Journal

So, it happened that last.fm told me that Nouvelle Vague would play just 10 km away from home. Yay !

Nice venue, welcoming for photographers, excellent music (but this was no surprise) which included new stuff like New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle cover, singers (Mélanie Pain, and a new one: Nadeah) that leave you gasping, musicians apparently having fun and enchanting us.

What else can I say ? My best gig since the Nits.

Wed 30 Jul – CocoRosie, Moriarty, Coming Soon
Moriarty were fine, of course. Their friendship with the kids of Coming Soon (the drummmer is 14 !) was refreshing (both invited each other do play one of their song, leading to about 15 people on stage).

But.

CocoRosie, filling the hole of the disengagement of Beirut, were clearly not the pop-folk replacement you'd dream of, and frankly, I really did not get into their music (and stageplay either : only an arty vid, the artists were ghosts in black light) and seeing so much (younger than me) people enjoy them made me wonder if I'm not losing touch with some new music trends.

This being said, I was comforted when an intern at work told me, the day after, that their recorded music is much better than what they did on stage. So, note to self : try one of their albums. Open to suggestions.

Arcade Fire finally (they cancelled their previous gig in Lyon) came to lyon to see me, so I couldn't avoid being there. ;)

I needed at least Arcade Fire to have me move & go in a gig. Can you imagine I've been only to a couple in the last 10 years ????



Anyway, more on this later, but in short:

* I enjoyed it, too bad I was a little bit to far.

* A nice reprise of France Gall's Poupée de cire, poupée de son, here's the crappy extract I could "film":


* Another highlight: Win Butler saying something like "We're so happy to be in this beautiful place [Fourvière's Roman Theatre, Lyon], it's unbelieveable."

* I like the way the public asked for more, too:
. Did you guess they had just played Rebellion (Lies) before? :)

* And one last extract, it was Neighborhood #3 (Power Out):
When I told you I was a bit too far, it was no joke. :)

* And finally Herman Düne was a good surprise for a first part, definitely on my radar now. Some super-nice guy, caring to tell to an impatient crowd in how many of his songs it would be Arcade Fire's turn. Speaking of him, a cute video clip of I wish that I could see you soon:

Some pics on flickr. More later when I'm finished sorting them out.

P.S.: I couldn't see well what Win did when he crouched near the front row ; also, what happened earlier with the megaphone guy ? They had a neon fall, did they have a fight or were they just having fun ?
Will try to find & post pics about these moments.

Proof that showers don't only serve to sing: while having mine today, I wondered: are there last.fm members who are music superstars ?

I mean, while browing last.fm, I often encounter users who are part or a band or solo musicians, and they often publicize it on their profile blurb, like recently deanchristesen (who even uploaded The Supreme Quartet's tracks, cool, they deserve a try). But - pardon me if you're one of those - I was thinking about more famous people - as of today at least. ;) Maybe Bono is reading this journal, for example ? Or perhaps Thom Yorke is a forum moderator ? Or take Peter Gabriel: he was a pioneer with sequencers IIRC, he must be quite geeky, and maybe he listens to music on his high-end iPod, or on his personal computer with some last.fm plugin turned on ? So what's his account ? I'd love to know what theses famous stars listen to.

Actually, I happen to think at least one is hiding in the last.fm staff. Perhaps Russ is actually Angus Young ? Or mustaqila Mick Jagger ? So how's the new album going, muz ? ;)

[ Note: After having seen they added the staff's pics on the aforementioned page, I think these last 2 assumptions are definitely wrong. :) ]

And this is now rare enough :( so that it deserves to be noted.

It's an aria from Johannes Sebastian Bach's Matthäus-Passion (performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Herbert von Karajan), called Mache dich, mein Herze, rein.

Fabulous. Listening to Bach is so rewarding.

I've never been a Radiohead fan. Except for a couple of songs, I didn't like their style, their gloomy tone, and Yorke's calimero-sounding voice (and lyrics AFAICS).

Then Radiohead released In Rainbows online, with a huge buzz around it (not the music, but the fact that the downloader makes his own price). Out of curiosity, I wanted to try if I could buy it for 0 BGP: that was supposedly what it was worth to my ears, and I was to quickly delete it after a listen or two. And yes, downloading In Rainbows for the price of 0 BGP is possible.

That's when I got a smartphone at work, the kind that's able to play MP3s. I was about to do job trips every week, and I like listening to music while travelling, so just before leaving I threw into my smartphone the first MP3s I had at hand. You guessed it, it was In Rainbows.

I still don't know how, but I was quickly hooked : as everyone, I first played intriguing and catchy 15 Step, but quickly Nude met the mood I was in (proof: the video I made with pictures I took then). But my favourite is Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, which is great to listen while walking cities.

Bottom-line: never say never. :) And keep evolving, Radiohead. ;)

In the mood for it, as the family just expanded (very) early today. Joy! :)

Not that many songs come to my mind, only a couple or barely more:

1. Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely <- love this one
   
2. Jacques Brel - Isabelle (about his granddaughter actually IIRC ) <- love this one
   
3. Claude Nougaro - Cécile Ma Fille
   
   Feel free to add to this list. :)
   
   Edit: OK, the adds:
   
   
   
4. Barenaked Ladies - When You Dream
   
   
5. Sinéad O'Connor - This Is to Mother You
   
   
6. Devendra Banhart - Inaniel
   
   
7. Paul Simon - Father And Daughter
   
   
8. Oumou Sangare - Maladon
   
   
9. Ben Folds - Gracie
   

Je viens d'écouter L'horizon by Dominique A. Et bien, je peux vous confirmer que Arcade Fire y font rien que repomper sur la deuxème partie de cette chanson pour l'hymne de Rebellion (Lies). ;)

Ecoutez, vous verrez...

Bon, je reprends: écoutez donc L'horizon par Dominique A. Vous ne lui trouvez pas un petit air de famille avec l'hymne final de Rebellion (Lies) d' Arcade Fire ? Rien ne se crée, tout se transforme... :)