Siffler sur la colline

C'est bientôt le jour de l'an...

Section 25 - looking from a hilltop (megamix)

Extrait de la compil' Fac. Dance: Factory Records 12" Mixes & Rarities 1980-1987

Yet golden fields lie just before me

Jack White - Wayfaring stranger (2003)

En savoir plus sur  le Wayfaring Stranger...

Christmas gift : Interview : John Simon

John Simon is a composer, arranger, record producer, songwriter and self-described ‘compulsive musician’.
After moving to New York in the 60’s he trained with Columbia and went on to produce albums for Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Leonard Cohen's first album, the first album by Blood, Sweat and Tears and the first two albums by The Band.

He has also collaborated with Eric Clapton, Howlin’ Wolf, Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Cyrus Faryar and many others.

We were desperate to contact John for an interview after listening to his two first albums: The John Simon’s album (1970) [re-issued by Water in 2005] and Journey (1972) both first published by Warner Brothers and available to listen to on Spotify.

Listen to Annie Looks Down and you will feel the juvenile complexity of a certain summer on Fire Island; we are talking about Last Summer of course, the 1969 film for which he composed the score for the soundtrack with Collin Walcott.

John Simon recently performed in New York and toured in Japan. This is his interview.

1. Your first musical memories?
Sousa marches and “Open The Door Richard” on a little turntable.

2. The best record you received as a present? / The worse one?
Gerry Mulligan’s first album / I’ve intentionally forgotten the worst

3. The first record that you lost?
I’ve forgotten...

4. The name of your imaginary band?
???

5. In which environment do you like to record music?
My living room on my own piano

6. What will music sound like in 50 years / 5000 years?
Merde.

7. Which underrated album will start a new musical genre?
New musical genres will start from over-rated albums.

8. Which album should never have been made?
Jiminy Cricket in "Pinocchio": "If you can’t say something nice about somebody, don’t say anything at all."

9. Your favourite album to have a drink?
I don’t drink.

10. Your dream collaboration?
Jesus, Moses and Mohammed

11. The record that freaks you out?
If it starts to freak me out I stop listening.

12 .The record you would like to listen to right now?
Bud Shank and 3 trombones

13. The film that tickles your creativity?
What film doesn’t?

14. The little-known track that everyone should have heard of?
"Gloria" from "La Misa en Mexico".

15. An album or an artist you wouldn’t want to be?
Lady Gaga.

16. The cover version you would love to do?
So many.

17. The mashup you would love to do?
What the hell is a mash up?

18. The text you would like to produce a soundtrack for?
Je ne sais quoi.

19. Have you ever had auditory hallucinations?
You mean do I hear music in my head? All the fucking time!

20. How would you like to die?
Comfortably and not too soon.

John Simon - Annie looks down (1971)

Go to John Simon's website, listen to John Simon's album (1971) and Journey (1973) on spotify. Read more about John Simon on wikipedia.


John comments :
"These questions are so crazy, I’m attaching an 'unpublished photo' in the same spirit."

Ragots

Diamond Joe - gossip, gossip (1967)

pix : Vivian Maier

Black Hole, Black Eye, Black Lips in Heaven 18.12.2011

Does what happened prior and after a gig matter in the retelling of the story?
Three months of waiting for Black Lips to play in London and the day finally comes. Is their last album really good or has their sound been corrupted (technically improved) by a dark force? Where will they go from last Heaven’s stage invasion?

For this detective work, L convened a meeting with Benjamin and me at the Sherlock Holmes. The pub unfortunately failed to deliver Sherlock’s spleen – the possibly sweet and warm bitter that took his name – but by then we hadn’t lost our wits and compensated with plenty bourbon and ales.

At 8.30pm on the dot we chose to join the rest of the party in Heaven. Throwing Up had already played (who would have guessed they were to make a late encore?) and it was Acid Baby Jesus’ turn. I must say, I am not being comical; I think Club Heaven might just choose these bands for their names (last time I went to Heaven, Holy Fuck was playing).

