28/12/2011
20/12/2011
15/12/2011
LES ANGLAIS ONT DEBARQUE
I have to admit to one of my pet sub-sub-genring ways; I have a deep affinity for songs and albums made by pre-British-invasion-era artists trying to remain with it in the mid to late 60s, or as I call them PBIEATTRWIITMTL6Ts (which is why I don't talk about them very often).
If you've been here for some time you already know I consider DION AND THE WANDERERS to be one of the best thing that happened to humanity.
But there are many other examples of great songs made by artists who had commercially peaked before the Beatles, and whose attempts at remaining current are both convincing and cute: MEL TORME, THE FOUR SEASONS (that whole album is a golden example of what I'm talking about), PEGGY LEE, ROY ORBISON, DEL SHANNON of course, and that's just what's on top of my head right now.
And one day I found possibly the best album of that whole sub-sub-genre: BOBBY DARIN BORN WALDEN ROBERT CASSOTTO, a 1968 oddity full of references to LSD and social changes, written, arranged, produced, designed, photographed and released on hiw own label, by the man I mostly knew for bringing Kurt Weill and Charles Trénet into the American charts. Just dig these:
If you've been here for some time you already know I consider DION AND THE WANDERERS to be one of the best thing that happened to humanity.
But there are many other examples of great songs made by artists who had commercially peaked before the Beatles, and whose attempts at remaining current are both convincing and cute: MEL TORME, THE FOUR SEASONS (that whole album is a golden example of what I'm talking about), PEGGY LEE, ROY ORBISON, DEL SHANNON of course, and that's just what's on top of my head right now.
And one day I found possibly the best album of that whole sub-sub-genre: BOBBY DARIN BORN WALDEN ROBERT CASSOTTO, a 1968 oddity full of references to LSD and social changes, written, arranged, produced, designed, photographed and released on hiw own label, by the man I mostly knew for bringing Kurt Weill and Charles Trénet into the American charts. Just dig these:
12/12/2011
10/12/2011
YOUR NAME'S NOT ON THE MUSIC
CHRISTOPHE CHASSOL is already quite well known among French "musos" as a virtuoso who's been playing keyboards with the best of them for years.
But in the meantime, as a solo artist, he was secretly experimenting with the very concept of sampling, made even more interesting by the fact that he'd use videos as a source, so that when he loops sounds he loops images as well; and so he's been posting some MARTIN ARNOLD-like crazy videos for a while. Enjoy one of the most engaging and beautiful: INDIANKIDZ.
And then he's come up with the concept of ULTRASCORE, which consists of scoring a piece of pre-existing film footage, using all the sounds on it - for instance, dialogues.
Here is one example that's so good it's been driving me insane: based on the audition scene in PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, I give you YOUR NAME'S NOT ON THE MUSIC.
CHASSOL's X-PIANOS will drop in February as a 2-CD/DVD set. That and LEONARD COHEN's new album are my two most anticipated releases of 2012.
But in the meantime, as a solo artist, he was secretly experimenting with the very concept of sampling, made even more interesting by the fact that he'd use videos as a source, so that when he loops sounds he loops images as well; and so he's been posting some MARTIN ARNOLD-like crazy videos for a while. Enjoy one of the most engaging and beautiful: INDIANKIDZ.
And then he's come up with the concept of ULTRASCORE, which consists of scoring a piece of pre-existing film footage, using all the sounds on it - for instance, dialogues.
Here is one example that's so good it's been driving me insane: based on the audition scene in PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, I give you YOUR NAME'S NOT ON THE MUSIC.
CHASSOL's X-PIANOS will drop in February as a 2-CD/DVD set. That and LEONARD COHEN's new album are my two most anticipated releases of 2012.
24/11/2011
ME AND THE DEVIL BLUES
It seems that in the 1990s, COWBOY JUNKIES featured in every soundtrack. It also seems that their music has aged better than most so-called "essential" 1986 music; theirs is not a case of "you had to be there".
20/11/2011
GO JO-JO
JONATHAN RICHMAN didn't really invent punk rock - but he did. However, he WAS the best songwriter to appear in the seventies.
I can't get enough of these early Modern Lovers live recordings, that have certainly been circulating in the bootleg market for forty years, and are now readily available on Youtube.
Infinite thanks to "roots66", the youtube user who uploaded these four tracks, recorded in NY on December 31st 1972, as the MODERN LOVERS were opening for the NY DOLLS.
I can't get enough of these early Modern Lovers live recordings, that have certainly been circulating in the bootleg market for forty years, and are now readily available on Youtube.
Infinite thanks to "roots66", the youtube user who uploaded these four tracks, recorded in NY on December 31st 1972, as the MODERN LOVERS were opening for the NY DOLLS.
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