L'Amour Electronique mix 4

!!!NEWSFLASH!!! Part 2 of this mix now added below!!!

I felt I should commemorate the fact that a whole year has passed since the final L'Amour Electronique soirée on 26 May 2012, so I dug out a mix I had sitting on my hard-drive and dusted up for your listening pleasure.  This one was mixed live at one of our nights on 26 February 2011. Hopefully it'll keep y'all entertained while we wait for the mp3s to come back...

Here is some blurb that I spewed out to introduce it on mixcloud:

You want an epic prog-electroni-folk lament from Air? CHECK! You want a seriously DEVO-lved Toni Basil space-oddity? CHECK! You want to swoon as Gillian Hills makes dragging on a cigarette sound like the sexiest thing EVER? *PUFF PUFF* You want naked thighs and leather boots? CHECK! You want the Kili-watch rush of a surf-guitar instrumental? CHECK! You want early J-J Perrey Moog-pop? CHECK! You want Da Da Da en Français? CHECK! You want Christophe to leave behind his blue-eyed years and get on a grinding, motorik groove? CHECK! You want obscure pre-beat orchestral pop from Tienou; electro-pop from The Knife and Future Bible Heroes; Françoise Hardy, Liz Brady, Adèle (not that one), Polnareff and Brigitte Bardot? yé-yé! yé-yé! yé-yé! THEN HIT PLAY NOW >>

L'Amour Electronique mix 4 (pt.1) by Lamourelectronique on Mixcloud

tracklisting for mix 4 (pt.1)

Air – Sex Born Poison

Stereo Total – Cannibale

The Knife – Kino

Toni Basil – Space Girls

Brigitte Bardot – Le Diable est Anglais

Adèle – J’ai Peur Parfois (acoustic version)

Gillian Hills – Ma Premiere Cigarette

Françoise Hardy – Pas Gentille

Serge Gainsbourg – L’Homme à Tête du Chou

Philippe Nicaud – Cuisses Nues, Bottes de Cuir

Liz Brady – Palladium

Léo Petit et Ses Guitares et Ses Rhythmes – Kili-watch

Jean-Claude Vannier – L’Ours Parasseux

Michel Polnareff – Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta

Jean-Jacques Perrey – Porcupine Rock

Toss – Da Da Da (Est-ce qu'on s'cherche ou est ce qu'on triche?)

Christophe – Rock Monsieur

Tienou – Tu N’Peux Pas T’Empêcher de Rire

Future Bible Heroes – Love Is Blue

Jean-Michel Jarre – Equinoxe (pt.4)

Françoise Hardy – Le Premier Bonheur du Jour

And now for PART 2! 

Allez-Allez! The mix continues >> obscure indie-poppers do Serge > pure synth-pop > moody French disco > sugary & soulful femme pop > In/Out > lo-fi electro-pop > analogue synth abuse > filthy dirty freakbeat > a hefty dose of road rash > proto-electronica > sounds of summer > psyche-noir. And all for your listening pleasure.

L'Amour Electronique mix 4 (pt.2) by L'Amour Electronique on Mixcloud

tracklisting for mix 4 (pt.2)
Addictive Larsen – Bonnie & Clyde
The Human League – Open Your Heart
Kraftwerk – Airwaves
Michel Polnareff – La Mouche
Mareva Galanter – Les Filles C’est Faites Pour Faire L’Amour
Bébé Suong – Mine De Rien
Elizabeth – Madame Superman
Les Roche Martin – Les Mains Dans Les Poches
Serge Gainsbourg – Qui est ‘In’, Qui est ‘Out’?
Sue Wilkinson – You’ve Got To Be a Hustler
Stereo Total – Baby Ouh
Add N To (X) – Ann’s Eveready Equestrian
Jesus – L’Electrocuté
Christophe – Macadam
The Normal – T.V.O.D.
Mathématiques Moderne – Disco Rough
Bertrand Burgalat & Robert Wyatt – This Summer Night
Johnny Hallyday – Noir C’est Noir

ANALOGUE SEX MACHINE

For once I'm not referring to those naughty synth-abusers Add N To (X), though they did have a bit of a thing for fucking machines (as seen in this titillating video, and this titillatingier one...).

No.

Instead we gonna go back.

How far we going back?

Way back.

Back to the Godfather of Soul...

