The 200th Post

*FANFARE* This is the landmark 200th post on the L'Amour Electronique blog! Of course, L'Amour Electronique was in existence for a few years before the blog began, but I still couldn't let it pass without flagging it up.

But how to commemorate this double-century?

At first I thought I could post a song or artist with "two-hundred" in the name or title - but a quick search through my hard-drive put paid to that idea. So thinking laterally I give you a song that is 200 seconds long, or 3 minutes 33 seconds in old money.

Of all the mp3s I had that fit this criteria, one stood out from all the rest, by an artist who quite probably started this whole obsession with French music for me. Step forward Monsieur Gainsbourg. And the song: a classic that featured on the very first album I picked up by old Serge, and has been a mainstay at our little soirées since the very start.

I give you his homage to the divine Brigitte Bardot in all its bass-funk and Ski Sunday string-fuelled drama.

Serge Gainsbourg - Initials B.B.

[buy Serge Gainsbourg from iTunes |  Amazon.co.uk]

I do love this film clip of footage from the Initials B.B. studio sessions.

SETLIST from 28 NOVEMBER 2009

In the foggy mists of lat November we held our final L'Amour Electronique of 2009. We had something of an enforced guest DJ situation (long story), but it all worked as well as it could've, with their electronic burblings mixing not-too-jarringly with our French bubblegum and poppier synth sounds.

Verity
New Order – Elegia
Glass Candy – Life After Sundown
Zouzou – Tu Fais Partie De Passé
Etienne Daho – Rendez-vous á Vedra
Michel Polnareff – La Mouche
Add N to (X) – Poke ‘Er ‘Ole
Pram – Omnichord
Sarah
Ladytron – Another Breakfast With You
Brigitte Bardot – Oh! Qu’il est Vilain
Sebastien Tellier – Sexual Sportswear
John Foxx – Mr No
Giorgio Moroder – From Here To Eternity
Grace Jones – La Vie En Rose
Professor Genius – La Grotta
Dominic
Chorus Reverendus – Ne Poussez Pas Meme Dans Les Orties
Marie Laforêt – Marie Colère, Marie Douceur
Tubeway Army – Me, I Disconnect From You
Coralie – Vis à Vis
Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas
Brigitte – Battez Vous
Dessous Chics – Garçon Façile
Jacques Dutronc – Il est Cinq Heures, Paris S’eveilles
Verity
Luna – Bonnie & Clyde – (Clyde Barrow version)
Serge Gainsbourg et Jane Birkin – La Decadanse
Stereo Total – Joe Le Taxi
Françoise Hardy – Les Petits Garçons
Jean-Michel Jarre – Equinoxe pt. 5
OMD – Electricity
Visage – Fade To Grey
Sebastien Tellier – Divine
France Gall – Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges
[--guest DJ set--]
Sarah
Datarock - Computer Camp Love
Katsen – Island in an Island
Luke Haines – Off My Rocker at the Artschool Bop
Les Roche Martin – C'est Toi Qui a Gache Notre Vie
Prototypes – Je Ne Te Connais Pas
Stereo Total – Plastic
The Associates – Party Fears Two
Ultravox – Slow Motion
France Gall – Les Sucettes
Dominic
Petula Clark – Il y a Tellement de Filles
Baby Birkin – St Tropez
Charlotte Leslie – Les Filles C’est Faites Pour Faire L’Amour
Serge Gainsbourg – Chatterton
Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM
Gong/Daevid Allen – Est-ce Que Je Suis
Les Soundtracks – Ce Soir C’est Ma Fête
Antoine – Un Éléphant Me Regarde
L’Infonie – J'ai perdu 15 cents dans le nez froid d'un ange bronzé
Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator
L’Infonie – L’Affaire
Michèle et Ses Wouaps – Dam Dam
Michel Legrand – Digue Ding Ding
French language disque “Please will you come to my house”
[--guest DJ set--]
Verity
Hot Butter – Popcorn
Stereolab – John Cage Bubblegum
Pulp – Le Roi Des Fourmis
Serge Gainsbourg – Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde
Blancmange – Living On The Ceiling
The Knife – We Share Our Mother’s Health
Simon Bookish – Fantastic Piss Experiment
Mareva Galanter – Pourquoi Pas Moi
Sarah
Chantal Goya – Une Écharpe, Une Rose
Sylvie Vartan – Les Hommes Qui N’ont Plus Rien à Perdre
Serge Gainsbourg – Pauvre Lola
Pulp – Razzamatazz
Devo – Peek-a-Boo
The B-52’s – 6060842
Add N to (X) – Metal Finger In My Body
[--guest DJ set--]
Dominic
Takako Minekawa – Fantastic Cat
Die Dorau & Die Marinas – Fred Vom Jupiter
Brigitte Bardot – Contact
Serge Gainsbourg – Qui est ‘In’, Qui est ‘Out’?
Adèle – C’est Bon
Silicon Teens – Let’s Dance
Fad Gadget – Fireside Favourite (I Monster toasted crumpet mix)
Jacqueline Taïeb – 7 Heures du Matin
Stereo Total – Orange Mecanique
Dopplereffekt – Pornoviewer
Ronnie Bird – Chante
Jacques Brel – Amsterdam (live a l’Olympia, Paris)


November's mp3 selections
Sarah
Brigitte Bardot – Oh! Qu’il est Vilain
[buy Brigitte Bardot from iTunes | Amazon.uk]
Verity
Françoise Hardy – Les Petits Garçons
[buy Françoise Hardy from Amazon.uk]
Dominic
Dopplereffekt – Pornoviewer
[buy Dopplereffekt from iTunes]

Quelle Horreur!