Acid Baby Jesus were alright but while they strummed their strings in dramatic poses, I couldn’t help but hearing P French (in spirit) nagging me about the fact that this 60s revival has been going on for too long and is pointless and a bit sickening. He was talking about Black Lips’ last album but if I concede it might be true for ABJ, I don’t think that is the case for Arabia Mountain – I suspect he is too focused on the dark force.

I have been listening a lot to Arabia Mountain and I’ve got nothing against the fact that they ditched the rusty sound. If one thing, it only used to make the band more gimmicky; and if there must be a saxophone, be it. I take it as a Stooges’ homage.

Anyway, Acid Baby Jesus finish their set, much more waiting and a surprising 60s selection of obscure tunes (which by now everyone knows) and Black Lips turn up on stage.

First observation, Cole Alexander can sing on the album, not live. They might have recorded with the most up to date auto-tune or they did a thousand takes but the technology wasn’t available this evening. Is it a fair point for a punkish band? Probably not but you couldn’t help but notice.

They played a mixture of new songs (no ornaments), old songs, and fans’ favourite (Dirty Hands and al). We had a shower of toilet paper, a surfing giant Christmas cracker pulled from the decorum and a lot of crowd surfers that never made it to the front until the last song when the bouncers were told to give up the job they so successfully achieved before. Stage invasion.

Second observation: how do you top a stage invasion? Make sure you orchestrate one a second time.
And that was it for the gig. We left swiftly. Of course we didn’t know by then that somewhat Black Lips had planted the seeds of reckless inebriety in all of us. It took only a few more beers and 3 cocktails.

I woke up a first time completely dressed, lying on the floor of my living room. I thought ‘– silly you, you must have fallen asleep’ and went to bed. I woke up a second time, much later, about 4 in the afternoon with my left eye not fully open. I looked at HEAVEN stamped on the back of my left hand and felt a noticeable pain in most of my body parts. The mirror revealed a sort of pencilled black eye, Boy George style, made out of the usual black eye purple fluids. It hasn’t left yet.

And I’m sad to say I can’t remember a thing. Might have been beaten up, might have not. What does a brainless body do on a 30 minute walk home? Make love to the pavement? Throws itself like a pellet on a brick wall? The only piece of information I have is that apparently an angel lovingly lifted my head from the toilet where I had fallen asleep at 3am and helped me to lie on the sofa. The angel wasn’t impressed the day after when the story was told.

So in this light, in 2012 I will make sure that the seeds Blacks Lips had sawn on that evening have been fully uprooted and laid to rest.
Because they must.

Interview : Jonathan Fitoussi

1. Votre 1er souvenir musical ?
Difficile à remémoriser le premier, peut être les premières K7 écoutées à l’arrière de la voiture familiale en passant des enregistrements de musiques Egyptiennes à Sinatra ou Nat King Cole.

2. Le meilleur disque que l’on vous ait offert ? Le pire ?
Probablement Erosphère par François Bayle pour le meilleur des disques offerts. Je n’ai pas le souvenir qu’on m’ait offert de mauvais disque.

3. Le 1er disque que vous ayez perdu ?
Aucune idée… Mes disques sortent peu de la maison.

4. Votre nom de groupe de musique imaginaire ?
Illusion Circles un projet secret, et confidentiel.

5. A quel moment aimez-vous faire de la musique ?
Les retours de voyages sont généralement assez fructueux… tout est question d’envie et d’inspiration… mais la nuit est finalement assez propice.

6. A quoi ressemblera la musique dans 50 ans ? dans 5000 ans ?
Dans 50 ans nous écouterons peut être plus “ respecteusement ” les musiques d’aujourd’hui... je crois assez à la notion de cycle. Dans Cinq mille ans une musique acoustique faite d’instruments primaires.

7. Quel album ignoré ouvrira un nouveau genre musical ?
Un album ignoré, aujourd’hui ?

8. Quel album n’aurait jamais dû exister ?
Aucun, l’important c’est d’exister !

9. L’album idéal pour l’apéro ?
Un bon paquet de disques sont propices à l’apéro mais pourquoi pas au hasard Stone Flower d’Antonio Carlos Jobim.

