The Sockless Sounds of Sebastien Tellier

I'm not wearing socks today. It's a bold fashion choice - a little dangerous, a little sexual even. And so today I feel I should post some Sebastien Tellier. Because his music - so subtly sexual and suavely subversive - sounds sockless.



I'm beginning to think there is only one degree of separation when it comes to good music coming out of France. For instance, Sebastien Tellier toured with Air. His new album, Sexuality, was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. And the sickly groove on the gorgeous "La ritournelle" (Politics) sounds suspiciously like the beat Nigerian afrobeat legend Tony Allen laid down on Charlotte Gainsbourg's "Night-Time Intermission." That's because it's Allen on both tracks. And because Gainsbourg's record was produced by Air, who also used Allen on their new record Pocket Symphony. Confused? Don't be. Do what I do and picture a little Cafe in Paris with an adjoining studio where a few tiny hipsters in berets and designer t-shirts make all of the country's good music, like a factory of beatnik oompa loompas.

stream:

Sebastien Tellier - "La ritournelle" [From Politics]



Sebastien Tellier - "Long de La Riviere Tendre" [From Broadway]



Sebastien Tellier - "Fingers of Steel" [From Sexuality]



Sebastien Tellier - "L'Amour Et La Violence" [From Sexuality]

Tony Allen's Seasick Sound

I'm on vacation and this is a rerun:



I’ve gotten addicted to Tony Allen’s seasick drumming; but I had to go back in time first, to Tony Allen’s Version of Time, which is outside of time; an idea about rhythm that sloshes back and forth between swing and straight, perpetually adrift and uncontainable.

It’s a rebellious feel and Tony Allen did rebellious things with it. When I say rebellious, I don’t mean he wore a controversial t-shirt on Saturday Night Live, or wouldn’t let HUMMER use one of his tracks in a commercial. I mean that the Nigerian percussion master was out of his mind with independence. First he helped let loose a whole new kind of music (a militant witchdoctor funk called Afrobeat designed to put your ass into a trance of dance and tap you into the communal ecstasy and out of the communal psychosis). And then, after sicking his groove on the Dark Continent, his band, Africa ’70, made its own compound and declared independence from the state.

I haven’t mentioned Fela Kuti yet, on purpose. Fela started Africa ’70 with Allen. Allen was musical director, but Fela wrote the tunes and gave the sound a face. Kuti’s name became the brand name forever stapled onto “Afrobeat” in the histories, while Allen’s became a footnote. But Afrobeat was nothing if not politics through rhythm and if Fela supplied the polemic, Allen’s eternal groove gave it its conduit.



Madness is a reoccurring theme in African legends and Fela’s pan-African fervor definitely blossomed into something approaching mania. When he tried to use concert proceeds to fund his presidential campaign, a lot of his band bolted, feeling he had crossed the line from muso-political to just political. Allen knew the difference, and which one he was qualified in, and left as well, moving to Europe. After all, if he wasn’t going to let the Nigerian army push him around, why should he let Kuti?

Click here to read more and for mp3s.

Ark of Funk

Genesis 6:19 ...and God said to Noah, You are to bring into the ark two of every living creature...

2 Funk Demos:

Prince - "Feel You Up" (1981 Demo)

This Heat - "Good Side" (Demo)

Elvis Costello, Perennially Alien

Elvis Costello makes you want to keep the fight going. Maybe it's because he sounds like he's singing through a broken nose. Or maybe it's that he's made some of the best records of his lifetime in the bloat of middle age. Whatever it is, the man can be learned from.

It's not that Elvis is perennially cool; or perennially angry. It's that he gathers no moss, and makes the blunted edges and soggy energies that inevitably mar a life's work seem dysfunctional, rather than inevitable. He's perennially alien. His music is a downed ship, a piece of gravity-defying technology: worth capturing and reverse engineering.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters - "Turpentine" [Momofuku]

Elvis Costello & The Imposters - "Drum and Bone" [Momofuku]

Elvis Costello - "When I Was Cruel No. 2" [When I Was Cruel]

Steven Nistor: Nist of Fate

I wrote a post on Wingstroke, my civilian blog, about my old friend, drummer Steven Nistor. I also posted mp3s of a few recordings he's been featured on recently, including the new Martina Topley Bird and an alternate version from the new Daniel Lanois. If you like those artists, go there.

Pinch of Jamaican Soul: Daddy's Cooking

Today daddy's cooking. Mama's out and daddy's making the meal. And when daddy's cooking, you know how it's going to go down. When daddy's cooking, you know that food is going to be warm and tasty. You know you're going to beg for seconds. When daddy's cooking you stay out of the kitchen. Cause it can get a little dangerous in there, what with the shit-sharp knives and the hot-ass heat. You let daddy handle the danger, cause you know it takes a little danger to make it hot and tasty the way daddy always makes it. A little danger and a lot of love.

Yeah, daddy always makes the same thing when it's his turn to cook, but it never gets old. Jamaican soul, that's right. Cut into tiny dinosaur shapes for baby. Hot, tasty Jamaican soul. Pungent grooves. Brothy bass. And a hearty tune with a voice crisped to perfection, all of it seasoned in light tape distortion.

Yum.


Richard Ace - Can't Get Enough

The Tartans - Coming On Strong

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Chances Are