3 reasons why France is awesome in my book

#1



Mr. Oizo.

.It is strange that I never even knew the right way to pronounce Mr. Oizo (WAH-ZOH) until very recently. Nor did I know he was a frenchmen. For some reason the random ass french samples in his album didn't clue me in when I was younger. This album is Analog Worms Attack, and i've recently come to the realization of just how influential this album has been to my strange musical mind. It was one of those instances that I purchased an album twice (back when people still bought albums... At like cd stores or something.) because I lost the original.

This album is what made me fall in love with that sound. Just that grimey ass sound which I've subconsciously compared every song I've heard since to, hoping to hear even the faintest traces of it. Its just so fucking DIRTY. It's almost like I get some kind of guilty, filthy sort of pleasure out of it. I swear I could listen to that damned repeating synth line from the title track forever. Literally. If that song never stopped I wouldn't mind. In fact after I've listened to it, it tends to not stop in my head for days, sometimes weeks. I hadn't seen the video until now, but its just as fucking weird as I figured it would be.



Admittedly, I've been a little let down by his more recent releases but no matter what, Mr. Oizo will always have a place in my heart and soul. Also Mr. Oizo's onetime parter/sidekick/mascot Flat Eric (made famous by the very odd levi commercials of days long gone by), made a guest appearance in the music video of a song which was initially a hidden bonus track on the album. This resulted in a cinematic masterpiece, and one of my personal favorite videos of all time:

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Honestly, while everything about this video is great, there's only one concrete fact that always comes to mind about Flat Eric every time I see it: No one else has, or ever will be able to pull off smoking a hot dog with such gentlemanly distinction and class.


#2




M83

Goddamn, do I love M83. I think if there's any music group I could aspire to sound like, it would be them. In stark contrast to the spartan grittiness of Mr. Oizo, M83 is like sex for the ears. A lush, thick tapestry of sound. My favorite M83 songs build up to the point of aural orgasm. The density of some of their songs is just so goddamn fulfilling. Just a wall of joy.

This is another video I hadn't seen until now. And it also captures the essence of the song well. M83 is one of those groups that would almost be corny if they didn't sound so goddamn pretty.

I'm still pissed at Danny P for conveniently breaking his leg the day before we were going to see them at a show. Asshole. In hindsight though, that's no excuse since I should have gone by myself.



Finally #3 reason my France is awesome in my book.



Serge fucking Gainsbourg.

This is another artist whose name I went years without knowing the proper pronunciation of. This went on until one of my mom's friends, who just happened to be french, corrected me when I was awkwardly letting them listen to a remix I made of his. I'm a fucking asshole.

But besides that, what can I say about the man. He's legendary in my book. The more I learn about him the more enriched my man-crush becomes.

I found out about this man by a chance encounter with one of his more oddball songs on some underground radio station. As I was with my bff Dave, who shares with me an inescapable affinity for latching on to weird, obscure things and never letting go, we immediately took to the bizarre foreign pop tune. Not soon after we purchased a best-of album which we kept in rotation constantly, for a near eternity. It wasn't until much later that I actually researched the man, and an in the process developed a peculiar infatuation.

I'll say it: the man was a fucking creep. A fucking sleazy ass frenchmen. He was an alcoholic and an almost comically chronic chain-smoker. But that makes his music so much more divine. The man was just a weirdo. But he consistently brought provocatively brilliant sounds to the European masses. Sadly the only song much of the western world recognizes him for is "Je t'aime... moi non plus" (translated: "I love you... Me neither."), in which he simulates sex with his model wife and part time duet-mate, Jane Birkin.



Its really hard to describe just what my fascination is with Serge Gainsbourg. I think it just has to do with the very idea him. It just makes me happy. Just this idea of this man possessing such raw, genuine creative genius, but who only really cared about making music that offended as many people as possible, and being an all-around creep. Even so, he was ALWAYS on some next level shit, absolutely refusing to be pigeonholed into one genre. I mean, the dude flew to Jamaica to record a reggae album before anybody knew what the fuck reggae was, nevermind bob marley. Just that image of him making music and smoking butts all day with Rastafarians (who probably had no idea what to make of him) just brings a smile to my face.



Reading his biography, the shenanigans he pulled were absolutely hilarious, although inevitably his personal life was somewhat tragic on the whole. My only regret is not being french, so I can't fully appreciate his music from a lyrical perspective. But even from translations I can tell its gold.

I'm working on making an album consisting soley of Serge Gainsbourg remixes, and its the funnest thing I've ever done, even though the end result might be a little.. strange. But its fun, and like Ronald Jenkees told me, that's all that matters.

I end this French entry with probably my favorite Serge Gainsbourg video ever. Although it isn't a music video, instead it's a live talk-show interview with huge pop sensation at the time, Whitney Houston. But I feel like it still captures the essence of the man, the myth, the legend. The romantic, the poet, and the all-around scallywag.

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