10. Le disque dont vous avez peur ?
The Shining soundtrack.

11. Le disque que vous aimeriez écouter ?
Tout de suite j’écouterais bien Don Cherry &Terry Riley lors du concert de 1975 à Cologne.

12. Le film qui vous a donné envie de faire la musique ?
L’envie de faire de la musique est née avant mon intérêt pour le cinéma mais disons Koyaanisqatsi (de  Godfrey Reggio) pour la fusion parfaite entre musique (Philip Glass) et image propice au voyage, ou bien encore Gerry de Gus Van Sant. Maintenant c’est faire de la musique pour le cinéma que j’aimerais.

13. Le morceau méconnu que tout le monde devrait connaître ?
Comme une autre réalité pour Crystal Baschet par Michel Deneuve

14. La reprise que vous aimeriez faire ?
J’en serais incapable...

15. Le texte que vous aimeriez mettre en musique ?
Les musiques que j’écoute sont principalement instrumentales car plus propices au voyage. Celles que je compose je les perçois aussi dans cette démarche aujourd’hui donc pas de souhaits particuliers à ce niveau là.

16. Avez vous déjà eu des hallucinations auditives ?
Quelques fois liées en réalité à des phénomènes psycho-acoutisques très fréquents lors de concerts de musique repetitive dans des lieux atypiques comme Philip Glass au grand palais par exemple ou lors d’un concert de Charlemagne Palestine pour orgues, ou encore dans la Dream House de la Monte Young à New York.

17. Comment aimeriez vous mourir ?
En silence !





Aller sur le site de Jonathan Fitoussi, sur son bandcamp et écouter les disques de Pan European Recording.

Fight or die

Chinoiseries PT.2, le nouvel album d'Onra, est écoutable sur son soundcloud


pix : Richard Misrach

2011 review

SINGLE OF THE YEAR?

p : Trouble Books & Mark McGuire - Song for Reinier Lucassen's Sphinx
r : Connan Mockasin – Forever Dolphin Love
a : Dorian Concept - Her Tears Taste Like Pears
o : Brandon Biondo - Sleeve

ALBUM OF THE YEAR?
p : Elodie (Timo van Luijk & Andrew Chalk) - Echos Pastoraux
r : The Sea and Cake - The Moonlight Butterfly
a : Sun Araw - Ancient Romans
o : John maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

MIXTAPE OF THE YEAR?
p : Triton - Joue avec le fonds, part 5 (mix & remixes)
r : ...c'est un peu 2010 les mixtapes non ?
a : Spoti shuffle
o : Toro y moi - Made in bed mix

ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK OF THE YEAR?
p : Ben Frost - Sleeping Beauty
r : Portal 2
a : Beer burping
o : Clint Mansell - Black swan

RE-EDITION OF THE YEAR?
p : Eugene Kelly - Lady (in CAROLINE NOW!: The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys)
r : Nirvana - Nevermind
a : ...'re-edited' is probably not the right word but I'd say 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie' by John Cassavetes at the Genesis cinema in Stepney. I missed it by the way, but not without regrets. Thank schmob for dvds.
o : Serge Gainsbourg - L'histoire de Melody Nelson

BOOK OF THE YEAR?
p : Raphael Sorin - Les Terribles - entretiens (éditions Finitude)
r : Camille Landais, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez - Pour une révolution fiscale (Le Seuil/République des idées)
a : ...it's got to be the one I haven't finished writing yet... sorry, haven't read a book published in 2011 but I have read about a lot of them in the London Review of Books and they seemed pretty good so go on their website and take your pick.
o : Jonathan Coe - La vie très privée de Mr Sim (Gallimard)

MOVIE OF THE YEAR?
p : True Grit - Joel & Ethan Coen
r : Essential Killing - Jerzy Skolimowski
a : ...it's weird to say but with a bit of perspective, if you put the choice on a scale of expected disappointment vs stupefying satisfaction, it has to be We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lynne Ramsay. Have you noticed the RED theme?
o : Tree of Life - Terrence Malick

