Exposition Gainsbourg + Don't Try This At Home

Much excitement at L'Amour Electronique HQ. In a few days we head to Paris to see l'Exposition Gainsbourg at the Cité de la Musique.

They've made a fun interactive typewriter mini-site with tons of Serge related info and trivia (you can reach it by clicking the Gainsbourg link here.

Our trip has also, rather luckily, coincided with a performance by off-the-wall electronic troupe The Chap, alongside the C86/Mary Chain sounds of Crystal Stilts, and a Strasbourgian duo called Electric Electric, who play epileptic dancing noise! It promises to be a good trip.

In other news: Last Thursday I spent a few happy hours taking apart an old radio and then conjuring free-jazz electronic noise out of its innards with my bare hands.

NB: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS! 

ESPECIALLY NOT WITH ANYTHING PLUGGED INTO THE MAINS!!!!!!!

SETLIST from 23 AUGUST 2008 (+ mp3s)

There were technical issues with the recording equipment and so there is no podcast this time. Instead, we've picked one mp3 each - they're at the end of the post...

Sarah
The Chap – Baby I’m Hurtin’
Visage – Damned Don’t Cry
Baxendale – Battery Acid
Japan – Quiet Life
Human League – Almost Medieval
Serge Gainsbourg – Chez Les Yé-Yé
Christie Laume - L'Adorable Femmes Des Neiges
Fad Gadget – Love Parasite
Dominic
LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
Boy from Brazil – Pocket Rocket Queen
Serge Gainsbourg – Ford Mustang
Michel Polnareff – Tout Tout Pour Ma Cherie
Les Georges Leningrad – Missing Gary
Les Papyvores – Psychédelic Badge
Electronic Movements – Syncopation
Golden Boy and Miss Kittin – Rippin Kittin
Stereo Total – In / Out
Verity
John Foxx – New Kind of Man
Men Without Hats – Safety Dance
Jacques Dutronc – Les Playboys
Jeff Wayne – The Fighting Machine
Air – Playground Love (Highschool Prom Mix)
Kraftwerk – Antenna
Air and Françoise Hardy – Jeanne
OMD - Souvenir
Magnetic Fields – With Whom to Dance
Sarah
The Knife – Rock Classics
Simon Bookish – Portrait of the Artist as a Fountain
Kid Carpet – I Don’t Want to Fall in Love With You
Noisy Pig ft Baby Donut – Wrong Time Capsule
Dauerfisch – Endlich Vögeln
Anne Kern – Oh! Seigneur, Ecoute ma Prière
France Gall – Pense a Moi
Brigitte Bardot – Everybody Loves My Baby
Sylvie Vartan – Koibito Jidai
Plastic Bertrand – C’est Le Rock ‘N’ Roll
Dominic
Frank Alamo – Ma Biche
Françoise Hardy – Le Temps de L’Amour
Cats in Paris – Loose Tooth Tactile
Ladyhawke – Paris S’enflamme
John Baker / BBC Radiophonic Workship – Brio
[French Language]
John et Jehn – 20L07
Nancy Holloway – Tu N’es Pas Venu
Gabriel Yared – La Poubelle Cuisine (Betty Blue OST)
Adèle – C’est Bon
Jina Miko – Dum Dum
Polnareff – Dans La Maison Vide
Verity
OMD – Enola Gay
Eurythmics – Tous Les Garçons
Experimental Pop Band – Punk Rock Classic
Mareva – Les Cornichons
Sparks – Beat the Clock
Marie Möör – Pretty Dry
France Gall – C’est Air La
Stereolab – Wow and Flutter
Serge Gainsbourg – Marilu
Sarah
Stereo Total – Komplex Mit Dem Sex
Add N to (X) – Iron Man
Quintron and Miss Pussycat – Swamp Buggy Badass
50 Centime – In Da Club
Sparks – Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth
Neil Young – Sample and Hold
Devo – Too Much Paranoias
Dominic
Brigitte Bardot – Contact
Ananda Shankar - Back Home /
[French Language] /
Jiri Bezant / Jiri Malasek – Erotica /
Henri Salvador – Beta Gamma, L’Ordinateur
Nino Nardini – Catch That Man
Kap Bambino – New Breath
Jacques Dutronc – L’Amour A La Chaine
Verity
Future Bible Heroes – I’m a Vampire
Heaven 17 – Temptation
Comix – Touche Pas Mon Sexe
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Add N to (X) – FYUZ
Neon Neon – I Told Her on Alderan
Sarah
The Associates – Club Country
Denim – Brumburger
Les Roches Martins – Les Mains Les Poches
Dominic
Les Dandy’s – Amour et Mariage
Françoise Hardy – Je Pense a Lui
Brezel Göring – Ich Bin So Süchtig (mit Christiane F)
Verity
Mareva – Pourquoi Pas Moi
Simon Bookish – Terry Riley Disco
Joceleyne – Nitty Gritty
Sarah
Ria Bartok – J’y Pense Tout Bas
Bis – Eurodisco
Stazi – Your Love is Lethal
Dominic
Chantal Kelly - Notre Prof’ d’Anglais
Michel Polnareff – La Mouche
Sarah
Magnetic Fields – I thought you were my boyfriend
Dominic
Les Shades – Orage Mechanique
Plastic Bertrand – Ca Plane Pour Moi
Sarah
Polysics – Kaja Kaja Goo
Verity
Françoise Hardy – Je Changerais d’Avis


Verity's mp3 choice
Comix – Touche Pas Mon Sexe
Dominic's mp3 choice
Gabriel Yared – La Poubelle Cuisine (Betty Blue OST)
Sarah's mp3 choice
Anne Kern – Oh! Seigneur, Ecoute ma Prière

A short post about Paris and Cats

Cats In Paris make music that could perhaps be classified as epic-twee-prog-electro-pop (is that a super-oxymoron, or what?). I first heard them doing a session on Marc Riley’s 6Music show a couple of weeks ago, and it’s taken me until now to track something down (I lead a busy life, don’t you know). They seem to come from Manchester, and have released some stuff on Akoustik Anarkhy. They remind me a little of Pram and a lot of Gorky’s.

Ladies and gentlemen, the oxymoronic
Cats in Paris – Loose Tooth Tactile

Ladyhawke has been all over my radio recently, she sort of crept up on me that way. She’s been blogged like hell everywhere else, so I don’t need to say too much, except that she’s from New Zealand, is signed to Modular and her voice reminds me of my childhood crush Kim Wilde.  She also has a cool little watercolour drawing of a cat on her homepage (see what I did there?)

Her video is a bit of an odd one, not much really happens and there are no fantastical occurrences – except what looks like sparks raining down on her which makes you want to cry “Ladyhawke! Be careful you don’t singe your mane off!” The sparks turn out to be a foil ticker-tape parade, and then she gets a wolf from somewhere and disappears off into the fires at the end of the street. It’s a strange one, and here it is:

Ladyhawke – Paris Is Burning


Post-script: Some helpful bod at Fluo Kids posted a French version called Paris S’Enflamme, which I downloaded in time to play at last night’s L’Amour Electronique. Bravo!