Festival Bancal

Festival Bancal, La Plage, Paris, 29 Avril
Ton Ami, Regis Victor, Mon Chat Show, Lawrence Wasser and Club des Chats



Lawrence Wasser lashed out at his keyboard without remorse.
Lawrence Wasser maltraitait son Korg en toute impunité.



The bassist wore a "laptop hero" T-shirt. However his lines were taut.
Le bassiste portait un t-shirt informatique, mais ses lignes étaient tendues.


What a flourish.
C'était le printemps.



Ton Ami was a jubilatory experience.
Régis Victor appuyait sur des boutons.



Mon Chat Show pulling your strings.
Mon Chat Show ... une synchronicité à tel point que c'était troublant !!

No Comment (Stab Me)

Pop In Open Mic n. 367

Pop In Open Mic n. 367, 105 rue Amelot, Paris



A safety hazard in the making? Caution is an ugly word.
Le megaphone sans emploi, pour l'instant.



The Shadow of Eddie Coyle
L'Ombre de Eddie Coyle



The Shadow of Guitar Case
L'Ombre de la Boite a Guitare

For more pictures click here
Plus d'images ici

Symptomatic Unease

The instructions were clear but something was lurking in the hard drive.
Les instructions étaient sans équivoque mais le passe était au coin de la rue.



The incriminated files could not be rehabilitated.
Les fichiers incriminés n'ont pas pu être innocentés.



The fancy brackets do not disguise the blandness.
Un mot passé-partout.



That question won’t exactly bolster confidence.
La question en cause ne fait pas grande chose pour la confiance en soi même.

Marco Tulio Thrash Live

Hot & Cold
Vendredi 26 Mai - 20h30
Gratuit

La Bicyclette 5 rue Chaumont, 19e
Metro: Jaures (Ligne 2)

Crack Babies With Rifles (Psycho folk)
Freaky Folk. Jumping and Screaming all the way from the Deep South, off-kilter indie a la Pavement/Wilco with possible guests. www.myspace.com/huntervaughan

Marco Tulio Thrash (Plutonium pop)
Born in Spain, irradiated in England, now polluting Paris, living in Oblivion. Marco Tulio Thrash sings about radioactivity, public transport and prescription glasses atop heavy water beats and isotope synths.

"Join the car-crash set"

FIASCO SYSTEM 17

FIASCO SYSTEM 17
http://www.fiascosystem.com/
http://www.myspace.com/fiascosystem

Jeudi 25 mai à la Flèche d'Or
De minuit a l'aube / entrée gratuite

Live
MY ROBOT FRIEND (Soma - NYC)
CANDIE HANK (Wwilko, Gagarin - ALL)

DJ sets
ELECTRONICAT (Disko B - FR)
MISS LE BOMB (Erkrankung Durch Musique – ALL)
EVA REVOX (Fiasco System – FR)

Visuels
MUSCAE VOLITANTES (UK)
MARCO TULIO THRASH (Drifting Disco - FR)

Last night was spent watching footage of a pastoral ballerina. She had the inscription "ballet sucks" written in sunscreen on her legs. After gracing the screen with a little dance, she proceeded to smear the inscriptions over the rest of her legs as well as her face.

This footage was filmed by the charming Muscae Volitantes who will be projecting global pastoralia and sundry motion at Fiasco System 17.

See you down the front.

Réaménagements en Recrudescence

Le Club des Chats sont maintenant 2 et non plus 3. Vont-ils devenir The Fall mais à l’envers ? Dans 20 ans va-t-il y avoir des clubs des ex-chanteurs du groupe qui se réunissent dans des centres de conférences pour se remémorer de leur gloire passés ?

Lawrence Wasser a effectué une restructuration massive. Non seulement sont ils passés de 4 à 3 mais tout le personnel, excepté le fondateur, a été remplacé.

On peut conclure que ces actions s’inscrivent dans les tendances catalogues de nôtre économie. Pour l’instant il est difficile d’estimer l’effet sur la croissance future.

www.leclubdeschats.com

http://www.lawrencewasser.com/

The Healing Pleasure of a Home Cooked Meal

The Healing Pleasure of a Home-Cooked Meal

This weekend was lousy - an inane mixture of mysterious anxiety and fatigue. Partial relief was provided by friends but it was, well, rather partial.

