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

Ripping Vinyl - Karo

Would Madame et Monsieur care for a little vinyl warmth to start le weekend? How about a double-serving of pure, unadulterated Québécoise sweetness by Karo, on the Trans-Canada Vedettes imprint?

You French pop fans will probably know Karo (real name Caroline Vallée), for her sugar-y 60s HIT 'Un Garçon En Mini-Jupe' (what was it back then with all those boys with long hair and mini-skirts and girls with short hair in trousers?). What you may not know is that she penned the music and lyrics to most of her songs, which certainly wasn't the norm for most female pop artistes back then. These two being perfect examples of her oeuvre, encapsulating an, undoubtedly rose-tinted and very saccharine, world view.

Here she is in double-vision with her ever-present smile and schoolgirl bunches:

[image source]

And here she is oiling up her motorbike, though possibly not getting ready to join the Ton-Up Club...

...As this evidence suggests...

Could anyone make the prospect of riding pillion with a roaring motorcycle between your legs sound quite so twee as Karo does? "VRROOM! VRROOOOOM!" She squeals as she wraps her arms around her leather-clad beau and they race off down the Route TransCanadienne.

Karo - Sur Ta Moto


On the flip-side, Karo hauls a gang of school kids in and together they summon up the joyful sound of going away on summer holiday (and not a Cliff in sight!). It's absolutely brimful of sunshine and happiness, and then she slips in a key-change and the cup of glee runneth over.

Altogether now, everybody cheer: "HEYYYYYY!"

Karo - Je M'en Vais En Vacances

[you can download a compilation of Karo's 60s material Un Garçon En Mini-Jupe from 7digital or archambault.ca. If you'd like to buy the 45, there's one in the US on musicstack, a snip at £22.37.]


I have a couple more Karo 45s hanging around, so if you like these songs and want to hear more from her, leave nice comments and it will encourage me to dig them out.

Nothing but the truth

This is my new favourite Clothilde song.

It was the 4th track on her 2nd (and final) ep, and it has all the hallmarks of this quintessential Swinging Mademoiselle: The disaffected vocal; a hyperactive bubblegum groove; some ridiculously strangulated fuzz-guitar; ding-dong bells; all manner of plinky-plonky percussion; horns a-plenty; a bit at the start of the chorus where she goes "Heh!"; not to mention the kitchen sink... All thrown into the mixing console and stirred up by French pop svengali Germinal Tenas.

I really can't understand why it hasn't already been on any of the umpteen Swinging Mademoiselle/Ultra Chicks/Femmes De Paris/Pop A Paris comps to date... But it's now available to us all on the Born Bad Records released French Swinging Mademoiselle 1967 album, and the CD and LP versions include a full transcript of a candid interview with Élisabeth Beauvais (Clothilde's real name), plus interjections from the aforementioned Mr. Tenas.

Clothilde - La Vérité Toute La Vérité [buy Clothilde - French Swinging Mademoiselle 1967 on CD, LP or all manner of digital formats from Born Bad Records]

Swing when you're winning

On my jaunts around the interweb, I also heard the pitter-patter of Clothilde's mischievous chansons, which have been collected together, in all their Germinal Tenas-produced, intricate glory, for a long-overdue retrospective, French Swinging Mademoiselle 1967, to be released on Born Bad Records (on vinyl and CD if rumours are to be believed) in February or March this year. If you can't wait for the physical release, you can download it in all manner of digital formats from the Born Bad Recs BandCamp page, or you can preview it and buy it via the handy little player below...

Swing Mademoiselle, Swing!

Passing by the always impeccable Filles Sourires site, I was oh so grateful to Monsieur Guuzbourg for heralding the arrival of Swinging Mademoiselle Volume 3.   I've been out of touch with most of the outside world (as the present dearth of blog posts testifies) - one of the side effects of having a small person to look after - so the news gave me a tiny flutter of excitement at the prospect of some hitherto unheard yé-yé delights to please my ears and my itchy, dancing feet.

Some of you may remember how I got in a bit of a lather about that Girls In The Garage Vol 12, regarding it as the 3rd part of the Swinging Mademoiselle series (not to be confused with the pale imitation Swinging Mademoiselles - note the pluralisation and beware - CDs), being that it was compiled by the same person: an elusive monsieur by the name of Sasha Monett.

Here's what he says of this latest edition:

"The world has changed a lot in the 10 years since the release of volume 2, and I can say (in all modesty) that the term Swinging Mademoiselle has basically become a genre in itself, designating the instantly recognizable sound of French pop with female vocals, recorded from 1965 to 1968.  

