Jane Birkin is my hero. This clip intersperses her singing with clips from the film Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus, written and directed by Serge and starring Jane with Joe Dallesandro of Warhol film fame. I thought the film was well done, very bittersweet and bleak.
I'm not the biggest Liza Minnelli fan, but I must say that her cover of "You're So Vain" (from her 1973 album The Singer) is fantastic. I've been grooving to this slice of orchestral pop-rock heaven all day long.
I just revamped two of my oldest Drugburn posts from way back before I posted any mp3's. Both now have songs attached, so go take a look.
The Blades of Grass
The Gordian Knot
I thought I would have to dig through my music to find something good enough to inaugurate my first official music post in over a year. As it turns out, the obvious choice was practically staring me in the face--French soundtrack composer, keyboardist, and studio engineer Bernard Estardy. Estardy worked with big names like Françoise Hardy, Nino Ferrer, and Johnny Hallyday in the sixties and seventies as well as building and operating his own recording studio and creating some of the most bizarre, gorgeous music the jazz/funk genre has to offer.
1967's La Formule Du Baron, the album pictured above, is Estardy's most acclaimed record. Like Jean-Claude Vannier's masterpiece L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches, Baron is an experimental concept album steeped in intricate arrangements and peculiar sound effects. "Cha Tatch Ka" sounds like something between evil bossa nova and African psychedelia, while "Monsieur Dutour" (an homage to the brilliant trumpet player Pierre Dutour) borrows the horn riff from Serge Gainsbourg's "Initials BB" (which Dutour may or may not have played on).
Please enjoy. It feels good to be back.
Estardy interview on French Attack
Waxidermy post on Estardy's Electro Sounds Volume 2 album
Salut--it's been a long, long time since I last posted on this blog. Despite my former inconsistencies, the hiatus is now finally over, and I'm determined to post on a consistent basis from now until doomsday. Reading all the old comments, I was inspired by how much you all have appreciated my posts in the past, and I realised that I had to bring Drugburn back for good.
Some small changes are in store for Drugburn--since the advent of Youtube, I'll be able to post videos much more easily, for one. I also want to broaden the scope of the musical content to include some French/Belgian/Québequois punk and new wave, French experimental music, and whatever else I am really enjoying and wanting to share with the readers of this blog. Last but not least, I'm planning on posting playlists within the blog every so often.
Stay tuned for a new music post in the next twenty-four hours!
Love,
Pedal
Je Suis D'Accord
Media Player doesn't seem to like this file, so try opening it with Quicktime.
Here's some more audiovisual Drugburn--the impossibly skinny Michel Polnareff singing "Le Roi Des Fourmis" quasi-live on French TV in 1967. Salut!
(The video is in .avi format, so if it doesn't work for you, go here.)
Dutronc and band perform in front of a pop art backdrop. Je l'aime beaucoup!
"J'aime Les Filles" video
(The video is in .avi format, so if it doesn't work for you, go here.)
Here we have Jacques Dutronc singing "Les Cactus" on a television show. There are no words.
I'm pleased to present Drugburn's first video--the Scopitone for France Gall's "Laisse Tomber Les Filles." I'm too lazy to do a screen capture--just watch it, okay?
More yé-yé videos to come.
Edit: I got rid of the file because I was worried about my hosting site's bandwith, but it's all over Youtube, so from now on the link will point to them.
Now is the time...here is the Seahorse Liberation Army's "We Set Paris On Fire," final final version. Pass it on!
(Now if only the students would join in.)
Happy Paris riots 2005.
I know, I know, there's more to 60's French music than covers of English-language hits, but whenever I hear a French cover of one of my favourite songs that really gets it right, a little chill goes up my spine. With Les Sultans' "Je T'Aime Bien" (AKA The Zombies' "You Make Me Feel Good"), I could hardly believe my ears. I'd heard a couple of crappy French versions of "She's Not There" and figured that there were few bands in any language who could do justice to the brilliance of The Zombies' originals. But Québec's Les Sultans nailed it--the gorgeous folk-rockish guitars, the dead-on harmonies, the tambourine shake--everything is as it should be. All of their songs are great, really, but other titles of note include "Dis-Lui" (The Zombies' "Leave Me Be") and "Il N'y A Rien Au Monde Que Je Ne Ferais Pas..." (The Kinks' "Nothin' In The World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout The Girl"). I'd give my right arm to be 16 back in 1966 Montréal. Damn.
Dashiell Hedayat--"Chrysler Rose" (10.1 massive psychedelic megabytes)
I can't begin to describe this song except to say that if it was a house I would want to live in it.
(I originally misspelled his name--my source for the song got it wrong--but further investigation reveals that Hedayat was a poet who was involved with the experimental group Gong and that this song comes from the album Obsolete.)
I had been trying to find Maël's new album, Kung-Fu Et Autres Cirques De Bord De Mer since it came out in January. The review in Les Inrockuptibles intrigued me with its comparisons to Florent Marchet and Mathieu Boogaerts, but only yesterday did the French pop gods finally deliver it to my ears. While Maël's sound is far more subdued than Marchet's heady, sublime pop-infused chanson, I can't stop listening to "Tatouage De Hippie" with its irresistible gypsy rhythm and subtle electronic noise. Kung-Fu as a whole is a fine slice of the unabashedly beautiful folk-pop the French so excel at these days.
Also, if you haven't heard Florent Marchet's Gargilesse, seek it out! He has to be one of the most talented solo artists in France today. Maybe I'll post something of his in the near future.
While I digest some new music, here are two versions of one of my favourite songs, "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat," both the cover by Herman's Hermits and the original by the incomparable Goldie and the Gingerbreads.
