Category Archives: France

Reissue of the week: Jean Claude Vannier – L’Enfant Assassin des Mouches

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Ten years ago, Finders Keepers Records reissued the impossibly rare (100 copies, given to members of a wedding party, if I remember correctly), 1972 LP, L’Enfant Assassin des Mouches (The Child Assassin of the Flies). It’s the first solo release from composer Jean Claude Vannier, and particularly notable as it immediately follows Vannier’s work, as arranger/director, for Serge Gainsbourg’s legendary, Historie de Melody Nelson, and allegedly features the same band.

Love Melody Nelson? Well, L’Enfant drops the pop structure for a more experimental, genre blending approach, that still retains alotta the touchstone elements of its beloved antecedent. An essential piece of French musical history, available again thanks to Finders Keepers Records celebrating the ten year anniversary of their original reissue.

http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/vannier-jean-claude-l-enfant-assassin-des-mouches-fkr-10th-anniversa-lp/FKR.001X.LP.html

 

 

 

Des Chansons Du Jour: Anna Marly – Les Chant Des Partisans, and Leonard Cohen – The Partisan

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chant_des_Partisans
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/french-resistance/le-chant-des-partisans/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Marly

There is a terrifying irony in the misappropriation of these lyrics, but make no mistake, France is not Nazi Germany, and these murderers are no heroes.

http://www.leonardcohensite.com/partisaneng.htm

Songs of The Day: Jean Yves Labat – Orbit, and Matrix 16

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Though lesser known than his debut (recorded under the moniker M. Frog), Jean-Yves Labat’s follow up LP, Underwater Electronic Orchestra, is a far more rewarding effort to these ears. Some Prog, some Psych and a whole lotta synth. Would have perfectly on the collectable Pôle Records roster.

Song of The Day: Serge Gainsbourg – Initials B.B.

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Serge’s ode to the beauty of Brigitte Bardot.
Jusques en haut des cuisses, elle est bottée
Et c’est comme un calice à sa beauté
Elle ne porte rien d’autre qu’un peu
D’essence de Guerlain dans les cheveux

The initials, the initials, the initials B.B.
The initials, the initials, the initials B.B.

Cool footage of Serge, in the studio, recording Initials BB.

Joyeux anniversaire, Brigitte Bardot: deuxième partie – le style

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Amazing French Proto-Hip-Hop from 1975, by Michel Magne

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Not only are the sounds ahead of the curve, the Mickey Mouse crucifixion cover says, “Let’s Take A Trip Down To Dysmaland”, particularly relevant in light of Banksy’s current exhibition, Dismaland. I was familiar with some of Magne’s compositions, many of which have similar Prog based grooves, but this came as a total revelation. He even name checks another innovator from the pre-Hip-Hop days, Melvin Van Peebles, and the amusing hybrid, “Flash Gordon Lightfoot”. Beat digger manna.

Francoise Hardy gets 5 LP reissue series from Light In The Attic Records

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

And they even coaxed an interview out of the reclusive chanteuse, for the liner notes. I’ve only managed to snag an original of her 1962 debut, Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles, out of the five forthcoming records, which features Le Temps de L’Amour, recently brought to public consciousness via Wes Anderson’s, Moonrise Kingdom, and several commercials that followed in its wake.

http://blog.lightintheattic.net/new-lita-release-francoise-hardy-5-album-reissue-series/