This is the third and -- I emphasize -- the final volume, because there will not be any more. Sorry, friends, but three is enough (or four, because you can include Girls in the Garage volume 12 in this series). This time, I’ll present artists who are much more obscure than those in previous volumes. It’s a difficult task, because in today’s ultra-connected world where everything is three clicks away, nothing remains truly « obscure ». It’s a daunting task, but I’ll try anyway."

I'm waiting patiently for my vinyl copy to arrive from France, but he very kindly forwarded me the mp3 files, and they're keeping me warm in this snowy weather. The first few listens suggest he's certainly delivered on his promise: a quick cross-reference of my own mp3 and vinyl library brings up only 2 duplicates (Valéry - 'Vous Dansez Mademoiselle'; and Dorine - 'Pêches à la crème'; which were both on Ultra Chicks 6, I think). The rest is pure, uncharted vintage Femme-pop joy: from the slightly sleazey doo-wop naiveté of Michelle's 'Viens petite fille', to the psyched-out baroquerie of Christine Moncenis' Serge Franklin-penned 'Sensation'.

In the absence of any time to write a gushing review, Sasha Monett, I doff my cap to you!

WANT TO BUY IT?
The vinyl pressing is limited to only 1000 copies, and there's no digital or CD release on the cards as far as I know, so you should order your copy now - my tip is to get it direct from source if you're in Europe, or from Dionysus Recs in the US.

Ripping Vinyl - Tienou

Finally got around to finishing off some vinyl ripping I started a while ago. First up, I give you Tienou...

Here are some wise words from the elusive Sasha Monett on the back of that G.i.t.G vol. 12 album I'm still raving about. 

"Les Princesses is a cool French-style girl group. Perhaps they were trying to be the French Supremes. This band features Ariane, Erma and Tienou. Ariane and Tienou (born French Guyana in South America) also went on to release records on their own, some of which (especially Tienou) are very good - look for them!"

Look for them is what I did... And the results of all that looking: I took a punt on a couple of Tienou vinyl 45s without even hearing any of the tracks (nothing on YouTube, no mp3s, nothing on any P-2-P sites, nowt, zero, rien).

So they appeared, wrapped in folded picture sleeves with the same picture front and back, and, behold, they were pretty damn fine - early 60s orchestral pop with clean'n'twangy guitar licks from that brief period between the tail-end of the Rock'n'Roll years and the explosion of the Beat boom. Released in 1964(?), both sides are co-written by Tienou and someone called Gil Carasso (Encyclopédisque has this listed incorrectly as Carso or Gil Carso) with orchestration by Jean Bouchéty - which is always a sure stamp of quality!

File alongside Gillian Hills' early output; Louise Cordet; Bardot's early 60s material.

I really love the tension where the guitar goes TWAANNG-NG-NG-NGGGG and there's just a slight pause - Magic!

Tienou - Si J'Entends Frapper à Ma Porte

This one's got those deep, male backing vocals, played off against super high-pitched strings with Tienou sitting in the sweet spot right at the centre.

Tienou - Tu N'Peux Pas T'Empêcher De Rire

So you might be wondering what happened to the other seven-inch.  Well, I put it in my record box and took it out to DJ a couple of times, but never got round to playing it.  Then one day I took it out of its sleeve and found a large chunk of vinyl missing from the edge - GUTTED!

If anyone out there has mp3s of either of the tracks I'd be truly grateful for copies, as I really can't afford to buy another copy.

Un petit peu d'amour

Because of the title I gave my little introduction to Gillian Hills, I couldn't resist posting this toe-tapper.

I first heard it on the already classic Girls In The Garage vol.12 aka Swinging Mademoiselle vol. 3 and I've given it a fair few spins at L'Amour Electronique over the past year (yes, a whole year has passed since I first placed that clear blue vinyl lp on my turntable, dropped the needle and held my breath).

As you can tell I'm quite smitten with Katty Line's take on the Los Bravos/Easybeats stormer Bring A Little Lovin'. That choppy muted guitar gets my salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs and brings about the same buzz I get whenever I hear the first few notes of Gimme Some Lovin' (the Spencer Davis OR the Sylvie version). 

As I think I said once before: Maximum R&B en Français! 

Now go Katty Line, GO!

Katty Line - Un Petit Peu D'Amour

[buy this on Girls In The Garage vol. 12 blue vinyl lp!]

Saperlipopette

All day on Saturday and Sunday I had this song going round and round inside my head - an Easter earworm, if you will. Good job it brings a great big Chesire Cat smile to my face whenever I hear it!

