montag

Summer is over... or almost.

2008-09-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Pop française über-catchy. Na na na. Why not peanut.

Lio - Bananasplit (MP3)

I love politics (as of today, I really do)

2008-09-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

"Il y a plus de culture dans un pot de yogourt que dans un gouvernement conservateur."

Stéphane Dion

Ohm Sweet Ohm

2008-09-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

I'm now in my new home in Montréal. I survived. And yes, I'm happy I'm alive.

This would is the perfect song for me right now. It's by Kraftwerk, from their 1975 record Radioactivity. So instead, I'm playing what I think is one of their greatest songs. Here are the words in German and a translation. Ahhh science...

Radioland (MP3)

Drehen wir am Radiophon
Vernehmen wir den Sendeton
Durch Tastendruck mit Blitzesschnelle...(click clack)
Erreichen wir die Kurze Welle
Nach Feineinstellung mit der Hand
Lauschen wir dem Morseband
Elektronenklänge aus dem Radioland

We are turning dials of the Radio
We are hearing the sound of transmission
By pressing a button fast
We reach the short wave band
After fine tuning by hand
We are listening to the Morse band
Electronic sound from Radioland

- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -

German, science and classical music influenced electronic music. Perfect mix for a geek like me.

CBC

2008-08-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

CBC asked me to host a show and write something on their blog... Now 2 days before I leave Vancouver. It's all feeling really surreal. But once I arrive to Montréal, I'll be part of a really important protest to remind Harper that the cuts in the arts are not going to help him in the next elections. So that will be a pretty "active" comeback I would say. I'm scared but I can't wait.

And it's a countdown...

2008-08-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

And there are now 5 days left before the big move... How insane is that. I will post my "best of Vancouver" very soon. I think it will help me. Or maybe not.

De Hongkong Star à Hongkong Garden

2008-08-15T01:02:00.001-07:00

Pour Simon Larsen. Parce que grâce à toi, il a eu aussi:

Pauvre France

2008-08-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

Les années 80 en France, c'était quelque chose.

Summer is here

2008-08-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

France Gall was my mom's favorite singer. She even dyed her hair blond to look like her. I rediscovered France Gall with my "ex-petit-ami-et-maintenant-ami" who used to listen to listen to her with his "ex-petite-amie". Most of her songs are really catchy and her voice will sound annoying to a lot of people but I've always like it. I can just imagine my mom spending time in her room listening to France's singles on her turntable and dancing to herself. I did the same today on that song that I didn't know until yesterday... found it online of course but I also found a video online. Now that guy's necklace is quite something. The song is about 2 boys fighting for the same girl and there is a rather weird "fight dance" in the clip. So this is the "Avant la bagarre" song (Before the Fight).

My mom was not even 5 feet tall (4'11") - I wonder if she was taller than France...

It's good to be French sometimes. Because you can enjoy really cheesy music without guilt, because it's French. Like this song from the rather cheesy French film "Les Chansons d'amour"... I'm sure a lot of people would call this film a navet (turnip is what you call a bad movie in French - my friend Toog explained it really well on his blog years ago - you'll have to scroll down a little) but I actually quite like this song.

Je n'aime que toi (MP3)

10 ans + tard...

2008-08-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

On vient de me proposer d'être DJ invité à CBC Radio 3. Je suis pas mal flatté en fait! Il me semble que plein de bonnes choses surviennent depuis que je sais que je vais quitter Vancouver (comme le prix Jessie pour la musique de théâtre...). Et puis de retourner à Montréal me fait un peu peur parce que j'ai l'impression d'avoir mis tout mon passé sur pause. Je pensais l'autre jour à mes années au coin de Duluth et De Bullion, ça fait 10 ans maintenant... J'écoutais vraiment beaucoup de musique à cette époque-là, avec mon émission à CISM, etc.

Alors je vais jouer au DJ encore une fois, avec quelques morceaux qui me rappellent ma première année comme DJ au Laïka sur St-Laurent et au bar Quartier Latin sur Ontario... J'imagine que je peux m'accorder le droit d'être nostalgique un peu. La vague lounge et tout ça... et la pop japonaise...