The year is 1969, James Brown hits the R&B top spot with the James Brown Orchestra, sweating it up to a fast-paced funk workout called 'Give it Up Or Turn It Loose'. Hot on his heels is an American jazz pianist (aka The Man From O.R.G.A.N.) messing about with his new Moog synthesizer, and making like some kind of pioneering electro-disco sexpot...

[image source + interview]

It's time to unleash Dick Hyman's analog[ue] sex machine. Don't be afraid boys and girls, just 'Give it Up Or Turn It Loose'

[image source: matrixsynth]

Dick Hyman - Give It Up Or Turn It Loose

[2nd hand vinyl copies of MOOG: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman on discogs.com starting at a bargain £3.50! Get 'em while you can!]

Moogie Wonderland

Last Sunday, the Now Playing @6Music show was dedicated Bob Moog in salute to what would have been his 78th birthday earlier in the week.  The show puts the power of selection in the hands of the listeners, who can make suggestions through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (see #Moog6Music), and dedicated Spotify playlists, which are then curated by the production team and host Tom Robinson.

[image source]

The Moog special threw up some analogue treats including an ace version of Let The Sunshine In (from the musical Hair) by Mort Garson suggested by The Horrors, an early use of Moog by The Monkees (Mickey Dolenz bought the 3rd commercially available Moog Modular off the production line), Moogie Wonderland by Stereolab, some Wendy Carlos, various 80s synth-pop classics, and even an epic Simon & Garfunkel track (on which Bob Moog apparently came to the studio to set up the Moog himself!). The one thing missing for me was something by avant-hard synth-abusers Add N To (X), or maybe some Claude Denjean Moog-madness, but I shouldn't complain when I didn't bother sending in my own suggestion, should I?

Whether every track played featured an actual Moog is up for debate, but if you enjoy the warm sound of vintage synths you should give it a listen before Sunday 3rd June.

Listen again via the BBC iPlayer >> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j8l4d

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR MOOG

If you've used Google at all today, chances are you would have seen the interactive Moog doodle, in celebration of what would have been Robert Moog's 78th birthday.

It doesn't seem entirely realistic or intuitive, but it's still good clean fun - Go and have a go yourself before it disappears!

Here's a video of Bob demonstrating his Mini Moog

SYNAPSE The Electronic Music Magazine

Thanks to my friend Simon who passed on this link to the Dangerous Minds site where they shared links to a digitized archive of 70s US electronic music magazine Synapse.

You can read all issues online at cyndustries.com, and here are a couple of the covers, featuring DEVO man-child Booji Boy and Mr Robert Moog, to get yr synapses firing.

The one that got away

During the weeks between our soirées I often jot down any songs that catch my ear with a view to giving them a spin at the next L'Amour Electronique. I usually end up only playing around 50% of these, some of them sound so good they end up on heavy rotation for the next few months, others get played once and will perhaps re-surface months or years later. And then there are those that never get their chance to delight the ears of our punters.

This is one of those songs: I've playlisted it two months in a row now, but just didn't find the right moment to slip it in.

Giorgio - now is your time - take us for a one-way ride to no place on your arpeggiated-disco train.

 

Giorgio Moroder - Utopia-Me Giorgio

[buy Giorgio Moroder from itunes | amazon.co.uk]


Merci beaucoup to all those who joined us on Saturday, by the way.

This Saturday => French Moog madness and more!

You are welcome to join us this Saturday for another evening of Synthesized sounds, French Pop and Electronic Delights.

L'AMOUR ELECTRONIQUE
Saturday 24th September
9pm-3am
The West Hill pub, 67 Buckingham Place, Brighton, BN1 3PQ
FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT

We play French garage, Moog madness*, 80s synth pop, 60s ye-ye, la musique psychedelique, swinging mademoiselles, robot rock, electronic pioneers, arpeggio disko and more!

* I just picked up this early Moog album in Manchester, and I ain't afraid to use it


love and electronics
xxx

John Barry R.I.P.

It has been reported today that John Barry, one of the great film score composers of the 20th Century, has died.

We don't play much John Barry at L'Amour Electronique (his widescreen music is better suited to our sister night Tonight We Fly), but here are a few L'Amour related points of interest:

• John Barry was Jane Birkin's first husband, with whom she had their daughter Kate. 
• John Barry composed the score to Beat Girl, which starred Gillian Hills. 
• John Barry was an early adopter of the Moog synthesizer - see his score for the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

He also made great use of the synth on the awesome 'theme from The Persuaders' (1971).



His music will live on.