L'ITALIE

Italians do it better they say. Well they sure don't do it worse.
Only an Italian band could get away with using that much digital piano, fretless bass, chimes on every bar, reverb on the snare, over the top melody, over the top guitar, over the top everything, and still manage to touch me right in the heart in the end, when "ironic listening" is swept aside.
This is a guilty pleasure I don't even feel guilty about. Cheesy? No way. Italian music should be judged on whole different terms. It is beyond cheesiness.

ANTILLES

To celebrate Christmas I give you a song that has nothing to do with Christmas, FIERTE by FRANCKY VINCENT.
FRANCKY VINCENT is very well-known in France as one of the prime Zouk singers from Les Antilles (and more recently for appearing in a sorry real TV show, let's pretend that never happened). His trademark is salacious lyrics, moreso than any sound. However his biggest hits in metropolitan France happened in the 1990s, and they sound rather cheap. Few remember his 70s recordings for the A3 label, backed by the band TABOU N°2 and produced by JACOB DESVARIEUX of the wonderful band KASSAV.
Let's repair this mistake with FIERTE.
By the way, I took the liberty of editing this song to erase parts I like less and repeat over and over parts I like more.
ENJOY.

LIGNE 2

My favorite video of 2010.

NEW BEAT MEETS CUMBIA

If you've been reading older posts here, you already know I feel THE MACKENZIE is the best band in NEW BEAT, that Belgian bastard son of Acid-House, born in the late 80s when, by mistake, a DJ played the 12" of FLESH by A SPLIT SECOND at 33 RPM instead of 45.
What I hadn't said is that I perversely play these MacKenzie 12" at 33 RPM so that they play even sloooooower than they already are.
Today I recorded and upped one of them; and I added a cumbia on top for good measure.
THE MACKENZIE - HIGHER IN THE SKY (Whistled & Tasted)

SOFT BOYS FOOTAGE ALERT

Stay tuned, next time I have an hour to kill I will upload THE SOFT BOYS LIVE AT THE PORTLAND ARMS.

MCMXC

We really wanted to be on the forefront of that ENIGMA revival but goddamn Lou-Reed-lookalike Ben Stiller has two years on us.Though truth be told, he used the original album mix of SADENESS, I'd have chosen the superior B-sided US VIOLENT MIX.