|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
BORNBAD 168CD
|
Two social media posts out of three are about losing his phone, the last one is about him swearing he saw a dog making himself a sandwich. Paul Ramon (Bryan's Magic Tears, la Secte du Futur) has managed to finish his second solo album, Buvez le poison (Drink the Poison). Preceded by a reputation for being Defcon 1 -- level unmanageable on tour, while obviously being able to hold his own, it's no surprise to find the paradox in his music. Body search the record and you'll find chemical faves of the last forty years. Paul Ramon is doing 20 on the highway ("Hacienda", downhill dub with over-the-top bass), and 60 in the city ("Les victimes du roi", arpeggiated medieval-fantasy trip). Pleasure Principle obviously decided that traffic regulations just didn't apply to his vehicle. Sung in French (neither bellowed nor whispered, thanks), highlife guitars travelling light via the Caribbeans, '90s synths stabs, calculated MTV moments -- traces of everything, traces everywhere. A singer by obligation, by his own admission, he performs with a cheeky Madchester University alumni attitude. Happy to be there, but wishes nobody knew. Paul Ramon stuck his tongue out to write -- he deals generously in one-liners, as sharp as disposable razors. Can't wait to see him pull those out of his pockets, struggling to bleed everyone. Marc Portheau saves the day in his mix; "Heliopolis", psych-pop jam lost in heavy delay, could have gone astray but suddenly gets all sophisticated with winds and chorus -- as much appreciated as they never RSVP'd (Olivier Demeaux, Romain Vasset). This is a bear trap of an album. "La punition commence" (the punishment begins) and you'd expect a synth-wave dungeon moist with whispered confessions, when in fact it's more about wiggling arms in the air, and trampling the corpse of dance-pop to the sound of brain-dead synth, circa 1995. "Frappe le cuir" pays homage to the Happy Mondays, which you'd expect given the drummer's pedigree. "Buvez le poison" and "La sieste", a barely legal promotional campaign for narcotics, contain more than you asked for, if you can only listen. And "Rêves", chord-driven summer track gets turned over by the effects-laden guitar solo. Traps, again. So. when you get to "Plein de rancoeur je vis mon meilleur moment", successful attempt to remake "Loser" in 2022, you'll know that Pleasure Principle knows his business in a rather endearing way. This is not a collage, but tie and dye colors spread to be looked at, rubbing each other lewdly.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
BORNBAD 168LP
|
LP version. Two social media posts out of three are about losing his phone, the last one is about him swearing he saw a dog making himself a sandwich. Paul Ramon (Bryan's Magic Tears, la Secte du Futur) has managed to finish his second solo album, Buvez le poison (Drink the Poison). Preceded by a reputation for being Defcon 1 -- level unmanageable on tour, while obviously being able to hold his own, it's no surprise to find the paradox in his music. Body search the record and you'll find chemical faves of the last forty years. Paul Ramon is doing 20 on the highway ("Hacienda", downhill dub with over-the-top bass), and 60 in the city ("Les victimes du roi", arpeggiated medieval-fantasy trip). Pleasure Principle obviously decided that traffic regulations just didn't apply to his vehicle. Sung in French (neither bellowed nor whispered, thanks), highlife guitars travelling light via the Caribbeans, '90s synths stabs, calculated MTV moments -- traces of everything, traces everywhere. A singer by obligation, by his own admission, he performs with a cheeky Madchester University alumni attitude. Happy to be there, but wishes nobody knew. Paul Ramon stuck his tongue out to write -- he deals generously in one-liners, as sharp as disposable razors. Can't wait to see him pull those out of his pockets, struggling to bleed everyone. Marc Portheau saves the day in his mix; "Heliopolis", psych-pop jam lost in heavy delay, could have gone astray but suddenly gets all sophisticated with winds and chorus -- as much appreciated as they never RSVP'd (Olivier Demeaux, Romain Vasset). This is a bear trap of an album. "La punition commence" (the punishment begins) and you'd expect a synth-wave dungeon moist with whispered confessions, when in fact it's more about wiggling arms in the air, and trampling the corpse of dance-pop to the sound of brain-dead synth, circa 1995. "Frappe le cuir" pays homage to the Happy Mondays, which you'd expect given the drummer's pedigree. "Buvez le poison" and "La sieste", a barely legal promotional campaign for narcotics, contain more than you asked for, if you can only listen. And "Rêves", chord-driven summer track gets turned over by the effects-laden guitar solo. Traps, again. So. when you get to "Plein de rancoeur je vis mon meilleur moment", successful attempt to remake "Loser" in 2022, you'll know that Pleasure Principle knows his business in a rather endearing way. This is not a collage, but tie and dye colors spread to be looked at, rubbing each other lewdly.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