I just looked up the lyrics, which seem to be depict a clutch of absurdist anthropomorphic situations: a shrimp finds itself in trouble served up on a plate and just to make his day even worse he has toothache; or a weasel decides she needs a nose-job and opts for a (more Serge-like?) Roman nose; or the doe whose milk turned into cheese...  "SAPERLIPOPETTE!" they each cry in turn.

The term Saperlipopette seems to be an exclamation of surprise. So far I've found it translated as "Gadzooks!" or "Goodness me!" or "Fiddlesticks!" or "Goodness gracious!" and even, as an English translation of Tin Tin has Captain Haddock bellowing, "Blistering Barnacles!". [If anyone out there has a better translation/meaning for the word, please leave a comment and share it with the rest of us. Thanks.]

So, can you resist Germinal Tenas' everything-AND-the-kitchen-sink production and arrangement or Clothilde's butter-wouldn't-melt innocence?

Clothilde - Saperlipopette

[You can buy this song on the recently reissued Femmes de Paris complete box set.  Another Clothilde track is currently available on Girls in the Garage vol.12]

Chantal Kelly interviewed!

Ooh look!  A marvellous and fascinating interview with another star of the yé-yé era - Chantal Kelly -  courtesy of the Bedazzled and the Swingin' Mademoiselles facebook page.

Some great little anecdotes about how France Gall "stole" Bébé Requin from her, hiding from Juliette Greco, hanging out at the Drugstore Publicis with the French Minets, advertising Phillips cassette players, and dancing "The Jerk"...

Read the full interview with Chantal Kelly at Bedazzled or Swingin' Mademoiselles
(the Bedazzled link has some great unseen videos too!)

Here is the eerie lead track from Chantal's debut ep, its, Claude Bolling-arranged, tribal rhythms and wailing melody tapping in to a native American-Indian seam of exotica untouched by other songs of the time.

Chantal Kelly - Caribou*
[this track was never re-issued, but you can buy Chantal Kelly from Amazon.co.uk]

*As far as I remember I originally found this via the, now sadly defunct(?), Spiked Candy blog

Swingin' Mademoiselles interview Clothilde

The Swingin' Mademoiselles facebook crew have just posted a rare interview with the ultra-mysterious Clothilde - it's a very insightful read, and great to get an insider's view of the French 60s yé-yé scene, particularly as, for once, it's not through rose-tinted John Lennon specs.

You can read the Clothilde interview at the Swingin' Mademoiselles facebook page.

Girls in the Garage volume 12 (bonus)

Pssssst!  Remember I had an advance mp3 version of Girls in the Garage volume 12?  And remember there was one track that was included on the vinyl version but not listed on the sleeve (Les Emeraudes - see comments on the previous post).

Well, the mp3s had 2 more songs tagged onto the end, and these are they:
(the Annie Girardot has quite a violent fade on the end - but that's the way it is.)

16. Célia - Il n'y pas que toi
17. Annie Girardot - La femme faux cils
[Girls in the Garage volume 12 is released on Saperlipopette in Europe and Dionysus Records in the US. You can order it direct from them or from bompstore.com | clearspot.nl | shinybeast.nl]


Does anyone know anything about these 2 mystery tracks?

Girls in the Garage volume 12

Let’s face it: this French 60s lark is a bit of a niche market, so it’s always good news when a new compilation is unleashed for us fanatics to gobble up (especially when this particular fanatic only has 4 of the 14 tracks). What’s even better is that it has the Girls in the Garage seal of approval, and even more better-er are the rumours it was compiled by the elusive Sasha Monett, who gave us the essential Swinging Mademoiselle volumes 1 and 2. Yes, this latest G.i.t.G. could easily have been titled Swinging Mademoiselle volume 3. 11 years later and we finally have a formidable follow-up: tripleplusgood as we used to say in 1984.

Copies haven’t landed in the UK yet, but mine’s on its way from France – “14 charming French swinging ladies” on clear blue vinyl *drools*. Luckily I have a secret source who has sent me a preview mp3 version, here’s a blow-by-blow account:

Side 1
1. Les Chéries - Mai qui que quoi donc où (1967)
Typical femme pop: identical twins with sassy blonde pixie-cuts, add some cheesy Hammond, treble-y guitar jangle, a bit of brass, and that loose, bubbling French bass-style with a rapidly-descending scale every few bars, speed it up towards the end, and we’re on our way…

2. Evy - Une question qui se pose (1965)
This definitely pricked my ears up: Evy’s raunchy cover of ‘Questions I Can’t Answer’ by Joe Meek’s golden boy Heinz. I do love those RGM productions but this has got a hell of a lot more balls to it!

