A lot of confirmed artists chanted their love for computers : Dani, France Gall, Xenakis, Bruce Haack, Doris Norton, Theorical girls, Zapp & Roger, Kraftwerk, Michel Polnareff (although he was dating on Minitel), Annie Cordy and many others. Then Major Tom Anderson created Myspace and everybody could share this passion with the world. And we, fellow citizens of the internet, are gratefull persons. Here is a florilège of songs dedicated to the websites that turned our lives into a cyberzoo. When inspiration meets finest technology.
The Kings of Myspace were maybe the first to kick social networking in 2006. That was the golden age of animated gif. Their vid has been watched 2 796 166 times, imagine every fan had sent them a dollar.
Myspace inspires a lot of dabster rappers. Those two ganstas are digging it from their bed, they must be over 18 now.
Above, another bedroom celebrity doing prevention. And there a cover of “Grease” by a comment addict.
I end the myspace chapter with a love/hate couple of songs about Tom Anderson. The first comes from a californian bard called Plinkaplink, he wrote an ode to his favorite CEO in 2007. Tom had already sold us to Murdoch, but he's still in his top 5. The one below was posted anonymously on a forum, and hits pretty hard.
Then a search engine starts to absorb every information on you. So if you were looking for your self, you could Google it. Teyana Taylor, for exemple, does it pretty well. This guy, Waka Flocka Flames, somewhat less. Check his mixtape “Salute me or Shoot me”, you’ll understand. A slam about Googlemap, anyone ?
And one day we got tagged in Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. Nothing really changed excepted that we spent even more time connected, and lost total control on privacy. For real.
Meanwhile another american website was channeling the overflow of internet exchanges. An auction database where you could sell your boyfriend and buy the socks of Juri Gagarin (a bargain). Indoor surfing begun to have concrete impacts in the cupboards. Here is the Weird Al Yankovic tribute to Ebay.
Of course, all this wouldn’t have been possible without personnal TV broadcasting. That’s the conclusion of Sandstorm88, who felt free to post 62 videos of him and his guitar on Youtube. “Every body needs to do what they do”, you said it bro.
Yes we’ve been warned, and that's my mp3 upload for the week, Newcleus' “Computer age”, released in 1984. How many orwellian songs were written that year ? That would make a good post. Now push the button.
I know everyone here gets disappointed when there is no track to leech and a lot to read, but let's take a few minutes for a fancy-full scientific comparison between Max Tundra's "Which Song" and Perfume's last single:
I always considered Perfume as a guilty pleasure, it may slightly appear now a bit more guilty than usual... But none of the notes has been stolen, no sample been taken either, and the track is good in a mainstream context, both on composition and production sides... What happened then ?
"Vampirized" might be the word, when such a successfull j-pop war machine manages to gently suck the trademark of a brilliant western indie composer: revisiting jazz-funk harmonies, smashing Herbie Hancock into Zappa, juggling with Prince-like falsetto voice and prog constructions... Ben Jacobs, aka Max Tundra, had the specific idea, with a certain relevance due to a personnal culture and history, to combine elements in a visionnary attempt to create an accurate form at a specific moment that was bringing pop music to wildly personal realms.
However, despite the international success and recognition he deserved and obtained among the initiates, and according the market's situation, he had few chances to turn into the kind of high-sale band to be displayed on Shibuya's screens. A female singer trio with a brilliant former Capsule member as a producer already had everything in their hands to do it: japanese lyrics and female vocals, coupled to the most plastic sound on earth, were then meticulously treated in order to instantly please auditor with outlaw compression rates, mesmerizing frequence repartition, autotune highways, and the strongest harmonic enhancers known on earth.
Nakata-san, brilliant producer of Perfume, amazingly talented, doesn't has anything to prove anymore, and can afford this incursion for the time of a single after having produced dozens of killer bombs in different styles. No more than a variation "in the manner of" ?
The question remains, when you start looking at record sales and counting the cash generated: why not calling the original guy who built the style, and include him at some point ? During the last years, on their way to commercial success, Perfume more and more appeared as an overcontrolled mainstream project, the one you can imagine being coached by a huge team of managers. There was probably simply no need to take a risk with an external agent. Why the hell would they have, eh ?
A brief interview with Max Tundra, evocating various topics, made after his gig at Skiff festival in St Petersburg:
1) SUCCUBS: "It makes me think about, well, there is a chance that maybe I can produce a pop band, and make a million-selling hit, because it is so similar in style to my song, which has not sold very many copies at all, due to very poor distribution. Distribution problems are upsetting, because this latest record took me six years to record, so I'm really proud of it, it's very close to my heart, and I believe that the music is very special. This situation just goes to show that if someone gives me a chance to produce one of these big pop bands, then maybe we can have some great success. People always say that my music is weird and experimental, but I don't think it is: it's quite poppy and happy, and there is a lot more strange music around, which is more successful than me."