GIG OF THE YEAR?
p : Water Signs and Stay+ - Point Ephemere
r : Aphex Twin - La Route du Rock
a : Evan Parker - Southbank
o : Baxter Dury - Le Trianon Paris

WEBSITE OF THE YEAR?
p : bandcamp.com
r : internetkhole.blogspot.com
a : spotify.com
o : nissan-stagejuk3d.com

SWINDLE OF THE YEAR?
p : AA... A ?
r : Radiohead
a : The swindle question.
o : Nolwenn Leroy - Bretonne : Edition Deluxe

HOT IN 2011?
p : The Offline People in mutation...
r : DSK, toujours...
a : Piles
o : Japan Disaster...


* p : pardon my french / r : rocketsfallonrocketsfall / a : achylles brown / o : overchill

Listen to the colour of your dreams

Tomorrow never knows (Beatles cover)

Tamara Goukassova est à elle seule un tiers des Konki Duet et sa reprise de Tomorrow Never Knows est à la hauteur du "most experimental and psychedelic track on Revolver, in both its structure and production." selon Richie Unterberger de Allmusic.

Et selon moi, avec un peu de ma mauvaise fois anti McCartney, je dirais même qu'elle est légèrement meilleure... Lire l'historique de Tomorrow Never Knows, là.

Tamara vient également de réaliser avec Julien Pacaud une série de 20 cartes postales en édition limitée accompagnée d'une bande son, et pour 2 euros (ou plus) l'ensemble, ça serait dommage de s'en priver. (Dépêchez vous, il n'en reste plus que 7...)




pix : Graham Miller

Joie d'hiver

Ecouter Luna Marseille le 2e album de Stranger Son of WB sur spotify

Le motard & Marilyn : Panda Bear & Sonic Boom à la Gaité Lyrique

Je repense à Marilyn Monroe faisant l'amour sur une moto. A son motard qui l'a entraîné dans les buissons pour une petite gaterie qui l'a un peu dégoutée - il sentait le cambouis et l'huile de moteur ; elle n'en avait plus vraiment envie. Je repense à Lou Reed entrainant Metallica dans les buissons - et je ne sais pas lequel des deux sent le plus le cambouis. Je repense au concert de Panda Bear avec Sonic Boom. 

Sur l'écran géant de la Gaité Lyrique, nos buissons étaient de lumières, flashy, bleu hypnotique sous les stroboscopes. Marilyn était probablement Sonic Boom et Panda Bear, le motard. Pas fineau, mais avec quelque chose d'attachant et une belle moto toute neuve. Notre Marilyn était rayonnante, comme à son habitude, mais le vilain panda yodeleur rodait. Certains morceaux ont toutefois été remarquables - The drone, par exemple - avec la vidéo du bodybuilder à tête de lapin qui apparaissait entre deux flash colorés. You can count on me, ou Last Night at the Jetty ont aussi été très bons. D'autres fois c'était plus fastidieux : trop de voix, pas assez d'apnée musicale. Parfois Brian des Beach Boys passait la tête dans les buissons blanc de fumée mais trop souvent le chant du panda évoquait plus la petite mort de la bête. Resteront les sonorités de Sonic Boom.

Et même à genoux, Marilyn restera toujours Marilyn. Le souvenir de quelque plis de pantalon ne seront jamais plus pour elle que l'unique souvenir qui restera du vieux salace qui l'a fait passer sous la table de mixage...

The drone et le bodybuilder à tête de lapin blanc.

Textures mélodiques

Ecouter Pluralis sur bandcamp

Coney Island

the Magnetic Fields - Strange Powers

Fallacious Wont

All this business with 8-bit sounds; well, this was almost 10 years ago.

DAT Politics - Re-Folk (2002)
*painting by Bartolomeo Passarotti

Lou Reed me hante. (Metallica aussi).