I promised my friends Nick and Jane a French Hallowe'en CD for their party, so I thought I might as well post it here. There are a few Yé-Yé classics and some truly freaky oddities guaranteed to give you the heebie-jeebies*.


1. Stella - Si vous connaissez quelque-chose de pire qu'un vampire, parlez m'en toujours, ça pourra peut-être me faire sourire
2. Serge Gainsbourg - Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde
3. Christine Pilzer - Dracula
4. Les Maledictus Sound - Kriminal Theme
5. Evariste - Connais-Tu I'animal Qui Inventa Le Calcul Integral
6. France Gall - Frankenstein
7. Jany L. - Mon Joli Vampire
8. Gérard Manset - Animal on est mal
9. Les Maledictus Sound - Monster Cocktail
10. Nicole Paquin - Mon Mari C'est Frankenstein
11. Brigitte Bardot - Le Diable Est Anglais
12. Stereo Total - Film D'Horreur

DOWNLOAD QUELLE HORREUR (zip file, 34.6MB)

[*I'm pretty sure I picked up a few of the tracks on other blogs over the last few years, so hopefully they won't mind me re-posting]

l’histoire de Bonnie and Clyde

In homage to Brigitte Bardot who celebrated her 75th birthday last Monday, we bring you l’histoire de BONNIE AND CLYDE.

The year was 1967, Serge Gainsbourg had landed the job of writing and directing a few musical numbers for Le Bardot Show. A working relationship very quickly developed into a series of steamy romantic liaisons, much to the chagrin of every other Frenchman opening his copy of France Soir to see paprazzi snaps of their divine B.B. arm-in-arm with her frog prince, whom she nicknamed “gueule d’amour” or “love face”.

Their courtship didn’t all run smoothly for the louche, chain-smoking Serge, though: After a disastrous early-date, Bardot sent him packing, and requested that, by way of penance, he write her “the most beautiful love song you can imagine”.

He came crawling back the next day, bleary-eyed, a Gitane between his lips and a glint in his eye. A sleepless night had yielded not one, but two, love songs: Bonnie and Clyde, and Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus.

Gainsbourg based the lyrics to Bonnie and Clyde on The Story of Bonnie and Clyde (The Trail's End)
 a poem written by (the real) Bonnie Parker.

Gainsbourg and Bardot duetted as the heroes/villains, having apparently hi-jacked Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s wardrobe from the film of the same name (released in August 1967).

Mise en scène: a dingy hideout; Serge skulks furtively in the shadows, with a shoulder-holster and a cigarette; Bardot smolders, all panda-eyed in beret, maxi-jupe and bobbed wig, a tommy-gun perched on her knee.

Serge & Brigitte = Bonnie and Clyde (lyrics: once-removed, costumes: twice-removed)

Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot – Bonnie and Clyde
[buy Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot: iTunes | Amazon.uk]


Mick Harvey recorded an English version of Bonnie & Clyde with Anita Lane in 1995, for his album Intoxicated Man (Songs of Serge Gainsbourg sung in English). Together with Alan Chamberlain he translated the lyrics from Serge’s French words, taking it one step further away from Bonnie Parker’s original poem. Anita Lane’s vocal is more sultry than Bardot’s deadpan delivery, and they even manage to nail the sounds-like-someone-punching-a-baboon-in-a-cage cuíca sound.

Mick Harvey & Anita Lane = Bonnie and Clyde (lyrics: twice-removed)

Mick Harvey with Anita Lane – Bonnie & Clyde
[buy Mick Harvey: iTunes | Amazon.uk]



Also released in 1995: Luna made two French language versions of the song. These are more direct cover-versions of the Bardot-Gainsbourg duet, with frontman Dean Wareham as Clyde Barrow and Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier guesting as a slightly-softer-in-delivery-than-Bardot Bonnie Parker. The Clyde Barrow version matches the original for pace and it seems they even got someone to do a valiant impersonation of a monkey being tickled for the cuíca sounds (not sure if they got credited in the liner notes, mind). The Bonnie Parker version is more languid and pensive, with some shimmering wah-guitar - Bonnie & Clyde stripped bare, if you will. Both songs were re-mastered for the Best of Luna album in 2006 - the Bonnie Parker version fared particularly badly, losing a lot of the atmosphere and claustrophobia of this earlier mix.