2) INFLUENCES: "I try not to be influenced by other musicians, so if I really love something, then sometimes it comes through in my music, but not intentionally. You could hear on my radio show every week I play very eclectic strange music that I like (check Resonance FM website). I'm not much of an expert in the 70s electric jazz you mention, but I like some of this stuff, I quite like Bitches Brew by Miles Davis as well, any electric kind of jazz with fender Rhodes is very nice. Franck Zappa and progressive rock as well, not so much electronic music actually. I find it very boring especially today, repetitive and dull."
3) LYRICS: "In the music I make, the lyrics are just one elements, and it's not more important than the drum programming, or the keyboard solo. It all fits together, and everything is as important as everything else. I don't like to give too much emphasis to one part of the music. Often the lyrics are written the last, and sometimes I have trouble coming out with the lyrics, but I'm pleased with them. If I try to write a song about a situation or an ex-girlfriend, or something like this, then usually I run out of ideas with four lines, so the next verse has to be about something else. Usually, a song is not about one thing, maybe two lines will be one thing and then the situation is satisfied, so the next bit I have to write about something else. And it's not all true either, some of it is just fictionnal."
5) ANTI-HIPSTERISM: "What I really hate about music today is that most people don't really listen to music anymore. It's about the fashion or the clothes, or the style of a band, who they're hanging out with, who they're bitchin about, and it's not the songwriting or the sounds. If I hear a song with a really amazing composition, it makes me feel amazing, and it touches some emotion inside me. I think it's important that musicians never loose sight of that, and once the American Apparel sponsorship deal wears off, then if nothing is left, there is no point in doing music."
Well i know it's already been celebrated on the blogosphere elsewhere but i thought i had to pay my tribute too... Happy 25th birthday to the commonly known first ever totally computerised riddim. Casio MT-40 meets Eddie Cochran's "Something Else".
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Some more Jammy's digital effort, this time with Junior Murvin on vocals, as released on Greensleeves in 1986. Killer one !
Raw & epic 2 tracks single from the vaults of jazz and session virtuoso guitarist: Pierre Cavalli. Released in 1971 & soundtrack to an obscure tv programm from Switzerland.
Typical early 70's maghrebian progressive pop music blend with both berberian, arabic and western elements. (think like Les Abranis, Sophian, Mesreyen Band etc).
Rhys Chatham well known for his harsh and hypnotic guitar playing delivers another fantatsic no-wavey guitar cut. Released on the 1982's "New Music from Antarctica - Volume 1" compilation which was supposed to be some kind of music'companion to an art videocassette (of the same name).
Sairaji Hiromi is an oversized lament, a lysergic twister, a sonic scar caught among the bottomless abysses of obscure Enka production. Mind-blowing voice on orchestral earthquakes, although you can hardly tell wether you're about to cry or laugh. Enka in itself is traditionally built on this extreme vocal emphasis and modulation, but Sairaji brings it to an excessive levels that makes it hardcore, not only for foreigners' ears (as tested and confirmed by a team of japanese specialists).
For those less familiar with this specitic style of song, a common gossip is that some of the gender's gems actually have a fundamental importance for many PSF records related people, including the label founder Hideo Ikeezumi, and artists such as Mikami Kan or Kazuki Tomokawa.
2 titles excerpt from a LP that used to be part of the second-hand recommendations of Tiliqua Records, explicitely titled "Boat of tears" and "The little boy's last train".
A first post to initiate a serie of live video reports on this blog, with one of our all-time favorites:
Following his 2009 european premiere, Syrian N°1 legend Omar Souleyman, the man with 500 cassettes, and one of Sublime Frequencies most highlighted artist, is back stronger than ever: UK in May and all over Europe between July and September, including gigs at ATP, Lieu Unique, Recyclart, Casa de Musica...
It all started one week ago, and the monday appearance in London at Scala turned into one of the most exciting event of the year, not only on a pure hands-up-and-light-feet level, but also due to the specific mental gratification generated by such a fascinating encounter between people coming from so many different horizons and backgrounds, wether on stage or in the audience: from hipsters to shopkeepers, from top-range electric saz chorus to wedding party killer beats, a unique and precious night.
