My French Music Thing

Not sure if this is the kind of feedback you want, but I picked up that Heldon LP secondhand for a couple of quid the other day… almost certainly woudlve skipped by it if it hadnt been for your mention…

And very nice it is too!

given your initial post highlighting the Celluloid label, I was hoping you would eventually get around to B-Side, the female rapper who I think was American but rapped in French...was rather sexy, as I recall...

Don't know much about it and haven't read all of it yet but I read the Lard Free thing the other day and thought it sounded interesting although I wasn't sure if it would live up to the description. Then I heard you playing it at Kosmische on Sunday and thought it was great.

Just had a quick look at some of the French posts - nice to see Disco Rough in there that's a great tune.
Interesting that you say "Jacno, who is allegedly something of a cult figure" because I've often heard that or "the infamous Jacno" or whatever but I've never been able to work out why he is infamous or a cult figure.

I got that I remembered some French!

Chou = Cabbage
Choufleur = Cauliflour

Doesn't help, I know, but...

will go read that in a bit... is there a mention of Metal Hurlant?

i already own all the heldon stuff but now i need to track some Besombes down

also enjoyed the defense of english prog!

'Change the Beat'

Re: B -Side Yea, i remember her , the record was pretty good and got lots pf play bk in that day.
She happened to be close enough to people on that Celluloid scene (and looked good enough ) to be asked on that record, only one she ever did i believe . Forget her name but she was around .

Re: Edwidge & Jacno record . That was also big bk then 'Disco oh oh' .
Edwidge the undersung scenster , she's still around , older and wiser ...

Celluloid did release that classic Phase Two record "The Roxy"

Well, I think France is kinda underrated musically, so I like these posts of yours. Even though they're mostly not about the french music I'm into. I'd say 50% of great french music is experimental hardcore techno, a big part is classical (including concrete), and the rest is miscellaneous. Magma and Bernard Szajner needs mentioning. And I would really like to read an in depth article on Art Zoyd some day - like what's the good stuff, who are they actually etc.

Great to see, BTW, that you're making, ahem, progess with the prog. Accepting King Crimson is practiacally accepting full blown prog. Well, so is accepting Van der Graaf Generator as well, actually. If you like "lovely" prog and find ItCotCK "awe-inspiringly gorgeous", you should really do yourself a favour and check out Genesis records like Nursery Cryme and Selling England by the Pound.

polystyle desu said:

Re: B -Side Yea, i remember her , the record was pretty good and got lots pf play bk in that day.
She happened to be close enough to people on that Celluloid scene (and looked good enough ) to be asked on that record, only one she ever did i believe . Forget her name but she was around .

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she did a full-length, Cairo Nights, back in 1985, which I've never heard, but always thought it sounded appealing...(Egypt being "hot" back then, what with "Nights Over Egypt" by The Jones Girls rockin' the charts, and of course The Egyptian Lover)...

but yeah, "Change The Beat"...wasn't that sampled on "Pump Up The Volume"?

confucius said:

will go read that in a bit... is there a mention of Metal Hurlant?

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that s Metal Urbain , i don t think hipsters are on to MU just yet , too confusing for most anglo brains :]

geto.blast said:

that s Metal Urbain , i don t think hipsters are on to MU just yet , too confusing for most anglo brains :]

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they had a re-release a few years ago courtesy of acute records all three albums by those guys .
my fave was tokyo airport, a wicked album but not typical

it would be nice to see this music linked to the social context too, as there are similar themes running through the (more visible) french popular culture.

i'm thinking of moebius' worlds, beaubourg, la jetée, the minitel and all this utopian-dystopian futurist exploration. even acts like daft punk seem obsessed with these themes (though in a more retro way i think).

anyway, keep up the good work sir. and a little write-up on PÔLE records would be nice!

Lichen said:

What happened to Minitel? Did it have a heydey?

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the mid to late 80s. my father had one in 1983, i think, though it may have been a year later. a lot of people had one. you could browse the phone directory, book train tickets, access erotic hubs (3615 SEXE or whatever), etc. and a very hefty monthly charge if you actually used those services, even in this the minitel was ahead of its time!

just read your blog... def want to find that Ame Son LP... and funnily enuff, i just finished making a mix CD with Gilles LeGuen, which actually has more German artists on it than French ones!

Peter Gunn vs. Gilles LeGuen

New York vs. Europa

*

01 - MATERIAL - Reduction
02 - JA JA JA - Graffitti Artists International
03 - FAMILY - Family Rap
04 - AUDIO TWO - Top Billin'
05 - RICHARD BONE - Mambopolis
06 - WHODINI - Freaks Come Out At Night
07 - LEDERNACKEN / RUN-D.M.C - Amok! / It's Like That
08 - MEDIUM MEDIUM - Hungry So Angry
09 - THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN - Under Heavy Manners
10 - XAO SEFFCHEQUE UND FREUNDE - Good Friends
11 - BUSH TETRAS - Can't Be Funky
12 - MONGO SANTAMARIA - Slap It
13 - CHRISTINA - Don't Be Greedy
14 - DURAN DURAN / DIZZEE RASCAL - Planet Earth / Stand Up Tall
15 - SCHOOLLY-D - P.S.K. What Does It Mean?
16 - INDOOR LIFE - Voodoo
17 - CABARET VOLTAIRE - Trouble (Won't Stop)
18 - 52nd STREET - Cool As Ice
19 - WE ARE FRANK CHICKENS - We Are Ninja
20 - BAR-KAYS - Sexomatic
21 - PLEASURE ZONE - Hold These Nuts
22 - THE MASTERDON COMMITTEE/MADONNA - Funkbox Party/Into The Groove
23 - MY MINE - Hypnotic Tango
24 - BATZ WITHOUT FLESH - Electro Slut
25 - NEW ORDER / DONNA SUMMER - The Beach / Our Love

have you checked out
http://www.yolala.org/
for French hiphop? This guy totally seems to know what he's doing, I really appreciated it.

WOEBOT said:

i guess there's a kind of evangelical angle to the enterprise that might piss people off. on the other hand does everyone know all about this music already?

(thunderous silence)

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Nahh - read the stuff and enjoyed it
(and ahem - woebot does not display properly in Opera).

Cannot claim to know "all about" any music really. But if you also like
Serge&Bardot's "Bonnie&Clyde" (youtube has a VIDEO of this
,
a treat and the video could easily have been included in the "old skool babes" thread: Bardot looking very cool),
then (the now disbanded) Kat Onoma picked up the sound and theme (with lyrics from poet Jack Spicer) on their
brilliant "Billy the Kid" . A concept album spun around Western poetry - it
works surprisingly well (one of my favourite albums). I don't have any of their
other output - but I have an inkling they never topped "Billy the Kid".
But Philippe Poirier's is still working, as is
Rodolphe Burger.
http://www.dernierebande.com has some samples of KO and Burger
(who as it turns out has worked with James Blood Ulmer (same site for a sample track)
as the gastronomically&wonderfully named "Blood&Burger").

As for Szajner - I had some long and satisfying email conversations with him
a year or so ago. Even if his records sold quite a bit (?) he never saw the monies (same old story)
and his comeback effort seems to have totally stalled.
He has quite a lot of new material (at least 4 albums worth) and there are samples over at Szajner.net (streaming only).
Time might have caught up with Bernard though?

This French guy Largo02 has picked up a bit of Devoto/Szajner influence and is giving
away his music for free - one of his better tracks is Disconnected (mp3) .