BORNBAD 122CD
|
Paul Speedy Ramon on the record: "... Even though I was and still am extremely involved in my past and present bands (Skategang, La Secte du Futur, Marietta to a lesser extent), the music we were making was only partially representative of me. I've always listened to a lot of reggae, dancehall, music from Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, and overall music that is based more on repetition and intention than composition . . . In 2015 my brother and friend Benjamin Dupont, the human behind Bryan's Magic Tears, moved into my flat share, Noah's Ark at 35 rue Clignancourt, in the 18th arrondissement, and it was him who unlocked everything by showing me how to record music by myself . . . Recording a lot, without any constraints of format, group or expectations, by letting myself be totally carried away by what was coming out in the moment, it allowed me to give myself a certain insight into myself . . . I would say that it oscillates, for the music, between synthetic krautrock, dancehall lo-fi, Manchester sound recorded with toys, rock à la Velvet and Memphis rap for children; and between Les Négresses Vertes and Julien Gracq for the texts . . . My friend Paula from J.C. Satan and Succhiamo, who sings on 'Mariposa' and 'Venera 16', because I had no idea what to do about it; I sent her the songs and she sang on her phone, it was great so we recorded it. This first album is a kind of best-of from 2015 to 2018, the songs that held up best, the ones I had lyrics on, the best finished drafts, basically. I owe its existence to my friends at the Megattera micro-label who, after hearing my songs at home at night, decided to release them confidentially on tape first; without them, they would still be on my hard drive. Under the spell, Born Bad Records then entrusted Olivier Demeaux (Cheveu, Heimat) with the mission of mixing the 'best' tracks to give them the luster they deserve and make these few crazy and scattered tracks a full-fledged album. I asked Adam Karakos from Villejuif Underground, Guillaume Rottier from Rendez-Vous, Nikolaj Boursniev from Quetzal Snakes, and Milia Colombani who plays in half the bands in Paris, to play live with me. Pleasure Principle is located somewhere within a triangle formed by Francis Bebey, Add (n) To X, and Ludwig Von 88..."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
BORNBAD 122LP
|
LP version. Paul Speedy Ramon on the record: "... Even though I was and still am extremely involved in my past and present bands (Skategang, La Secte du Futur, Marietta to a lesser extent), the music we were making was only partially representative of me. I've always listened to a lot of reggae, dancehall, music from Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, and overall music that is based more on repetition and intention than composition . . . In 2015 my brother and friend Benjamin Dupont, the human behind Bryan's Magic Tears, moved into my flat share, Noah's Ark at 35 rue Clignancourt, in the 18th arrondissement, and it was him who unlocked everything by showing me how to record music by myself . . . Recording a lot, without any constraints of format, group or expectations, by letting myself be totally carried away by what was coming out in the moment, it allowed me to give myself a certain insight into myself . . . I would say that it oscillates, for the music, between synthetic krautrock, dancehall lo-fi, Manchester sound recorded with toys, rock à la Velvet and Memphis rap for children; and between Les Négresses Vertes and Julien Gracq for the texts . . . My friend Paula from J.C. Satan and Succhiamo, who sings on 'Mariposa' and 'Venera 16', because I had no idea what to do about it; I sent her the songs and she sang on her phone, it was great so we recorded it. This first album is a kind of best-of from 2015 to 2018, the songs that held up best, the ones I had lyrics on, the best finished drafts, basically. I owe its existence to my friends at the Megattera micro-label who, after hearing my songs at home at night, decided to release them confidentially on tape first; without them, they would still be on my hard drive. Under the spell, Born Bad Records then entrusted Olivier Demeaux (Cheveu, Heimat) with the mission of mixing the 'best' tracks to give them the luster they deserve and make these few crazy and scattered tracks a full-fledged album. I asked Adam Karakos from Villejuif Underground, Guillaume Rottier from Rendez-Vous, Nikolaj Boursniev from Quetzal Snakes, and Milia Colombani who plays in half the bands in Paris, to play live with me. Pleasure Principle is located somewhere within a triangle formed by Francis Bebey, Add (n) To X, and Ludwig Von 88..."
|
|
|
|