L'Espoir Fait Vivre

L'ESPOIR FAIT VIVRE

Je Veux

JE VEUX

1. BEATS BY DRE SOLO HEADPHONES IN WHITE
2. LIBRARY STAIRCASE
3. TAXIDERMY HYAENA AND COBRA
4. OLIVER PEOPLES ALTMAN SUNGLASSES
5. TWO MONTHS IN MÁLAGA
6. COMMON PROJECTS EVERYTHING
7. ENDLESS SAFARIS & CRUISES ON THE NILE
8. HUSSEIN CHALAYAN ENDANGERED SPECIES ANIMAL PRINT BAG
9. RED DESERT AND CLOSE-UP CRITERION BLU-RAYS NOW

Until You See An Ocean

1. "I'LL DIE FOR YOU" - LIL WAYNE
2. "MY WAY" - JJ
3. "YOU STOPPED MAKING SENSE" - THE RADIO DEPT
4. "BIRTHDAY SEX" - JEREMIH
5. "SINGLE" - LIL WAYNE
6. "COME CLOSE" - COMMON
7. "ACT TOO" - THE ROOTS
8. "EVOLUTION" - CAT POWER
9. "CAPRI" - GEORGES DELERUE
10. "TOO LATE" - TALIB KWELI
11. "PHANTOM SHAPES" - ORPHAN FAIRYTALE
12. "MEMORY OF SELF" - DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE
13. "SHINE LIKE STARS" - PRIMAL SCREAM
14. "PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY" - HOLE

Tropique De Réalité

TROPIQUE DE RÉALITÉ

Marx Et Coca-Cola

LES ENFANTS DE MARX ET COCA-COLA

D'une Fenêtre

D'UNE FENÊTRE

Never Be The Same Again

NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN
jj Live at The Echoplex
4/17/2010

So of course I had high hopes and wild expectations for the jj show last night. They really are my favorite band and are basically just perfect in every way possible. It was incredible, I couldn't have imagined anything better. Elin started with a few solo acoustic songs, the first one was something I had never heard before, but was definitely my favorite of the whole show. Her voice sounds even more staggering live, and the lyrics were really really good. I love the way that she can sing lines in a hip-hop sort of way, with a real street toughness, but sound so sweet and sincere at the same time. The lyrics were about teenage dreams, broken hearts, crossing the seas, and seeing the whole world, eyes wide open. Joakim joined her after a few songs with an outrageous stage presence and an inaudible acoustic guitar.

Bands often use visuals during their shows, but I feel like with jj it is not an afterthought or something to make the music more interesting.. it is part of their whole deal. Truly, their songs could be played in a dark room with nothing else and still be captivating. But the visuals, when matched perfectly with the music, were stunning. Images of vast deserts, elephants arising from water, leopards and lions close-up and running through African plains, camels in slow-motion, and giant whale tales splashing out of the ocean.

Those images are part of jj's distinct influences that attract me to them so much. They somehow manage to combine French New Wave (Jules Et Jim, you smoke like a young Belmondo...), Africa, hip-hop (especially Lil Wayne), dreams of eternity, and the tropics all into one. I don't think even Malcolm McLaren could have designed something this good.

They ended the show with two acoustic songs- Lithium by Nirvana and My Way. Another day, life goes on.. but my heart is still there, on a beach somewhere in the South of France, with jj.


FROM AFRICA TO MALAGA:



MY LIFE:

I Am The One I Am

I AM THE ONE I AM

Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice (Omen Blues Band/Sky High Band, etc) were one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me. They seemed to come out of nowhere, and had this impossibly mysterious, gothic/circus/gospel-blues sound that I had never heard anything like before. They also had cultish Manson family names that added to the mystique:

Wooden Wand Jehovah aka Hassara, 27, Virgo
Heidi Diehl aka H Reality, 15, Gemini
Glucas Crane aka Nonhorse, age unknown, Gemini
Steven The Harvester aka "Jarvis," 27, Sagittarius
Satya Sai Jehovah aka Satya Sky aka Scupetty aka Alpha Woman, 18, Aquarius

The other thing that made them so special was that they kept changing.. no two records really sounded much alike. Xiao was black magic, scripture, and terrifying (the last track especially, Return Of The Nose, is the scariest thing I've ever heard), The Flood was summery and creek-side, Gipsy Freedom was psychedelic and Jefferson Airplaine, Buck Dharma was the most uneasy but filled with some of Satya Sai's best vocals and real songs. Her voice is one you will never forget. Wooden Wand's solo album, Harem Of The Sundrum & The Witness Figg might be the most beautiful and traditional-sounding thing to come out of all of this.. there are echoes of Judee Sill, Bill Fay, and even Alice in Chains Unplugged.

Second Attention was also a revelation- a play on the classic John & Beverley Martyn Woodstock masterpiece, Stormbringer. I could listen to these guys all day long, that is how varied and endlessly fascinating their back catalog is. True outsiders singing from the corners of the earth.

Le Nouvelle Vague

LE NOUVELLE VAGUE

Lately all I can think about is the early, exciting days of the French New Wave. Jules Et Jim has been on my mind for months now, as has Band À Part, where the two images below are taken from. Watching Les Plages d'Agnès the other night reminded me just how much I love all of these films. They were dangerous, abrupt, funny, sweet, dreamy, romantic... but more than anything- they are free.

Stridulum

STRIDULUM - ZOLA JESUS
It's not Kate Bush or Diamanda or Siouxsie or all the other girls she gets mentioned with. Dropping the power electronics but none of the feeling.. these songs are better than any I've heard for a very long time.






















NEW AMERYKAH PART ONE - ERYKAH BADU
I know she has a new record out, but I can't stop listening to this one! Erykah is one of the very very few people out there truly doing what can easily be called the future. Last week I played this about five or six times in a row. "Me" and "Soldier" get me every single time.





















IRM - CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG
My best friend.





















LOVE COMES CLOSE - COLD CAVE
Ground zero. Desert island bliss. Peerless and life-changing.






















S/T - THE XX
I never get tired of this, it is something I can play and play and play again and it always sounds better than the last time. Really, it's just perfect.























BLACKSUMMER'S NIGHT - MAXWELL
So sophisticated and just so beautifully written, this is what I imagine early '90's highrise cocktail parties sounded like.






















I WILL BE - DUM DUM GIRLS
I hesitated with this one at first, but finally gave in. Even though it is short, it does get a bit much toward the end. It sounds best when you're getting ready to go.























HUNTINGTON ASHRAM MONASTERY - ALICE COLTRANE
I could never choose one Alice album as a favorite, but this one has been suiting me really well lately. It just seems to play and play forever. Fluid is an understatement.






















MOSES - ELIZABETH FRASER
I know I've written about this already, but I just can't get enough.























A SUFI AND A KILLER - GONJASUFI
Speaking of the future, I think this is right up there with Erykah. Worldbeat psychedelic soul music at its best.























TEEN DREAM - BEACH HOUSE
This is so lush and romantic and lazier than any summer I've ever known. Good for long bus rides, Echo Park, or getting ready for bed.
























AMOURS DES FEINTES - JANE BIRKIN
My favorite Jane Birkin album. It doesn't get any better than this.
























THA CARTER III - LIL WAYNE
My most-listened-to record the past few months. Deeper than the oceans, all of them.













JJ Nº 1 / JJ Nº 2 / JJ Nº 3 - JJ
All-time classics. Words won't do.