’Oiseau De Nuit
Mareva Galanter – Pourquoi Pas Moi
Jean-Michel Jarre – Magnetic Fields (pt. 2)
Super Furry Animals – Inaugural Trams
Jocy – Les Dix Premiers
Françoise Hardy – Je Veux Qu’il Revienne
Jacques Dutronc – Les Cactus
Stereolab – French Disko
Andy
Avenue D - orgasmatron
Minnypops - time
Adult. - dont you stop
El Gusano Rojo - desobeissance
Fever Ray - if i had a heart (fuck buttons remix)
April March - mon ange gardien
Frank Alamo – Ma Biche
Stavely Makepeace - slippery rock 70’s
Heaven 17 – Let’s Make A Bomb
Dominic
Hiem – Tweak
Divine – Native Love (Step by Step)
Annie Philippe – C’est La Mode
Stereo Total – Supergirl
Isabelle – Amstramgram
Silicon Teens – You Really Got Me
Miss Kittin & The Hacker – L’Homme Dans L’Ombre
OMD – Electricity
Stereo Total – Mars Rendezvous (We Love Jacno mix) / French language disque
Bertrand Burgalat & Robert Wyatt – This Summer Night
Sarah
Katsen – Cactus
Les Georges Leningrad – Supa Doopa
Add N to (X) – Robot New York
Stereo Total - Hunger
Michel Polnareff – Où est la Tosca?
Devo – Time Out For Fun
Verity
Human League – Sound of the Crowd
Serge Gainsbourg – Bonnie & Clyde
The Field Mice – Missing The Moon
Patrick Wolf – Vulture
Patricia Carli – Le Lion
Sebastien Tellier – L’Amour et la Violence (Boys Noize mix)
Andy
Who Owns The Weather - The Great Leap Forward
Ludus – Breaking The Rules
The Mo-Dettes – Foolish Girl
Gravy Train!!!! – Titties Bounce
Big Stick – Drag Race
Dominic
Röyksopp ft. Robin – The Girl and The Robot
Ssion – Call Out Our Lions
Johnny Hallyday – Noir C’est Noir
France Gall – Laisse Tomber Les Filles
Adèle – C’est Bon
Fernand Reynaud - Oh! Eh! Hein! Quoi!
Sarah
Alan Vega – Jukebox Babe
The Chap – They Have A Name
Soft Cell – Memorabilia
Verity
Stazi – How Sleazy Do You Want It?
Dominic
Die Doraus & Die Marinas – Fred Vom Jupiter
Verity
Françoise Hardy – Quel Mal y a-t-il á ça?
Dominic
Silicon Teens – Sun Flight


Mp3s
B-52’s – Hero Worship
[buy iTunes / Amazon]

Pierre Doris – J’ai Pas eu Peur
[re-released on Pop a Paris vol.3: C'est La Mode - buy it from Amazon.Fr]

Telex – Moskow Diskow
[buy iTunes]

Les Gamines – Vis Ta Vie Mon Gars
[re-released on Girls in the Garage vol.10: Groovy Gallic Gals, which is seemingly unavailable!]

L'Amour Electronique DJ at IDLE HANDS @ Hotel Pelirocco (Thursday 4 June)

ATTENTION!

We will be guest DJing la musique L'Amour Electronique this Thursday 4 June at

IDLE HANDS @ Hotel Pelirocco, Regency Sq, Brighton

4 hours of the choicest French Pop, electronic music and synthesized sounds

8pm -12am

FREE ENTRY

here is a farcebook event page