Dean Wareham & Lætitia Sadier = Bonnie and Clyde (lyrics: once-removed)

Luna – Bonnie & Clyde (Clyde Barrow version)
Luna – Bonnie & Clyde (Bonnie Parker version)
[buy Luna: iTunes | Amazon.uk]



And in 1998, Baby Birkin made a sugary lo-fi pop album of English versions of French language songs from les années sixties. It was called Classée X, and it was produced by Russell Senior who’d just jumped from the good-ship Pulp.

The vinyl version included a fun extended romp through Francis Lai’s instrumental St. Tropez (which was released on the 1968 album Brigitte Bardot Show or Special Bardot. Confusingly it was not featured in the TV special of the same name and year), which UK readers may remember from the low-rent opening credits of Eurotrash. The Baby Birkins had penned some witty anecdotal lyrics about holiday romance on a French exchange trip – “He said dansez-vous? I said askez-vous?”

The CD release of Classée X was missing the Eurotrash, in favour of a not-so-fun meander through the underworld of B. Parker and C. Barrow. Taking a nod from Luna’s wah-tinged Bonnie Parker version: Baby Birkin slow-burned it and layed on a really rather sinister whispered confessional, quoted directly from the original poem by Bonnie Parker.

Baby Birkin = Bonnie (not Clyde) (lyrics: direct-from-source)

Baby Birkin – Bonnie & Clyde
[buy Baby Birkin: Amazon.uk]


And there’s more:
MC Solaar sampled his fellow Frenchman on Nouveau Western
According to wikipedia Belinda Carlisle covered it, along with Contact (another song Gainsbourg penned for the ’68 Bardot Show), on her 2007 French language album Voila – YouTube it if you must
And even Kylie isn’t immune to a bit of dirty ol’ Serge – she sampled it on her track Sensitized

Time for a personal anecdote:
Verity and I were drifting through the streets of the Île Saint-Louis, when she, with her bobbed hair and beret, caught the attention of some Parisian road-menders: “Bonneeee Parr-keuuurrrrrrrr” they called after us (in a very non-threatening way, I hasten to add). It is interesting to note that in Glasgow everyone thought she was French: “Ooh La La!”

……………………………………………………………………………..
Addendum:
Having spent a good few hours compiling and researching this post, I note that Filles Sourires did something similar back in 2006, and managed to collect a far more definitive set of versions too – you can read that post here. Then come back and shoot me down.

BB:75

Bon Anniversaire Brigitte Bardot: 75 today.

28 September 1934: God created Bardot



























Serge penned this tribute to BB at the height of their steamy affair:

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]

Now we are 5 - a retrospective

Zut Alors! It would appear that we have racked up 5 whole years of French and electronic pop goodness under the tricolore banner of L’Amour Electronique.

Here's a little poster artwork retrospective...

Vive la Révolution

Sarah found this book The French Revolution a few years ago in a charity shop. It’s an illustrated children’s book from a series called the Hamish Hamilton history library. She brings it every month to L’Amour Electronique and we always make sure we show off the gory illustrations at any opportunity.

Mister Bookish, the guillotine…
Simon Bookish – O Guillotine

Here comes Holy Fuck’s chopper to chop off your head…
Holy Fuck – Choppers
Maybe they’ll stick it on a spike and parade around the streets with it.

France’s modern day national anthem La Marseillaise was the rallying call of the French Revolution and received its name because it was first sung by volunteers, who had marched from Marseille, upon their arrival on the streets of Paris. B.B. also marched to it in the opening of her 1968 end-of-year show for French TV
Brigitte Bardot - Marseillaise Générique


Serge recorded his own reggae version of the French national anthem in 1978. It earned him serious death-threats from the extreme-right, affronted by the appropriation of a symbol of their national pride (I reckon I might be a bit miffed too if one of my favourite songs was given a reggae makeover). It also gave him his biggest selling record to date. A couple of years later he almost bankrupted himself buying the original manuscript of La Marseillaise “it was a question of honour” he said.
Serge Gainsbourg - Aux Armes et Cætera

L'Amour Electronique is this Saturday

Bonjour, 

so sorry for the lack of posts of late.  We have been very busy with travelling to Germany on tour as Miss Pain, and so there has been no time to find French and electronic delights for your pleasure.  And still no sign of the setlist and mix from April (it is being done as I type...)

But enough excuses, come and enjoy our monthly soirée of French Pop, Synth Pop and Electro Pop this Saturday 28th June.

L'AMOUR ELECTRONIQUE

8pm - 1am

The Penthouse, above The Freebutt, Phoenix Place, Brighton

it is free entry all night, and cheap-ish drinks too.

As well as playing sweet pop music, we will have a small tv showing French films and music videos.  Plus the usual array of tricolore decor.

here's a bit of B.B. to get you in the mood

Brigitte Bardot - L'Appareil A Sous