I want more and more and more and more...

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.)

Vidéo Drugburn: Les Cactus

Here we have Jacques Dutronc singing "Les Cactus" on a television show. There are no words.

Laisse tomber les filles!

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.

We Set Paris On Fire

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.

Yé-Yé Of The Day: Les Sultans!

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.

Psycha Bourée

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.)

Yé-Yé Of The Day: Maël (Finally!)

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.

Can't you hear it?

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.

Donne Moi Ton Coeur Et Ta Fleur

This new Yé-Yé Of The Day comes from this extremely obscure Breton psychedelic folk sextet. Information about Folkdove is scarce, but apparently the album was originally released in 1975 in a pressing of just a few hundred copies. Yes, French psych-folk is as gorgeous as one might suspect, medieval instruments and all--the haunting "Reverdie" attests to that.

Drugburn returns!

I know it's been a long, long absence--much longer than I wanted it to be--but I once again have the resources to make Drugburn a regular happening. Those of you who have checked back here won't be disappointed.

Here is my goodwill offering: Petula Clark's bombshell cover of The Kinks "A Well Respected Man" entitled "Un Jeune Homme Bien."

Much more to follow, so stay tuned.

Illuminate me

Drag City has posted Weird War's new video for "Illuminated." Rejoice!

The SLA Took My Baby Away

Jesus, I've been a bad blogger lately, and I have no real excuse this time. As a consolation, I would like to post mp3s of my own band's works in progress. Hold on, where are you going? Come back! Believe me, I would not waste my time in a shitty band making shitty music.

My group, The Seahorse Liberation Army, counts among its influences Stereolab, Can, Prince, Françoise Hardy, Stereo Total, Julien Ribot, Jacques Dutronc (in fact, we cover two of his songs), and many other Drugburn-esque artists. We are getting hip with the Situationists and Bucky Fuller. Keep in mind that these songs are in various stages of completion; we expect to have our EP done by the fall.

ABC Intro
Play Play Play
Mini, Mini, Mini
We Set Paris On Fire
On Nous Cache Tout, On Nous Dit Rien
The Last Situationist

If you dig us, be sure to leave a comment.

Vivre comme dans les livres

Mordi of Blowupdoll passed this book survey along to me, and since my taste in literature often is related to pop culture anyway, I thought it would make sense to post it here.

1) You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451; which book do you want to be?
Anything by Tom Robbins, Dave Eggers, or Madonna (not that I don't like some of her music).

2) Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Yes, although I can't remember many of my book-crushes anymore. Dewey from I Never Loved Your Mind is the kind of boy I would date.

3) What are you currently reading?
Raven--a massive tome about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple--and Raoul Vaneigem's The Revolution Of Everyday Life.

4) The last book you bought was:
The Sit-In Game (Swedish kids rebelling and taking over a school in 1969), The Preppy Handbook, Diane Von Furstenberg's Book Of Beauty, and The New Art (a collection of essays about pop art, Dada, abstract expressionism, etc.).

5) The last book you read was:
Evasions, the true story of the author's adventures shoplifting and squatting his way across America.

6) Five books you would take to a desert island:
1. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen, possibly the most perversely beautiful novel of all time

2. The Complete Works Of Verner Panton

3. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

4. The Rudi Gernreich Book (Fashion designer of the future)

5. Society Of The Spectacle by Guy Debord

7) Who are you going to pass this stick to, and why?
Maybe The Soundkeeper, or other people on Livejournal (yes, I do have one, and anyone who knows how to work Google can probably find it without much difficulty).

Le Pop Art, C'est La Liberté

Apologies for my absence. Can I make it up to you with a brilliant French pop song?

Here it is--"Pop Art" by Tienou et les Wind-Dings.

I might lose my ability to upload files soon, though, since my friend isn't able to pay his site's hosting fees for this year.

Savvy Traveling Prompts Drugburn Interruption

I'm going to be away from my main computer for a while, so I won't be able to post as frequently as I'd like to in the next couple of months. I'll try to update at least once a week, although I expect it to be more often than that.

Real posts will resume around the end of this week--until then, sit tight.

Ciao!