3. Tonia - Un petit rien (1966)
Who is Tonia? I have no idea. Belgian you say? All I know is she’s got those cute France Gall vocal-stylings down pat and some cool echo on her voice when she hits the refrain. There’s a very pleasant booming reverb sound to this whole recording, and my motto is: you can never have too much reverb!

4. Les Princesses - Oh! dis-moi (1966)
Ooh! Fuzz bass and, what I like to call, the Sesame Street 3-chord piano rhythm (see also Liz Brady’s ‘Bas Les Pattes’). Les Princesses were a girl group from French Guyana – dig those Rhythm & Blues.

5. Annie Markan - Raconte-moi (1966)
Annie was the ‘A’ in Les Gam’s, she went solo and gave us some soulful songs that, apparently, didn’t make her a star. This one reminds me of some of Petula Clark’s French releases. Which is a good thing.

6. Pascale & Suzie - Les rendez-vous Menier (1966)
Can you really sell chocolate bars with a garage-y dance-floor shaker like this? Menier seemed to think so: according to the sleeve notes it was released as a promotional record for their chocolate bars. Thankfully Pascal & Suzie (the ‘S’ in Les Gam’s) make it sound more like they’re going to the hip new beat-club in Paris. You must have heard of Le Menier. No?

7. Caroline - Mister a gogo (1967)
I ask myself: Do I really need a French version of David Bowie’s ‘The Laughing Gnome’? Probably not, it’s fun, but I’ve already found myself skipping onto side 2. It’s a strange inlcusion, especially as it was included as a bonus track on the CD version of SM vol 2. What could have been worse, though, would have been a French version of one of Bowie’s mime skits. I’ll let you think about that while you turn the record over…

Side Two
1. Christie Laume - Chic voilà le soleil (1968)
Yay! One of Christie’s only 16 songs that hasn’t already been comp’ed, I can’t think why, ‘cause this is ace! A really wonky pop number, hooked around a brilliantly odd piano and glockenspiel(?) motif, that shows off her “unique” singing style at it’s best.

2. Katty Line - Un petit peu d'amour (1969)
Katty Line covers Aussie mods The Easybeats: Maximum R&B en Français!

3. Jany L. - Le restaurant Chinois (1968)
I first heard about this rare mademoiselle on the superlative, but sadly defunct, Spiked Candy blog. I don’t think I’m alone in wondering why this has never found its way onto any French compilations until now. Our Jany likes eating in the Chinese restaurant because she get to use chopsticks instead of a fork. There’s a song in there somewhere: a driving, beat-style belter of a song with some deliciously clichéd oriental motifs on the xylophone. Casual racism? Perhaps they were more innocent times in 1968.

4. Marjorie Noël - Au temps des princes charmants (1967)
I swear this is a cover. No idea what, but it sounds very familiar. Marjorie looks too young to be doing grown up songs like this, but she holds herself well. The result: A big production with vibraphones, horns, a motown beat, and a vocal that stays just on the right side of sickly.

5. Clothilde - Le Boa (1967)
Every French yé-yé comp needs a Clothilde song, so here we are: another fantastique piece of everything-and-the-kitchen-sink production from the ace Germinal Tenas - baroque-fuzz-pop perfection.

6. Charlotte Walters - Fleurs de pavots bleus (1969)
A freaky-psychedelic slow burner, full of faux-Eastern mystique. Is this really what Les Fleurs de Pavots listen to when they’re down? Or is it just a sly, hippy-drippy piss-take?

7. Kathy - Ma moto (1973)
Another one to add to the ‘Girl on a Motorcycle’ genre (see BB’s ‘Harley Davidson’ and Dani’s ‘La Fille à la Moto’). A bit of a late-comer, but a welcome addition: early-70’s road-worthy rhythm and blues with some sexy Jean-Claude Vannier-style strings and breathy backing vocals. Oh and the sound of motorbikes revving up and roaring off into the horizon.


I think we deserve to hear a couple of songs after all that:
Evy - Une question qui se pose
Les Princesses - Oh! dis-moi
[Girls in the Garage volume 12 is released on Saperlipopette in Europe and Dionysus Records in the US. You can order it direct from them or from bompstore.com | clearspot.nl | shinybeast.nl]

Swinging Mademoiselle vol. 3

News in yesterday via the Swingin' Mademoiselles facebook page.  Sasha Monett has been compiling Girls in the Garage volume 12. Yes, that's Sasha Monett who put together both essential Swinging Mademoiselle comps.  It may be titled Girls in the Garage, but essentially it is Swinging Mademoiselle volume 3.  Scheduled for a fall release (in the UK too, please!) on Dionysus Records.