Je suis assis à coté de Lou Reed. On est attablé avec sa femme et quelques autres personnes dans un resto tunisien. Il est à ma droite et me parle de son nouveau projet, un re-travail des morceaux des Beatles. Je lui montre un grand poster affiché au dessus de la porte : une série de dates pour des concerts de reggae et pointe du doigt un nom : Tarib Kwela*. Je dis à Lou qu'il est en concert et lui propose de rester jusqu'à lundi pour le voir en live. Il a l'air intéressé. Je suis surpris qu'il parle si bien français... on évoque son dernier album "lulu".

Je me souviens de quelqu'un de très gentil et posé - tout l'inverse de l'effet qu'il m'a fait quand je l'ai vu en interview chez Nagui ou il avait l'air gâteux et imbu de lui même, à moitié tremblotant - puis je me suis réveillé.



Commentaire de A. (3 ans) : Pourquoi le monsieur il est tout nu?


*(à ne pas confondre avec Talib Kweli)

Un vrai coup dans l'dos

Happy Judgment Flip !

Happy Birdthday, C. ! Here's your first present. Can't wait for the other ones...

Onyx & Biohazard vs Stupeflip - Judgement Flip (cHou Bday mX)

Interview : Cristina Vantzou

"In 2003, Christina met Stars of the Lid's Adam Wiltzie and together they started The Dead Texan (Kranky). After several years of touring with The Dead Texan and a stint as a touring member of Sparklehorse (summer 2007) Christina started making music of her own. [...] Titled Nº1, it is the first installment of a planned series of recordings by Christina with an orchestra component."


1. Your first musical memories?
Dancing in the living room to a Tina Turner tape. Listening to Paul Simon in the car pretty much my entire childhood. Listening to Talking Heads at parties.

2. The best record you received as a present? / The worse one?
Best – Soundtrack to The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. Nobody gives bad music presents.

3. The first record that you lost?
Don’t remember, but I remember clothes lost on tour, always the best items. I’m still hoping a jacket will turn up from my first tour in 2004.

4. The name of your imaginary band?
Quartz Crystal Quartet.

5. In which environment do you like to record music?
At home, in the kitchen.

6. What will music sound like in 50 years / 5000 years?
50 years – Over the next fifty years music will exhaust itself. There will be a revival of homemade instruments and technically skilled musicians will re-emerge. 5000 years – Our mental powers will have developed to the point that our minds will be able to manifest music without any need for tools or time or musicians. “Mind Music” will be released as soon as it has been thought up, and everyone will have they option to hear it, like a radio, but in the form of an invisible archive that you can tune into or not.

7. Which underrated album will start a new musical genre?
Ernest Gibson - Operator.

8. Which album should never have been made?
Never say never.

9. Your favourite album to have a drink?
I’ve never made a drink and put on a record. Except if you count making tea in the morning and putting on music. Sometimes I forget the music part and go straight to the computer. That sucks the life force right out of me. Somehow with music on a morning of work-related emails is bearable.

10. Your dream collaboration?
A residency with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra accompanied by the Swedish radio symphony choir with special guests Bradford Cox, Jim Guthrie, Harold Budd, and Igor Stravinsky.

11. The record that freaks you out?
Fuck Buttons- Surf Solar, in a good way

12. The record you would like to listen to right now?
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot The Son Of Chico Dusty.

13. The film that tickles your creativity?
The Prophet

14. The little-known track that everyone should have heard of?
This is not little-known but…Claude Debussy - Prélude à l'après midi d'un faune.

15. An album or an artist you wouldn’t want to be?
I don’t know how to answer this question.

16. The cover version you would love to do?
Crystal Castles – Zee Crystal Lake and Daft Punk Tron Legacy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Overture

17. The mashup you would love to do?
Emeralds & Fourtet.

18. The text you would like to produce a soundtrack for?
The Swedish Dance History.

19. Have you ever had auditory hallucinations?
All the time. These are what we’ll be able to record as it’s happening in 5000 years. Can’t wait.

20. How would you like to die?
Sword fight.



Go to Christina's website, soundcloud and facebook. See her video and listen to The Dead Texan on spotify.