Stage 05, France

Vive la France, home to revolutionairies and poets and one of the most centralised countries in europe. France is known around the world as a diverse country in its people, architectures and landscapes. About 9.6% of the French population is foreign either by nationality or by origin as of the 1999 Census [1] , which makes France one of the most diverse countries on the continent with old and more recent immigrants coming mainly from Europe and the former French colonies. xtensive highway network (for example: France has a great infrastructure highways, (hi-speed) trains) and it has the fastest average internet connection speed and in 2004, for the 3rd time in a row, the French healthcare system has been ranked number one in the world by the World Health Organisation. Viva la republic indeed. France @ Wiki

Paris sucks in artists and ideas for breakfast, lunch and diner, no wonder then that Paris's nightlife is so famous. 10CC sang in 76 "One night in Paris is like a year in any other place", yes things move fast in this melting pot (tumbler ). For my first visit to France i decided to stay away from Ile de France (Paris region) , not to worry we'll get to Paris soon enough.

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Miss Kitty - Electroclash (Berlin is burning )

Miss Kittin (real name Caroline Hervé) is an electronica vocalist and DJ. She was born in Grenoble, France in 1973. Caroline studied both contemporary and graphic arts. As time progressed, however, she found herself developing an interest in musical genres ranging from classic, jazz, funk, and disco to english pop. Finally finding her sweet spot in electronic music in 1991, she raved all around the country before doing her first mix in april of 1993. .In pursuit of other opportunities, after she and The Hacker recorded "Frank Sinatra" for DJ Hell's label, Kittin left France in 1996 and relocated to Geneva, Switzerland where she would join the Mental Groove Record Posse. More and more dj gigs and some EP's with the hacker until they released their first album on gigolo. In 2002 miss K moved to Berlin where she was requested to do an electroclash mix album for MUZIK magazine, august's 2002-bonus disc, thus not for sale but you can get it here. Since she released a solo album "I Com", mix sets and albums, i'd advise a visit to her website , where she speaks all out (just like a woman).



Miss Kitten - Electroclash  (flac 443mb)

01 - Miss Kittin - Who Am I (Vocal Intro)
02 - Arpanet - Wireless Internet
03 - System 01 - Drugs Work
04 - TGV - Fools Gold (Vocals - Miss Kittin)
05 - M. Mayer - Love Is Stronger Than Pride
05 - David Carretta - Vicious Game
06 - DHS - House Of God (2000 DHS Remix)
07 - Dot Allison - Substance (Felix Da Housecat Remix)
08 - T.Raumschmiere - Energiekriese
09 - Audible - Estress Audio
10 - Panasonic - Teurastamo
11 - Golden Boy With Miss Kittin - Rippin Kittin (Ellen Allien Remix)
12 - A Number Of Names - Shari Vari (Ectomorph Remix)
13 - Miss Kittin & The Hacker - Frank Sinatra 2001
14 - Carsten Jost - A Certain Kind
15 - Ellen Allien - Stadtkind (Barbara Morgenstern Remix)
16 - Ultra-Red - A16
17 - Zoot Woman - Living In A Magazine (Paper Faces Remix)
18 - Thomas Brinkmann - Klicks
19 - Miss Kittin - Berlin Is Burning (Vocal Outro)

Miss Kitten @ Home
Miss Kitten @ Wiki
Miss Kitten @ Amazon
Miss Kitten @ YouTube

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Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Press Color extended    ( flac 302mb)

Born in Paris, after a brief stay at art school drawn by the big apple, where she met Michael Estaban who'd become a life long friend and who introduced her to the New York '76 underground scene. Lizzy published "Desiderata" illustrated by Patti -Horses- Smith, bought a guitar, did the rounds around the NY art scene, and in 1979 she recorded Press Color with Estaban. Not being one to stay too long in one place she started travelling , recording Mambo Nassau in the west indies, a world promo tour, followed by travels thru Africa, there's an extensive bio and more Lizzy Mercier Descloux albums @ not-rock-on

Beginning of this century she moved to Corsica where she would die of cancer april 2004, i'd like to think that one of the reasons she settled there, besides the beautiful rugged nature, was the emotional, local polyphonic music posted elsewhere here.

Press Color is a late seventies NY timepiece, it clocks in at 23 min, by that time we've moved thru some wide ranging moods , the percussive mission impossible still hits as hard as it did 27 years ago. This is a vinyl rip, meanwhile remastered versions are available @ Amazon

Lizzy Mercier was the kind of woman feminists can only aspire to become, i end with a quote from her "Why live down on earth when the sky is so vast and so blue and all is pointless but desire."



