Autoscopie

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