Back in 1996, when I went to Paris to see Mylene Farmer on tour, I met up with numerous people off the internet. One such person, whom I got to know well after sitting in the queue with him for what must have been 10 hours, was a guy a called Carl Lafontaine from Montreal, Canada.

Although we stayed in touch by IRC for a few years after the concert, our offline lives obviously got the better of us both and we eventually drifted off IRC and lost touch. I was therefore quite surprised last year when we tried to track down some old IRC members and I discovered Carl was an integral part of a band called ‘Mute’ who appeared to be having some underground success in Montreal and looked to be on the verge of breaking into the big time.

Having got back in touch with Carl and having listened to some of their music I’ve been looking forward to hearing and seeing more from his band and, I’m pleased to say, after recently visiting their website it looks like things are going well with a new remixed/remastered version of their debut album now available.

I was also excited to see that they had released their first professionally produced debut video clip on the site for a song called “Code Unknown”. I personally think it is VERY impressive and I wish them all great success… check it out….

If you want to visit their official site it is:-
‘We are mute. Can you hear us?’

When nostalgically listening to “Army Of Lovers” last year I discovered by accident the successor group, Swedish based electro-pop group “Bodies Without Organs” aka “BWO“. I have now acquired (ahem… hey its not my fault if I can’t legally buy it in Australia) copies of all of their albums and a few of their remixes and just absolutely cannot stop listening to their music!

To many it may be considered euro-trash and it is definitely a throw back to the 1980s but I think that is all part of its charm… anyway, as I don’t think it is fair that their music seems to be quarantined to Scandinavia I thought they deserved a plug on my blog and here’s a link to one of their clips on youtube for you to check out.

I understand from my surfing of their sites tonight that there is a Greatest Hits album out for them in 2008 but of more interest to me is a DVD compilation of their clips also due out later this year…. that I will DEFINITELY buy even if I have to get it shipped to Australia from Sweden!

I heard this morning that Fred Chichin, the founder of French group Les Rita Mitsouko, had died of cancer

Although I was only a casual fan of Les Rita Mitsouko I have enjoyed a lot of their music and it was only a few months ago that I was listening to their recent ‘Variety’ album and thinking how good that was and that it was great they were still making new albums after all these years.

I had no idea the guy was sick but, from the news reports, it sounds like this development has occurred relatively quickly in the last few months.

So sad… RIP Fred, your music will live on.

For those who don’t know what this is all about check out the news article on France 24 which btw, is a good source of getting French news in English!

I must confess to having a lot of time for Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis. A very talented couple who have managed to stay together and have a family and, as far as I’m aware, have successfully managed to avoid the usual media farce that comes with being a “celebrity couple”. Maybe it is partly due to the fact that most Americans thankfully don’t know Vanessa Paradis as a celebrity and thus leave them alone? Anyway, they would certainly be a couple I would happily have around at my dinner party!

Sorry, what was the point of this post again? Oh yes… just to say I’ve just listened to Vanessa Paradis’ latest album “Divinidylle” and would like to say I really enjoyed it.  Has it really been 7 years since her last studio album?!?! Wow… anyway, excellent stuff Mrs Depp! You’ve earnt a place on my mp3 player!

Although I shouldn’t really condone watching unofficial DVDs in this blog, I must admit tonight I watched a bootleg Prince DVD “The Makings of Rain”. This DVD is a copy of Prince performing live at a benefit concert on the 3rd August, 1983. The recording is a professional recording in the fact that it is from multi angle but, not surprisingly, time has taken its toll and the picture quality is relatively low… however the sound is very good and the concert itself is absolutely STUNNING! If you are a Prince fan and have never seen this performance I strongly recommend you find yourself a copy.

Allegedly the set includes 6 songs performed for the very first time including many from the, at that time, forthcoming Purple Rain album (which was not actually released until nearly a year later). To see such early performances of ‘I would die 4 u’, ‘Baby I’m a star’ and most importantly ‘Purple Rain’ is a real treat! And the final encore of ‘D.M.S.R’ is an incredibly funky affair that leaves the crowd screaming for more.

Anyway… just thought I’d share as I’ve just watched it and wanted to tell somebody who may read this blog how good it was!

Well I guess it is better late than never that I have just discovered the music of Black Box Recorder who, if like me you didn’t know, are an English pop/indie band who released 3 studio albums and a compilation album between 1998 to 2003.

I’m a little bit unsure how I actually found them now other than to say it was through a series of links a few days ago spawned from my “Is there any other good albums in the 5:55 vein”. Certainly Black Box Recorder’s lead vocalist Sarah Nixey definitely gets a big tick next to “whispery female vocals” requirement and the more I listen to their music, the more I believe there is a definite Serge Gainsbourg-esque style to the song arrangements… whether this is just co-incidence or whether they have been influenced by Gainsbourg I would love to know!

I’ve now listened to what appears to be their most highly regarded album “The Facts of Life” and the compilation/remix album “The Worst of Black Box Recorder” and I love both!

I did see that the lead singer has now embarked on a solo career in 2007 but, having checked out a few songs on her MySpace site, I have to say I think the Black Box Recorder tracks are much better.

Anyway, just thought I’d share this recommendation in case you’re looking for something new.

I will also take the opportunity of this post to give my thumbs up to two more new discoveries I found via MySpace namely Maria Taylor (tagged as indie/accoustic/electronica) and William Fitzsimmons (tagged as accoustic/indie/ambient) - the latter found via a recommendation from the Kimberly Linn site that I referred to a few posts back

Following on from my last post I spent a bit of time exploring MySpace and discovered many more good songs from several unsigned artists. However it soon became annoyingly apparant that most of the artists who have their songs up there only allow you to listen rather than download their songs.