01 - Jim On The Move (2:29)
02 - Aya Mood 3.5 (2:50)
03 - Torso Corso (1:48)
04 - Wawa (2:18)
05 - Fire (5:11)
06 - Mission Impossible (2:35)
07 - No Golden Throat (2:38)
08 - Tumour (2:57)
Bonus Track
09 Lizzy Mercier Descloux Mission Impossible 2.0 2:22
Rosa Yemen
10 Rosa Vertov 1:40
11 Decryptated 1:19
12 Herpes Simplex 2:01
13 Larousse Baron Bic 1:33
14 Tso Xin Yu Xin 1:20
15 Nina Con Un Tercer Ojo 0:55
Bonus Tracks
16 Birdy Num-num3:33
17 Hard Boiled Babe 4:25
18 Morning High (With Patti Smith) 3:03
Lizzy @ ZE rec
Lizzy @ Answers

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Penumbra - Seclusion (flac  334mb)

Gothic metal makes heavy use of atmospheres in its music, which are commonly tailored to fit the song; warm and energetic, empty and enclosing. The experience of hearing this record is something out of this world, the choirs, the intricate compositions. On their third album Penumbra has matured as a band, the compositions are more diverse, the bombastic choirs has been replaced by less frequent Gregorian chants. The four voices, the female, the male, the Black and the Death one intertwine in perfect harmony all through the record. On the album the tale is told of a love story between an angel and a mortal. (as if ordinairy relationships arent inspiring/hard enough.). Penumbra finally found their way here, excellent songs some "timeless" elements like bagpipes in the title track "Seclusion" , in short one of the best goth albums from 2003.



o1 - Tragical Memories
02 - Cursed Destiny
03 - Seclusion
04 - Prophetess
05 - Hope
06 - Crimson Tail
07 - Conception
08 - Enclosed

their website http://www.penumbra-band.com/ is unavailable , but their label 'season of mist' is worth a look

Season of Mist
Penumbra @ Wiki
Penumbra @ Amazon

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M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts +bonus   (flac  599mb)

M83 originate from Antibes at the Cote d'Azur, the french duo Nicolas Fromageau and Anthony Gonzalez farm lush expanses of synthesizer and electronic foliage with assured, emotive precision and care. Although at times M83 evoke Jean Michel Jarre or Air, this is far from being an album of Franco-synth by numbers. No they recall the best moments of Boards of Canada without all of the hip-hop beats. M83’s melodies take time to develop and unfurl into stately crescendos of sonic bliss and dense walls of white noise and melody using only old synthesizers and minimal but well-employed guitar, not unlike those of Slowdive and Sigur Ros. The ambient qualities owe a debt to Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. M83 takes all of these elements and blends them into a perfect example of how electronic music influenced shoegaze and now shoegaze is influencing electronica.



01 Birds (0:53)
02 Unrecorded (4:11)
03 Run Into Flowers (4:09)
04 In Church (3:58)
05 America (3:06)
06 On A White Lake, Near A Green Mountain (4:43)
07 Noise (3:54)
08 Be Wild (3:19)
09 Cyborg (3:48)
10 0078h (4:01
11 Gone (6:07)
12 Beauties Can Die 11:20)
bonus
13 Tsubasa 4:09
14 God Of Thunder 5:54
15 In Church (Cyann & Ben Version) 7:05
16 Gone (Live) 5:50
17 Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts 17:43


M83 @ Home
M83 @ Wiki
M83 @ Amazon

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"If music cannot change the world, what use does it have?"

This is the question raised by Hector Zazou, one of the most innovative and unpredictable French composers, as the versatility of his career demonstrates: rock music (the band Barricades), French impressionist music (the duet ZNR) or traditional African music (three albums with Bony Bikaye)... Hector Zazou has a surprise waiting with each new composition. Whether it be for string quartet, wind instruments, classical voices or synthesizers, all illustrate his passion for the most unexpected inventions.Born of a French father and Spanish mother in pre-independence Algeria, Hector Zazou first recorded in the mid-'70s under the name ZNR.Throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the early '80s, Zazou's musical efforts (whatever they might have been), are not represented by any readily available recordings, but some experiments in musical erotica were conducted under the name La Perversita...! In the 80's he made three albums with electronic African music with Bony Bikaye..