A fresh as fish video report de notre envoyé spécial:
Bernard Estardy ( aka Le Baron de Mehouilles, The Baronet ) is the hidden genius behind many of the biggest hits in 70's French "variété" music. As a fabulous musician and talented organist, Mister Estardy first collaborated with Nino Ferrer in the 60's, and is also the one responsible for most of "our national & tenderly regretted CLOCLO" (Claude Francois) music hits... In the middle of the 60's, along with Georges Chatelain, he created the "experimental sound" STUDIO C.B.E !
Used to be an unfindable one, recently reissued by the VADIM record label (and identically to the original piece). Bravo guys !
Insane break-electro-jerk "extract" of 4mn 24' signed by the " wizard " of the keyboard (excerpt from Carlos' BIG BISOU "Version Discotheque Longue Durée).
The US Graal of hipsters who want to go out and have some good time
We don't know much about Patrick Cowley and Jorge Socarras, except that the cover of their Catholic album was controversial... Patrick Cowley was mostly known for his DISCO mixes (Donna Summer - I feel love). But do you love your robot children ?
More cheesy dutch disco feat Sylvia van Asten on vocals, who will be replaced later by Mariska Veres (another Shocking Blue ex member) for the "Starship 109 single" (as posted by Mr Aubrun a month ago)...
Two spacey organ cuts which originally came on Adi's 1982 "Popular Movie Melodies From India" LP (covering Bollywood classics). Unfortunatly I wasn't able to recongnize any of them.
"Adi understands the pain and agony of human life. He soothes his patients and brings happiness to young hearts, through his medical background and his extravagant musical talents." (back cover notes)
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Only a little informations are available on the net about the keyboard maestro. Anyway he seems to be part of a small spiritual group named the Zarathushtri community... Playing and accompanying as some sort of music therapeutist he provides rousing music to keep all involved until late hours for jubilee celebrations etc...
I attended my first ufologist diner last week at La Defense. Never saw such a cross-eyed traffic in a cafeteria. The first case was presented by a new age grandpa in white socks, explaining us why this triangle thing upon his car the 5th November of 1990, could not be a B2. I was watching his fuzzy slide show, wondering how satellite imagery had not solved the question of ufos yet. I mean, for better or worse, and I really want to believe in extra terrestrials. Are there too much clouds over Google Earth, who really runs those orbital cameras, and what the hell happened to Major Tom ?
Well, these three covers answer clearly. He encountered a technical problem. Some say that Tom was attacked by aliens, others that David Bowie is an alien himself. The mystery remains unsolved, but let’s hear it.
The Space oddity was first covered in 1971 by Gérard Palaprat, two years after David Bowie. The french translation is more nostalgic, with true pieces of poetry if we include a guy painting rainbows in the sky, and the evocation of the Major’s mother. Tom finally overcomes his home sick, but too late, the ground control turned russian.
The second cover was released in 1974. It’s a parody by a duo of humorists, Los Hermanos Calatrava. This one appears to be the most political, and stands a dramatic dialogue between Tom and Ground Control. I don’t get Spanish but aliens surely do. Anyway you don’t have to be bilingual to hear the crash at the end. They also did a movie remake of E.T. with their feet.
The third one is a chorus of young Canadians calling the lost Major. Their lament is heart breaking and was produced by their teacher, Hans Fenger, in 1976. Some of you have probably heard about the Langley Schools Music Project. They covered songs from the Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, Herman’s Hermits and the Beatles. David Bowie liked their version a lot. This precious recording should be kept on earth and buried very deeply, if we don’t want the Little Grays to compete in colleges and mess with our girls.
Before Ten City which was one of the few chicago house unit to reach popular exposure, was Ragtyme. The band hadn't already signed with Atlantic but already comprised the same line-up: Byron Burke, Byron Stingily, Herb Lawson.
I can't stay way is taken from the group second & last ep, released in 1987 on Bright Star Records a small house label mostly dedicated to early M.J.'s productions (Hercules, On The House etc) There is also a decent Ron Hardy's edit but not as great as the "House Mix" in my opinion... Wavey & cold garage killer !
When Deb's Music was still releasing great records...Typical early Guadeloupean zouk music, hugely influenced both by biguine, gwo ka & afro cuban music. Philogene Astasie (also known as "La Philo), appart from his solo carreer used to play trompet in many others antillean bands. He is now a lead member of La Philo Rosianne.
Rare & lesser known first version taken from the 1981 "Lagué Moin" album (as released on celluloid). By far better one too, more on the dub side, it could nearly come as some kind of "discomix". Saddly it is a short running version. Has anyone heard for a longer one, would be hihly appreciated !
