UPDATE October 16 2005
New On The Chart
Sebastien Tellier, the son of a member of French prog rock band
Magma, lives and works in Paris, where he makes what he describes as ‘crazy pop’, all the while cultivating a giant neck beard and sticking cigarettes up his nose so he can sing and smoke at the same time. And if all this sounds a little eccentric just wait until you hear the album – one of the genuinely ‘individual’ sounding albums of 2005.
Tellier is probably best known for one of the stand out tracks of the summer,
‘La Ritournelle’, which pitched it’s self somewhere between Bitter Sweet and Unfinished Symphonies but which was better than either;
La Ritournelle is included on the album, however those who had heard it previously may have been given a false impression. Tellier is plainly too excitable (read ‘mad’) to hold any sort of steady musical course.
Instead, we get
‘League Chicano’ which sounds like
The Kids from Fame relocated, complete with ankle warmers, to the Latin Quarter and
‘Wonderafrica’ an electro bosonova with elephant noises.
‘Broadway’ achieves the seemingly contradictory by appearing to have crawled out of the
‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat’ reject bin while simultainously sounding like a genuine highlight of the year. Indeed, if there’s any sort of uniting theme on the album it’s the love of a show tune; just listen to the chorus on
‘Benny’ which punctuates ridiculous slap bass and Telliers idiotically sung vocal.
As if to prove he’s eclectic as well as eccentric, the rest of the album features, among other things, a orchestral instrumental, a 1930’s cabaret track apparently played on a modulated Moog synthesizer and some IDM that wouldn’t be out of place on an
Akufen album. A couple of tracks (in particular closer
‘Mizombi’) perhaps edge a little close to ‘wacky’ but it’s all part of the fun.
Tellier’s blinding happy brand of optimism crossed with his insistent playfulness might not be everyone’s cup of tea but for those of you who grow increasingly weary of most alternative music’s formulated bellyaching Tellier might just be a timely respite; leaving you with the sort of beaming smile, he, himself, sports on the 1970's style air-brushed album cover.
Sebastian Tellier's
‘Politics’ scores 7.40 and enters Konstantiranks at no.5
RELATED LINKS
Find out more about
Sebastien Tellier here
>>>
http://www.sebastientellier.com
KONSTANTIRANKS 2005 (CURRENT STANDINGS)
1. two gallants - THE THROES 7.66
2. edgar 'jones' jones - SOOTHING MUSIC FOR STRAY CATS 7.62*
3. mogwai - GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONS 7.40*
4. the fiery furnaces - EP 7.40*
5. sebastian tellier - POLITICS 7.40
6. antony & the johnsons - I AM A BIRD NOW 7.38*
7. the broken family band - WELCOME HOME, LOSER 7.23
8. viarosa - WHERE THE KILLERS ROAM 7.18
9. king creosote - KC RULES OK 7.18
10. edan - BEAUTY AND THE BEAT 7.16
11. arcade fire - FUNERAL 7.15*
12. the white stripes - GET BEHIND ME SATAN 7.12*
13. king creosote - ROCKET D.I.Y 7.12*
14. roots manuva - AWFULLY DEEP 7.08*
15. smog - AIN'T TOO MUCH TO LOVE A RIVER 7.00*
16. mark mulcahy - IN PURSUIT OF YOUR HAPPINESS 7.00*
17. laura cantrell - HUMMING BY THE FLOWERED VINE 7.00*
18. the rakes - CAPTURE/RELEASE 7.00
19. mek obaam - YOU AND I 7.00
20. the go-betweens - OCEANS APART 6.94*
21. caribou - THE MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS 6.94*
22. teenage fanclub - MAN MADE 6.91*
23. amon tobin - CHAOS THEORY 6.90*
24. four tet - EVERYTHING ECSTATIC 6.88*
25. matt sweeney & bonnie prince billy - SUPERWOLF 6.86*
26. spoon - GIMME FICTION 6.85
27. whitey - THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS A TRAIN 6.85*
28. holopaw - QUIT +/OR FIGHT 6.81
29. thievery corporation - THE COSMIC GAME 6.80*
30. fog - 10th AVENUE FREAKOUT 6.76*
31. low - THE GREAT DESTROYER 6.72*
32. clor - CLOR 6.72
33. sons and daughters - THE REPULSION BOX 6.70*
34. lcd soundsystem - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM 6.66*
35. the clientele - STRANGE GEOMETRY 6.66
36. aesop rock - FAST CARS, DANGER, FIRE & KNIVES 6.64*
37. eastern lane - THE ARTICLE 6.63*
38. emiliana torrini - FISHERMAN'S WOMAN 6.62*
39. stephen malkmus - FACE THE TRUTH 6.58
40. malcolm middleton - INTO THE WOODS 6.75*
41. cagedbaby - WILL SEE YOU NOW 6.50
42. vanessa and the o's - LA BALLADE D'O
43. brakes - GIVE BLOOD 6.50
44. beck - GUERO 6.43*
45. bloc party - SILENT ALARM 6.42*
46. sufjan steven - ILLINOIS 6.41
47. minotaur shock - MARITIME 6.41*
48. field music - FIELD MUSIC 6.41
49. jose gonzalez - VENEER 6.40*
50. the shortwave set - THE DEBT COLLECTION 6.30
51. the national - ALLIGATOR 6.19*
52. momus - OTTO SPOOKY 5.53
tbr - quasimoto - THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF LORD QUAS
tbr - coco rosie - NOAH'S ARK
tbr - sam prekop - WHO'S YOUR NEW PROFESSOR?
tbr - boom bip - BLUE EYED IN THE RED ROOM
tbr - entrance - WANDERING STRANGER
tbr - boy least likely to - BEST PARTY EVER!
tbr - psapp - TIGER, MY FRIEND
tbr - the silent league - THE ORCHESTRA HAS, SADLY, REFUSED
All of Konstantiranks can be found here
>>>
http://www.obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=158964#158964