Zazou / Bikaye - Guilty * (1988 flac 313mb)

01 - Guilty (4:16)
02 - No Secret (4:27)
03 - Binagwe (4:32)
04 - Ba Wela (5:56)
05 - Kinshasa (4:19)
06 - My Shoes (5:43)
07 - Sans Musik (6:56)
08 - It's A Man's Man's World (4:44)
09 - Zuwa (6:14)
10 - Na Kenda (5:34)

Hector Zazou has a surprise waiting with each new composition. Whether it be for string quartet, wind instruments, classical voices or synthesizers, all illustrate his passion for the most unexpected inventions. The album "Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses" (1991- is yet another successful experiment blending century-old a-cappella songs with shades of contemporary music. The following year Hector's "Sahara Blue" was released: the album, based on the work of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud and performed by the Sahara Blue Orchestra stars David Sylvian, Bill Laswell, Khaled, Dead Can Dance, Gérard Depardieu among other guests. Inspired by the musical folk traditions of the Northern Hemisphere, Hector's next adventure was "Songs From The Cold Seas" (1995), a literal journey through Siberian Shamanism, Scandinavian folk songs, Japanese ballads and Greenland mythology featuring an impressive cast of musicians including Värttina, Tokiko Kako, Suzanne Vega, Björk, Siouxsie and Jane Siberry. Released in 1998, "Lights In The Dark" – an exploration of ancient sacred Celtic music from the XIIth century featured some of the most beautiful Irish voices (Katie Mc Mahon, Breda Mayock and Lasairfhiona Ni Chonaola), a gospel choir and guest appearances by Mark Isham, Carlos Nuñez, Caroline Lavelle or Peter Gabriel. A successful tour followed in France, Italy and Switzerland. Recorded with American singer Sandy Dillon, "Las Vegas Is Cursed" (2001) a baroque opera, mixing electronic rock and altered chamber music, saw the return of Hector Zazou to electricity and experimentation.



Hector Zazou - Sahara Blue  (92 flac 320mb)

01 - I'll Strangle You (5:12)
02 - First Evening (6:31)
03 - Ophélie (6:20)
04 - Lines (3:33)
05 - Youth (5:34)
06 - Hapolot Kenym (4:59)
07 - Hunger (4:38)
08 - Sahara Blue (Brussels) (6:05)
09 - Amdyaz (5:31)
10 - Black Stream (3:57)
11 - Harar et les Gallas (4:28)
12 - Lettre au Directeur des Messageries Maritimes (4:41)

In 2003 Hector Zazou composed an original soundtrack for Carl-Théodor Dreyer’s “la Passion de Jeanne d’Arc” while his new album “Strong Currents” was released, a collection of acoustic songs that was the fruit of several years of work (with Jane Birkin, Lisa Germano, Laurie Anderson…). Spring 2004 saw the release of “L’Absence”; an electronic twin of “Strong Currents”. He was then commissionned (by ciné-mix and Le Forum Des images in Paris)to compose another original soundtrack, this time for Robert Flaherty documentary “Nanouk Of The North”.
Hector Zazou has proven himself as a creative force behind several unsual projects, as a unique musical arranger and producer called upon for his constant capacity of innovétion. He has been commissionned to write pieces for strings ensembles (By the Balanescu Quartet), contemporary dance performances or for the opening night festivities of the 1998 football world cup.
Zazou’s inventiveness as a producer has lead him to work with numerous artists among them Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo (Real World Records), Galician bagpipes player Carlos Nuñez,, Uzbek singer Sevara Nazarkhan (Yol Bolsin, Real World Records) , Italian band PGR (“Per Grazia Ricevuta”, released by Universal, was hailed as a masterpiece by the Italian press) and among others. His latest project, a CD/DVD titled Quadri [+] Chromies, result of a two years collaboration with French digital painter Bernard Caillaud was released early 2006...

This amazingly rich and eclectic career brings to light the pioneering aspect of Zazou's unique approach and confirms his position in the foreground of the world music scene.“In England they have Peter Gabriel, in America they have David Byrne, in France we have Hector Zazou” (Jean-françois Bizot)

Zazou @ Wiki
Zazou @ Amazon

^^^^^^
Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses avec H Zazou * (flac 355mb)

The album "Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses" (1991- is yet another successful experiment blending century-old a-cappella songs with shades of contemporary music performed by Zazou and occasional collaborators such as Jon Hassell, Manu Di Bango, Richard Horowitz, Ryuichi Sakamoto and John Cale. This is based on traditional Corsican choral music, influenced by the sea and solitary island life. Beautiful, quality, haunting, - good listening when you want to chill out or be thoughtful.



01 - Giramondu
02 - Eramu In Campu
03 - Onda
04 - Acqua Chi Balla
05 - Chi Lu Tempu
06 - Moita
07 - Terra Brusgiata
08 - Nanna
09 - Anima
10 - Memoria
11 - Veni
12 - Lettera A'Mamma
13 - Bambinellu
14 - In La Piazza
15 - Serinatu
16 - Rosula D'Orienti
17 - Notte

Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses @ Amazon

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