Vive La France 2012

In January our L'Amour Electronique soirée will be a special one-off as part of Vive La France 2012.

We will be providing musical entertainment at the end-of-festival party:
Saturday 28th January 2012
L'Amour Electronique @ Vive La France
11pm - 2am
Free Entry
VENUE: Plateau, 1 Bartholomews, Brighton, BN1 1HG

We will also be playing interlude records between bands at one of the gigs:
Friday 27th January 2012
Turzi + Concrete Knives + Halfway + L'Amour Electronique DJs
VENUE: The Hope, 11 Queens Rd, Brighton, BN1 3WA
doors 8pm
entry £5/£6

download the full programme for Vive La France 2012



[nb there is no L'Amour Electronique in December]

haven't you heard Mirza?

At the last L'Amour Electronique I gave this by ace Jocelyne track an airing:  A driving beat, some ringing telecaster guitar licks, tenor sax, horns and a pocket of backing vox - it's a soulful little number alright, and not even the dubious muted trumpet solo can take the wind out of its sails.

"et la la la la la"

Jocelyne - La La La La La

[this Jocelyne track was re-issued on the out-of-print Jocelyne: Twistin' The Rock vol 1]

Now listen to Little Stevie Wonder banging the drums in 1963.

Sound familiar?

Fast forward 2 years to 1965 when you might have seen Mirza...

[buy Nino Ferrer from itunes | amazon.co.uk]


But maybe you haven't read Kafka?

Suzanne Gabriello - Z'Avez Pas Lu Kafka

[this track by Suzanne Gabriello was re-issued on the out-of-print Ultra Chicks vol 5: Chicks a Go Go]

A trip to the moon

NME.com is previewing a track from Air's forthcoming album Le Voyage Dans Le Lune (released 6th Feb 2012).

From the Air website:

The album takes its inspiration from the classic 1902 silent film “Le Voyage Dans La Lune” (A Trip To The Moon)” by Georges Méliès, which has been fully restored and is currently being shown at film festivals around the world to great acclaim. For this new version of the film, AIR were asked to compose an original score, which in turn grew into a full scale album project.

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.7

Following kitty’s suggestion we give you the lovely Miss Hills and her achingly beautiful rendition of The Zombies’ exquisite baroque-pop lament Leave Me Be.

The link from part 6 > Our Gillian had a small, but racy, part in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange: when that naughty Droog Alex picks her and her ice-lolly sucking friend up in the local record emporium, inviting them back to his pad to listen to some of his "angel trumpets and devil trombones".

Gillian Hills – Rentre Sans Moi

[buy Gillian Hills from itunes | amazon.co.uk]



...................................................................
L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > ?

All I want for Christmas is...

The Melody Nelson 40th Anniversary box-set

*DROOLS*

Yep, Finders Keepers have got me salivating again.  This limited edition box-set will be available from 21st November for the princely sum of seventy-five pounds and forty-seven pence, and includes:

• The original album on CD
• A CD of alternative versions of the tracks
• The original vinyl album
• A vinyl album of bonus sessions from the time of recording
• An exclusive 30-minute DVD documentary
• A large-format 52-page book in English and French, including lyrics from the album

*DROOLS AGAIN*

I shall be ordering my copy from Finders Keepers as soon as it becomes available, and you should order from them too (they need support having lost the majority of their stock in the PIAS warehouse fire in August)

Here's a little teaser for the documentary.

And we can only hope the Melody Nelson TV show will be included too!

Quietus interview Jean-Claude Vannier

Apparently he was once awarded Le Prix de l'Humour Noir (only in France would they have an award for "black humour").

Read the full interview at The Quietus.

Electro Rapide & Blood Red Roses

The wonderful Finders Keepers Records has just released 2 new Jean-Claude Vannier albums.  Yes two!

The first, Electro Rapide, is a collection of rarities and curios from the Vannier tape vaults, taken from the period before and during his time working with a certain Monsieur Gainsbourg.  It's a bizarre and brief (only 25 minutes long) mix of the epic, comic, strange, and sometimes disturbing mind of the composer-arranger.

More info and soundclips

The second, Roses Rouge Sang, is an album of brand new material recorded with the cream of the session musicians who plied their trade on the 60s scene (Vic Flick, Dougie Wright, Herbie Flowers, Pierre-Alain Dahan, Tony Bonfils, Denys Lable, and Mark Chantereau).  The fruits of this re-union could almost be a long-lost early-70s album by Gainsbourg himself - all brooding strings and taut, rhythmic funk. Whilst Vannier's vocal-style recalls Serge's earlier hesitant chansonnier style.

More info and soundclips


A version of the following song appears on Electro Rapide.  You can find this "mid-tempo version" as a bonus track on Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches (also on Finders Keepers)

Jean-Claude Vannier - Je M'Appelle Geraldine (mid-tempo version)
[buy Electro Rapide and Roses Rouges Sang on CD and mp3 direct from Finders Keepers Records - they need your support having lost most of their physical stock in the PIAS warehouse fire back in August]