Kid Loco - Grand love theme
High Llamas - Homesping Rerun (Kid Loco remix)
Cornelius - Mic Check

Un petit film de Brakhage avec ça? Avec la musique de vous savez qui...

demolished by...

2008-08-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

This is the school I was talking about earlier. Thanks to Pacific Demolition for not calling the cops when I was taking those pictures.

CREST

If there's been a way to build it
There'll be a way to destroy it
Things are not all that out of control

2008-08-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

The Smiths - There is a light that never goes out (MP3)

Guillotine, mode d'emploi

2008-07-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

There was a horrible story in the news today: a guy got stabbed then beheaded while traveling on a Greyhound bus somewhere in Manitoba. I read the article right after I woke up. The idea of losing my head came back to me when I was on my bike on my way to the coffee shop this morning. Imagination can be an enemy... Then I saw another really dark image - didn't take a picture, I should have - I one of the most beautiful (and old for vancouver) schools in the neighborhood being destroyed and there was a huge hole in the roof top. The school is being destroyed because, supposedly, it was rat infested. So instead they built a modern school that looks like an Autocad plan with weird 90s style angles. Just horrific. Although not nearly as horrific as the description of the murder that happened on Wednesday night... I thought to myself that the destruction of such a beautiful historic building (it is for Vancouver, believe me, the city is really young) is also a crime to some extent. I really don't get it.

As I was cycling away, I could hear the sounds of the destruction, trucks and cranes and bricks falling down. By the time I got the coffee shop, I had lost all my appetite.

The scene then reminded me of Guy Maddin's recent movie "My Winnipeg". There is sad scene of an old arena being destroyed. I never went to that school yet a part of me felt like Maddin when the arena of his childhood got destroyed.

maintenant je sais...

2008-07-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

... pourquoi j'ai pensé à la musique pour bébé aujourd'hui. C'est que mon ami Shawn, mieux connu sous le nom de Lullatone est depuis peu un jeune papa et il m'a demandé si je voulais bien composer quelques mélodies au violon pour la musique "for baby" qu'il compose en ce moment. J'ai dit oui bien sûr. Et je me suis réveillé avec cette idée de musique pour bébé ce matin. Tout s'explique.

Ça tombe bien, je viens de terminer les arrangements pour ce morceau de mon amie Leah Abramson.

Leah Abramson - Take some good notes (MP3!)

this is where is starts again

2008-07-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's because I'm moving soon or if it's in the stars but I feel like I'm on autopilot and I just have to write more about things, just like everybody else does on the web. I don't know if the world needs another blog but what can I do? Je suis influençable. C'est comme ça.

Ch-ch-ch-changes. Leaving Vancouver will be such a good thing, I know it. It is not and has never been the best place for me - it's hard to really not like a city. I've managed to live in it of course because Vancouver is not hell either (although....) and to force myself to be positive about this place, I'll do a little "my best of Vancouver" soon. That way I can leave the place with a good taste in my mouth, like the taste of a vietnamese coconut snowball candy for example (!!!). I think that at least half of my top 10 will be about food. I really tried to love this city more but it seems like it's grey (see picture) about 300 days a year. Maybe I would have loved Vancouver more had I moved here before I was born, like on this picture taken by Fred Herzog who took pictures of Vancouver all his life. But that's for a little later. I'm just starting this because it had to start somewhere.

So that somewhere is somewhat psychedelic. Harmonia is the band (it's surprising all the info you can find about them on Wikipedia), Dino is the track and it's from their second record called Musik von Harmonia. Simple. Motorik rock is how some people describe their message. Have a nice trip. And so you can sleep ok tonight, I'm also posting a Pulp track that gives me that feeling I felt when I first heard it in London back in 1996, walking on the overpass on Cromwell Road, heading to Gloucester Road where I had a waiting job in a crappy restaurant that paid me 3 pounds an hour. Best feeling ever.

Drôle de coïncidence: here is an interview with Jarvis Cocker that was done by Pitchfork.tv recently - 12 ans plus tard... Now if you don't really care about Jarvis Cocker, you can always look at the dreamy interviewer... Ouh la la!

Harmonia - Dino (MP3!)
Pulp - Mile End (MP3!)