Although I can understand the reasons for this I would personally like to put a few of these tracks on my MP3 player so I started to investigate and was surprised, a few clicks later in google, as to how easy it was to find some software that circumvents MySpace and allows you to download tracks to your computer.

Therefore, if you are looking for a tool to snatch music tracks off MySpace, may I recommend the MySpace MP3 Gopher which is very simple and easy to use. All you need to find is the MySpace profile ID number of the artist you are interested in, which you can pretty much grab from a link to say their photos, and away you go! A nice little tool! Not sure MySpace would agree but hey, you just need to accept the hackers are always a step ahead!

I was listening to the album ‘5:55′ by Charlotte Gainsbourg tonight which, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you will know I am a huge fan of. Anyway, as I was surfing around I went to Charlotte Gainsbourg’s home page on myspace and then found myself on the site of a young American artist known as Kimberly Linn. Her accoustic/folk style and whispery vocals are certainly in a similar vein to Charlotte Gainsbourg and proved to be a very pleasant late night sound to my ears.

Check out her myspace site by using the link below… look forward to hearing her 1st album promised for later this year. 

It may not be fully complete but, as I figured I had to draw a line and make the site public at some point, LibNET is launched!

http://libnet.wuggleworld.com

And yes, that is why this blog has been neglected for the last week or so but hopefully I can get back to posting more regularly again now that the bulk of work on LibNET has been done.

Inbetween doing continual updates to LibNET I now need to get back to the kids pages and update them again… and then, who knows, I may even find time to get back to the Wiki!

When I was visiting one of my regular haunts on the net a few days ago I noticed a poll about what is the best show on TV. Curious to see how the only two shows rated that I regular watch, namely Prison Break and Lost, I was surprised to see these rank 2nd and 3rd… in 1st place was ‘Heroes‘

Now although I had heard about this show I had not really given it a second thought until I saw how far ahead it was on this poll from Prison Break and Lost. Hmmm… so if people voting here obviously like my 2 shows it is likely that this show that beats both must perhaps be worth a look.

I have therefore now watched episodes 1 to 4 of Heroes and WOW! I’m VERY impressed… I kick myself for not checking out this show sooner although at least I now have something else to watch whilst I wait for the next episodes of Prison Break and Lost! And, in typical US tv schedule fashion, I note Heroes is on a break now until late April anyway which will give me more than enough time to catch up and no doubt be hanging out for the next episode…

To think I hardly watched anything regular a few years ago and now I have 3 must have shows in my life!!!

In other news, whilst feeling bored at work today (perhaps because I have no superhuman power and felt therefore that life seemed dull!) I decided to go for a walk out at lunchtime and found myself sitting in a nearby park listening to music on my MP3 player… and, although I have a few new albums upon it to listen to, I found myself going back to Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ‘5:55′ album…

A long term reader of this blog may remember I raved about this album back in September last year and I have to say, 6 months later, this is still a brilliant album… must be the Daddy Gainsbourg influence in the music but this album really has got to be in my Top 3 albums of 2006. Anyway, just thought I’d rave about it again so that somebody who reads this might take the time to check it out and have a listen! Go on, you know you want to!

Eh? What is Madonna on about? Time certainly seems to fly around here hence why I haven’t posted a blog entry for a week!

Anyway, the point of the post, was to make a comment regarding Madonna’s True Confessions tour which I saw on TV last weekend and the fact that I’ve been listening to it on my mp3 player quite regularly this week.

I must say I was VERY impressed… I know a lot of people seemed to complain about the cost when the tour was actually on but now that I have had chance to see it on TV I can understand why it cost so much and would have to say that I myself would not have been disappointed to have been able to see this show in person.

Congratulations Madonna… you are now definately going back up in my favourite artist list… You had slipped for a while but, given your long continuing career I have a new found respect for you again. I’m sure Madonna will now be able to sleep much happier in the Ritchie mansion now that I’ve published this post!

Anyway… the question… who’s concert was better? Madonna vs Mylene? Hmmmm now that is difficult… I have to perhaps say, if I had to choose who’s concert I would have preferred to have seen live last year I may have just, now with the hindsight of seeing the concerts, perhaps had to go with… Madonna!!! Arghhhh… forgive me Mylene fans…

It is however a close call. I like them quite equally as regards music, and their shows were quite equally impressive however, the deciding factor that I think may swing me in Madonna’s direction is that I think Madonna is more genuine and real than Mylene. That perhaps sounds nastier than I intend it to sound but I honestly think when you see Madonna on stage you are seeing the real Madonna whilst when you see Mylene on stage you are seeing more of a character portrayed by Mylene than really seeing the genuine artist. So Mylene… at least I agree you are the better actress! (Although competing with Madonna’s acting ability that victory is perhaps now that great!!!)

Oh well… enough of this babble, the kids have just woke up… another day begins…

…was the title of a track on Charlotte Gainsbourg’s first album over 20 years ago and quite aptly it seems to have taken her forever to produce a second album however I have to say I have really enjoyed listening to her new album 5:55 this week so thought it deserved a plug here.

I was somewhat surprised to hear it sung 99% in English even though I know her mother is English. Although this certainly isn’t the usual style of music I listen to I think it’s endearing factor to me is that I can’t help but distinctively hear the influence of her missed father Serge Gainsbourg in the arrangement of the music and the style of her mother Jane Birkin’s vocals in the way the tracks are sung.

In some way it is like listening to a piece of history even though it is brand new… weird stuff but I love it and it seems I am not alone…

Here’s a few reviews from some respected UK newspapers…

The Guardian, The Observer and The Times