spanner in the works

And so it goes: I'm convinced that most every time I decide to start blogging again, someone or something comes along that hampers progress.

The proverbial spanner is that a week ago I was asked to finish some paintings for an exhibition at the start of November - a ridiculously tight deadline, but one I couldn't pass up. If you care to know how I'm doing, there may be progress reports on my Twitter feed @neonpainter or on my website www.dominicbradnum.co.uk.

So it looks like you'll just have to make do for now with this mix that I completely forgot I had stuck up on Mixcloud 2 years ago...
 

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

[If you want to hear the first half of the mix, it's over there in the column on the right. Right?]

Jean-Michel Jarre: the first time

In case you missed it, Jean-Michel Jarre was interviewed on BBC 6Music last Sunday. You can listen to him ruminate on the differences between French and German electronic music, and his memories of his first ever synth - the EMS VCS3 'Putney'.

>>Listen here (available until 4th November 2015)

Silence is broken

*TAP*TAP*TAP* Is this thing on? Can anybody out there here me? Or am I shouting into empty (cyber)space?

Sorry if I woke you up, but the time has come to break this silence. I wouldn't exactly call it a re-boot of L'Amour Electronique. A re-visit perhaps. How long will it last? I can't say. How involved will it be? I do not know. How much new content will I post? We'll have to wait and see.

All I can say for now is that I've been coaxed out of retirement for a one-off  DJ set. which has given me good reason to dust off some of my French vinyl and enjoy some old favourites.

Whether I have time to share any such old favourites or new discoveries here remains to be seen...

If anyone is actually reading this and has any desire to know what I've been up to in my long absence, you could take a look here: www.dominicbradnum.co.uk.

Come back soon and I will have more concrete news (and if you're lucky some L'Amour Electronique treats)

Dx

ps. I noticed that I never updated the mixcloud player in the sidebar. I've just changed it to show mix 4 part 1 for a bit. It starts off a bit dark, but bear with it!

Vive le Vinyl

My ears pricked up as Jarvis opened his Sunday Service with Françoise Hardy's Autumn Rendezvous, and what followed fairly had me frothing at the mouth...

Mr Cocker paid a visit to the Radio France vinyl archive and was joined by the Dirty Sound System DJs who plundered the millions of discs for some rare French cuts by the likes of François de Roubaix, Pierre Cavalli, Alain Goraguer, and more.

It's available until 3:59pm next Sunday and it makes for ace listening >>> LISTEN HERE

ghosts of halloween past

Does this look awfully lazy me re-visiting ghosts of halloween past? Sorry if it does, but I just don't have the time to find and compile anything new (and I like to think there are still people out there who haven't come across either of these mixtapes yet).

Quelle Horreur! is my original mix of ghoulish Gallic psyche, creepy freakbeat and blood-thirsty femme-pop...

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

QUELLE HORREUR! VOL. 1 (40.9mb zip file)

Quelle Horreur! vol. 2 is dripping with sinister synths, creepy claviolines, demonic drum machines, and eerie electronica...

1. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind - The Shining (Main Title)
2. Kap Bambino - Batcaves
3. Relaxed Muscle - Beastmaster
4. Future Bible Heroes - I'm a Vampire
5. Ladytron - Miss Black
6. John Carpenter - Halloween Theme (Main Title)
7. Zombie Zombie - Walk Of The Dead
8. Broadcast - Evil Is Coming
9. Les Georges Leningrad - Cocktail Vampire
10. Suicide - Ghostrider
11. Mount Vernon Arts Lab – Hobgoblins
12. Stereo Total – Film D’Horreur
13. Lio - Bébé Vampire
14. I Monster - The Blue Wrath
15. The Moontrekkers - Return of The Vampires

QUELLE HORREUR! VOL. 2 (57.1mb zip file)

Lou Reed RIP

(I've been trying to upload this mp3 for the past two days. Better late than never....)


This is for Lou Reed who has been with me ever since I bought a cassette of the best of The Velvet Underground when I was 17 and no-one in my year at school could understand what I could hear in it.

I love this photo of Lou and Nico, I like to imagine they're working out Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams.

Here is my own tiny L'Amour Electronique-esque tribute to the man: a melancholy 8-bit cover of Stephanie Says by one of my favourite bands Stereo Total.

[image source]

Stereo Total - Je Rêve Encore De Toi (We Love Taxigirl Mix)
[nb. until I can work out a way of embedding a player through my new file hosts, you'll need to click the link to listen and download the mp3]

Jane & Serge photobook

This grainy and evocative image is taken from a new book of photographs of family life chez Serge and Jane, taken by Andrew Birkin.

I've not seen the book Jane & Serge, but here is a Guardian review, and here is the publisher's blurb.

I can say nothing more except that the candid photos look enticing and entertaining, and that I'm not keen on the cover (but you can't judge...)