SOUNDTRACK: FEU THÉRÈSE-Ca Va Cogner [CST049] (2007).
I struggled ever so much over what disc to attach to this book review, thinking that any disc would be seen to have some correlation to Obama. So, why not just go all out: a Canadian indie band that sings in French!
This is Feu Thérèse’s second disc. It comes from Constellation records, home of noisy, lengthy, downbeat records. In fact, Feu Thérèse is chock full of some of the big names in the Montreal underground: Alexandre St-Onge plays with noisy bands like Shalibi Effect and Jonathan Parant comes from noisy bands like Le Fly Pan Am. So, how did all of these factors possibly unite to make this disc?
Ca Va Cogner sounds like a analog synth party from 1980! The whole ensemble would be completely and utterly cheesy if the secret ingredient (which I cannot identify) did not make the whole thing work so well. The whole disc seems to be washed over with these groovy synths. I want to make comparisons to Kraftwerk, but that seems a little too cold. All of these songs are warm and soft, there’s even a children’s chorus on one of them. Other songs are instrumental, or have minimal singing. And “Le Bruit Du Pollen La Nuit” has a wonderfully smutty sounding spoken word track that recalls, of course, Serge Gainsbourg at his naughtiest (although I have no idea what this song is actually about).
I think what saves the disc from just being an 80’s French Europop band is the guitar and bass interplay. Those two guys take a lot of the sounds that they’ve mastered in their respective bands, and play them beneath all of the synths. It undercuts the intentional cheesiness of the keyboards with some awesome textures, and really brings everything to a remarkable whole. This probably won’t be anybody’s favorite disc, but it is very enjoyable, and worth tracking down, especially if you’re a Francophile.
[READ: October 15, 2008] The Audacity of Hope
Since I’ve been for Obama since the beginning, I figured I ought to read his book. It seemed especially apt now, since the McCain campaign is saying that we don’t “know anything about” Obama. Well, if you read this book, or, I suspect his OTHER autobiography, you could learn quite a bit about him. Unlike some other people who don’t grant interviews, hmmm. Okay, I had thought I would be able to review this book without referencing the current campiagn or the upcoming election, but it is simply impossible. Please deal with my Partisan Review. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 