Halloween Double "The Limiñanas" Feature

Ah, the French.

They have so much great bands like Magma, Heldon, Les Rita Mitsouko, Stereolab, Air (to name a few of the many). In the great krautrock band Faust there's also kind of a protoptype of a French/German collaboration. The French love Krautrock and bands like Stereolab or the here presented Limiñanas show openly their admiration and that they're heavily influenced by the Can. So they play a fine cover version of their "Mother Sky"

As last night a German Radiostation aired one of their shows at Paris I grab the opportunity to give a double feature of them, one show, 2018-01-18 Paris FM isn't my own record but found at the net. The second I recorded myself (in fact it was my computer ...) so I can share it as a FLAC record

Until recently, The Limiñanas were more famous abroad than in their own country, France. Their fanbase is made of prestigious celebrities (Franz Ferdinand, Jack White, Bobby Gillespie, Andrew Weatherall…) and the guest list on their new album is just as impressive. Released last January, Shadow People brings together French actress Emmanuelle Seigner and her sexy voice, legendary bass player Peter Hook (from Joy Division and New Order), French singer-songwriter Bertrand Belin and, last but not least, Anton Newcombe (from The Brian Jonestown Massacre), who recorded this album at his home-studio in Berlin, sang on the amazing song “Istanbul Is Sleepy” and played many different instruments throughout the record.

Happily married and based in Cabestany, a small town near Perpignan, Lionel (guitarist) and Marie (drummer) Limiñana are finally getting the recognition they long deserved. On stage, The Limiñanas become an extended family of musicians and singers, but the core of the band is this perfectly matched couple who share a passion for garage rock, French yé-yé songs, psychedelia, new wave and soundtracks by Ennio Morricone or John Barry – they both possess an encyclopedic culture. They started making music as The Limiñanas at home, in 2009. Alternating between French and English, their albums obviously reflect what they listen to, in a paradoxical but wonderful mixture of raw, primitive sounds and a sophisticated, nonchalant delivery. The history of rock has already shown other couples with the same sense of unity, from The Cramps to The White Stripes or The Kills. The Limiñanas belong to this explosive lineage.

notes & videos taken from EuropaVox

2018-01-18 Paris FM

(thanks to the original poster)

01 Interview before start
02 Ouverture
03 Malamore
04 Dimanche (avec Bertrand Belin)
05 The Gift
06 Funeral Baby
07 Crank
08 Garden of Love
09 AF 3458
10 Shadow People (avec Emmanuelle seigner)
11 Istanbul is sleepy
12 One of us, one of us, one of us...
13 Mother Sky
14 Gloria
15 Inteview after end

2018-03-29 Trianon Paris (FLAC)

 01 Ouverture
02 Malamore
03 Prisunic
04 Dimanche
05 Tigre Du Bengale
06 The Gift
07 Funeral Baby
08 Crank
09 Garden Of Love
10 AF3458
11 Istanbul Is Sleepy
12 Shadow People
13 One Of Us, One Of Us, One Of Us
14 Stella Star
15 Mother Skye
16 Betty And Johnny
17 Pink Flamingos
18 Russian Roulette
19 Angels & Devils
20 Gloria
21 The Train Creep A Loopin'

Ah, btw. Perpignan ... They have an Airport there and one of the most beautiful sites I ever had the luck to enjoy are the so called "Gorges de Galamus", a canyon where the Romans once walked by. One has to climb a bit to find a private place to take a bath ;)

Perpignan is "in the south of France where the ladies love to dance", to quote on of my fav bands. Near the Spanish border - one short jump away from the famous Dali-Museum. The region itself, the "Pays Cathare" is a wonderful place (where I spent 22 years on holiday). You may be aware of its secrets when you enjoyed Dan Browns (or better Michael Beigents) books on the Holy Grail ;)

So for now: Enjoy the French.

fixed!

@!!@

What's so funny 'bout love, peace & ... Krautrock?

Checking a bit the archives at Voodoo Wagon I've noted the lack of a style of music essential for what one calls "my identity" today: krautrock.