The pleasures of cooking are widely recognised by everyone. Even a mediocre home cooked meal followed by a quick spot at the sink can provide very effective relief to the problems stated in the previous paragraph.

Ce week-end a été médiocre d’un point de vue individuel – un mélange injustifié d’anxiété mystérieuse et de fatigue. Un bon antidote, c’est toujours de voir et interagir avec ses amis, mais cette fois ce n’était pas suffisant.

Le plaisir de cuisiner est amplement reconnu. Même un mets moyen suivi d’une vaisselle rapide (+ accompagnement musical) peut corriger tout déséquilibre émotif et mettre les idées dans la bonne voie.

Look at the Ceiling

There is nothing wrong with billboards and other large scale advertisements. Even if there is always a pedestrian or sinister element lurking somewhere.



However, they do tend to grasp your attention away from other worthy features of oururban surroundings, e.g: architecture, colour schemes, floor markings, vaulted areas, signs,lighting and the list goes on. The way these so-perceived passive elements are juxtaposed orcontrasted provide a subtler, cogent but ultimately more fulfilling pleasure than adverts which elicit immediate interpretation.



Switching to this preferable slowburn pleasure requires little discipline. Just tilting your head lightly up to the ceiling will open up a whole new universe that used to reside in our peripheral vision. Let the sidelines reclaim the limelight, it is only fair. The adverts will still be there but as footnote to something greater.

Under the jurisprudence of the ...

In this room, she serves me some vital grapefruit juice to pang my soul. But today the ambrosia ran out and bottled mineral water was the only alternative.

Appropriate music: Foremost Poets - Moonraker

No Comment (Paper Faces)

The Deja Vu Crowd

We never get excited.
We have forfeited outward elation to be witnesses not critics.
Our senses have been blunted and deadened.

Culture is no longer our pleasure.
Culture has become our daily sustenance,
On the train, in our head, on the screen.

Our bodies are becoming irrelevant.
There is no need to move or to dance.
A smile, a wink or a nod are enough...here and there.

The Chap and Cursor Minor

14-02-06, Point Ephemere, Paris

The Lo Recordings night at Point Ephemere was certainly a highlight of the past few months.



Cursor Minor plays electropop wig outs with endearing wit and a quaint approach.



The Chap played a pummeling set, no dead air, just punchy avant-pop...dedicating songs and to Nokia toying with musique concrete elements. The Fash crowd decided it was now or never and they did some studied moshing with their trilby hats and Hoxton fins.



This is Panos from The Chap, he was instrumental in their new and surprising novo-barbershop track.

You Reprobates!

The sign can be translated as follows: "You stole my bicycle [...] And you don't even use it! [...] Remove your chain [sic] So that I can continue my normal life."

Plastic Pleasures

Much pleasure can derived from compiling music for others. Finding a thread that runs throughout, choosing possible tracks, numbering them, refining the selection, incorporating transitions and making the cover are some of the stages of the compilation-making process.

Two bands, old and new, start off this compilation. I discovered them thanks to 20 Jazz Funk Greats, a wonderful MP3 resource that provides some blistering barnacles and great commentary. Chromatics' "Healer" is a polished kraut-disco shuffler whose mysterious understatement is great to draw the listener in.Then we have Fire Engines and their assured and crooner postpunk which notches things up a little. Akiko Yano is a bit of the odd one out but that's alright.

This compilation is very much devoted to bass music and electro rap going from the crossover Sir Mix-A-Lot hit "I like Big Buts" to more obscure stuff like Twilight 22 "Siberian Nights, which actually is very apt considering the current weather. JJ Fad "Supersonic" is probably a little weak, but they'll have to live w/ it.

Drifting News

After a major hiatus due to dirty dishes pile that rivals the one in "Withnail & I" and writing new songs for Marco Tulio Thrash. Drifting in Paris is slowly coming back to life.

Vague plans to make a TV Show based on the log are afoot. You will be kept informed of any further developments. Do not fret.

