GALAXIE 5 GALAXIE 0 GALAXIE 0 POP CORDE AU COU

Spume from The Velvet Underground's "Ocean" gave birth to a frightened yet luminous universe confined into a Galaxie. 
One dives in the phosphoric sea of this late 80's trio and digs out three halter pop masterpieces that explode in slow motion: Today (1988), On Fire (1989) and This is Our Music (1990).
Kramer (a Phil Spector with no gun), the producer, made Galaxie 500 the fiery flag leaf of atmospheric pop music, with its heavy and delicate bass guitar compositions, the overall simplicity of songs and a sax that flirts with the night of Dean Wareham's almost esoteric chants, incantations of the daily life of a young man who waits for his girlfriend to come home (When Will You Come Home) or the hysterical wail of an overly lyric adolescent who goes out to get a soda and describes the eeriness of the world in a song (Strange).
The heavy magic of Galaxie 500 resides in the instrument's urge to make a sound, in the band's urge to compose simple lullabies or make existing songs galactic, their beyond the grave and over the sky version of New Order's Ceremony is one of the most touching homage a band could have made to the Manchester group. Also, their rendition of The Red Krayola's Victory Garden is a masterpiece that leaves one speechless and horny. Both songs are included in the 1997 CD reprint of On Fire, which was one of the most well kept secret of the 1980's for a while. It now can't escape the light. 

Strange - Galaxie 500

Ceremony - Galaxie 500

Victory Garden - Galaxie 500

SHIK SHAK SHOK

MUSIC decided to compile the best songs of twenty ten, this is what we have been playing over and over last year, we especially enjoy dancing to Shik Shak Shok which is a cover of a 1970's lebanese song, also, Wild Nothing, Tristesse Contemporaine and The Miracles Club are going to be very big in 2011. Most of the tracks are recent but we are still very faithful to the 1980's after all.

Take Me In - Wild Nothing 

Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

Mots - Ruth 

Au Revoir (Mouche edit) - Noël

Hand in Glove - Sandie Shaw feat. The Smiths

Shameless (Pilooski edit) - Bryan Ferry

Shik Shak Shok - Nancy Ajram

Church Song - The Miracles Club

بيروت

we have been absent for a while, launching the first issue of the MUSIC fanzine, in Beirut.
The party took place at Torino Express, a small bar located in one of the last traditional neighborhoods of the city. Faces were marked with the bar's signature red neon light and Charbel Haber, the guest of the first issue played records that included Cabaret Voltaire, Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine. 


Currently working on issue 2 with Ziad Nawfal, radio host, DJ, concert organizer, music producer, and one of the main faces of Beirut's music scene today. We already have many ideas, but as usual they will evolve and shape up as we unveil Nawfal's relationship with music.


 

WE COME FROM THE MOON

Heat is a sensation induced by many things, such as dancing under a rain of bombs. Legend says that Lebanese people did so during the devastating civil war that disfigured their country. 
The soundtrack to these macabre discos remain uncertain, but music astronauts found a 12" on the milky way, floating somewhere near Donna Summer (you all know the woman found inspiration masturbating in outer space).
Elias Rahbani and his Orchestra released a disco record catchier than any Claude François hit single or any Moroder production. 
Heat is a sensation induced by watching the sleeve of that record, the perfect physique of that woman who seems to be coming straight out of any 70's erotic flick, her name was probably Liza, and as the song suggests, she may have been prone to Sapphic love.
One could believe that a middle eastern country were not exposed to western music at the time, error. Iran was very avant garde in the late 60's all through the 70's, and so was Lebanon. 
Here are two tracks MUSIC selected from this rare master piece of middle-eastern music, space psych and flamboyant disco:



We Come From the Moon - Elias Rahbani and his Orchestra

Liza...Liza - Elias Rahbani and his Orchestra

BEAT HAPPENING

They come second best in choosing the perfect band name in the nineties, the perfect being Hole, at least in the city of Olympia. 
Beat Happening delivered five perfect albums from the mid-eighties to 1992, five raw, yet childish pieces of art in the sonic world of lo-fi.
The band has a very distinctive sound, due to the thrift-store guitar and maracas, the heavy repetitive drum action, as well as the deep, droning baryton voice of Calvin Johnson, Sub Pop fanzine then record label creator. 
Their last album, You Turn Me On (1992, K/Sub Pop records) is probably their most felicitous, mixing their debut's raw energy as the hit in the head song Teenage Caveman with far more elaborate material such as the 9 minute-long Godsend or the aerial Sleepyhead (a personal favorite) both sung by Heather Lewis, featuring multitrack recording, which is at odds with their usual style, though it is pure bliss. 





Teenage Caveman - Beat Happening


Godsend - Beat Happening


Sleepyhead - Beat Happening




in Beirut, a band was born a few years ago: The Incompetents, their debut was highly influenced by Beat Happening, mostly due to Serge Yared's voice, resembling Calvin Johnson's. You can listen to them them here

MOI LOLITA

Corsican singer Alizée released Moi...Lolita in the early 00's, the song was produced by gay icon Mylène Farmer and the man that discovered her: Laurent Boutonnat, who is also the producer of Mylène's first and only good song: Maman a tort. The Moi...Lolita single was a success, thus, topped the European charts for months.

this has-been disco extended play from the post euro trash era is a jewel, the candid yet provocative lyrics, altogether with the 90's house synths and violins make make it a number one in the long list of MUSIC's guilty pleasures. It was featured on the UK and Germany Maxi, and costs about 150 euros on discogs. 


Moi...Lolita (Lola extended version) - Alizée