This BBC documentary may be (imho) a perfect way to explain why I'm talking on "identity". the prudent thesis of the feature describes the point: krautrock was in fact the real de-nazification of Germany.

I grew up in a country, where "schlager" built a bridge between the "old days" and the "present" then. the music industry hardly tried to keep (sorry, for using a bad word, but that was what it was called then) the "negro" out of our "race" (no one would admit that then). Beat or rock'n'roll, even jazz were called "negro-music" when my father yelled through the house in the 60's.

When the (German) industry offered stuff by Elvis Presley or The Beatles then ... they had to sing it in German! Elvis? Like this...

The song starts with him not having a "wooden heart" - and then he sings a song, German soldiers sang when they left town (to go to war) "must i now, must i now quit the town". So 20 years after the war the older ones, once at the siege of Stalingrad could have a foot stomping heart for this guy who normally was more known for "negro music".

Krautrock offered us younger folks a way out of this. Luckily the late 60's and the early 70's, after almost a quarter of a century conservative leadership under Willy Brandt the media went a bit "experimental".

On Saturdays we suddenly had the a tv feature named "beat-club", where the bands played live in the studio (there are records of the Grateful Dead, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson, Jimmy Hendrix and a lot of Ike & Tina Turner) - you could see all those long haired folks, their funny clothes and styles and a choice had to been made. One of them or one of those grey men around us. We choose British and American rock instead of 'schlager'.

Even, to be quite frank, blues & rock'n'roll with their clear structures in essence seem to work a bit like schlager did: repetitive. clearly recognizable. successful if kept simple. not really "experimental".

Imagine my surprise at the age of 16 in front of the tv watching a blockbuster cime-series (we called that "strassen feger", street cleaner, no one was out on the street, everybody was at home watching this - if you missed it you could not be part of the talks the next day at the office) and this one jumped straight in the face of the damned whole tv-watching community. Yihaw!

Followed in the next "season" of that series of Durbridge thrillers by this...

The band is named "Can" and that happened to be 1972-'73 the soundtrack of a blockbuster simply everybody was watching. I fell in love. If I had to name "the big three", it would be in this order. Moondog, the Can and then the Grateful Dead (don't tell my deadhead-friends!)

So let me try to fill the gap in the archives with one of my very favourite shows, an early Rockpalast, 1970 - two years before they hit German society via the Durbridge blockbusters.

I was curious while watching that dancing guy. What's been smoked on the monitors at a certain point of the show? The audience. This Japanese "singer" yelling and shouting - As far as I know the band "found" him on the streets some days before the show.

This! Is! Not! Rock'n'Roll!

Even now it seems to me this music comes from a better future. It's not about structure. it's about a flow. The drummer (Jaki Liebezeit, there's a funny story on him: when he starts playing in a room with a metronome it will synchronize with him after some time) is incredible, Holger Czukay, the man on the bass, his perfect counterpart.

I was at their last show, not as a band, but every member with his own. three of them, Jaki Liebezeit, Holger Czukay and Michael Karoli are dead, but their music will be "modern" even in decades and influenced a lot of musicians the like of Johnny Lydon, Sonic Youth and Stereolab to name a few.

If you're a bit curious on more, I suggest the perfect "Movies" by Holger Czukay.

Imagine a mad professor living in a room with aged analogue amplifiers and a world radio, inventing "sampling" in cutting tapes with recordings of Lebanese singers, field recordings and sound of every kind to one flowing movie.

Eno &Byrne took the next step with "My Secret Life in the Bush of Ghosts" in that direction, but Czukay has a flow like no one else. It's more kind of a mosaic putting together can-tracks with world music and whatever came to his genius mind. There's a beautiful box set  "Cinema" collecting his essentials as ie. his coworks with the Edge & Jah Wobble...

...and (my fav aside "Movies") David Sylvian

If you like to go to the heart of what was "Can", listen to "Tago Mago" and get caught by their freewheeling flow.

This! Is! Not! Rock'n'Roll, this comes straight from a better future where everything is about making music in a big jam.

Hope you enjoyed the ride.