Plage du Tendre

Plage du Tendre, La Plage, 22 January



Régis Victor played at the "Plage du Tendre" organised by Discobabel (see links). He combined Twin Peaks style keyboard workouts and baroque guitar pop.

Régis Victor a joué à la Plage du Tendre, une soirée 'rock et amour' organisée par Discobabel.Il a joué un set bipolaire entre des plages synthétiques style Twin Peaks et de la pop baroque à guitare avec des paroles parsemées.



There was also a Miss and Mr Tender 2006 contest (very shambolic), a table football competition between girls and boys. You could also dedicate a ballad to your love interest.

Il y avait aussi l'éléction Miss et Mr Tendre 2006 (très bordelique), des jeux de babyfoot garçons contre filles et on pouvait dédier un slow à notre amoureux/euse.



One last picture of Régis Victor and his DX7 for the boys and girls to drool at.

Une dernière photo de Régis Victor et son DX7 pour le plus grand plaisir de tous.

Not Back

Stupor Time
by Marco Tulio Thrash

Stupor gun, set to stun.
I've been hit, head split.
Bus Ride. Another Home.
Fashion spreads and countryside,
I can't decide where to look.
Bus Ride. Another Home.

Position closed, join the queue.
Guess the face in front of you.
Sometimes, I ask myself
Is there a point in moving on?
Meeting point, to avoid.
Wait in line, mistaken times.
Sometimes, I ask myself
Is there a point in moving on?

[CHORUS]
Stupor hangs over my face
like a tudor veil.
Tear it away, save my soul!
Tear it away, oh let me see!
Tear it away, save my soul!
Tear it away, oh let me see!
Stupor hangs over my face
like a tudor veil.
[CHORUS]

Letters jitter w/ every bump.
Opposite views, creative slump.
Bus Ride. Another Home.
A house of cards on my lap,
another silo passed me by.
Bus Ride. Another Home.

Crisp notes in my pocket
are slowly replaced by sales receipts.
Sometimes, I ask myself:
Is there a point in moving on?
Cash machines that do not work,
how can I operate?
Sometimes, I ask myself:
Is there a point in moving on?

[CHORUS]x2

as it should have been performed at the Pop In Open Mic Night on January 22nd, 2006

Not Ready

Extra Mile
by Marco Tulio Thrash

From the road,
the grass is green.

Black tarmac,
trucks boom past.

Can I run that extra mile? (x2)
Can I run? Can I run?
Can I run that extra mile? (x2)
Can I run? Can I run?

Petrol stations,
so iconic.

Bleeding feet,
no assistance.

Can I run that extra mile? (x2)
Can I run? Can I run?
Can I run that extra mile? (x2)
Can I run? Can I run?

as performed at the Pop In on January 22nd, 2006

Motorways At Night (Theme)

The blue and orange snow truck sirens flash along the winding service track running unevenly along the motorway.

Les sirènes bleues et oranges des camions anti-neige aveuglent la petite route parallèle mais bien moins droite que l’autoroute qu’elle est censée suivre.



The general perception when it comes to travel is that the arrival should be the most pleasurable moment, may be because it denotes a sense of completion or achievement. However, I tend to derive the greatest of all pleasures from the journey itself, because it's like waiting but the scenery outside is flying past: movement and patience intertwined.

Au contraire de l’opinion générale, pour moi le plaisir du voyage ne se trouve pas vraiment à l’arrivée mais plutôt dans le trajet lui-même parce que c'est une attente en mouvement.



From all those childhood holidays all around Europe, the only vivid memories that remain are those of the motorways: its rest-areas, petrol stations, signs, exits and the comfort of the road markings. All the sights, monuments and landmarks that lay in wait at the point of arrival proved to be irrelevant and thus washed away.

De toutes mes vacances d'enfants, les seules choses dont je me rappelle sont les autoroutes; avec leurs péages, leurs aires de repos, la signalétique et l'assurance apporté par mes yeux qui suivaient les lignes blanches. Tous les monuments qui se trouvaient à l'arrivée se sont effacés, ils n'avaient pour moi aucune importance.

Motorways at Night (Theme) by Marco Tulio Thrash is available for listening here: www.myspace.com/driftingdisco