Cherry Juice Recordings

Sea Sex & Sun: release and video

2009-09-15T16:34:00.003+02:00

Alright, that's official: our remix of Eddy de Clercq's tribute to Serge Gainsbourg's «Sea Sex & Sun» is out on iTunes, on the «Gainsnord» CD (link) and on video (above). Tonight Eddy will be on De Wereld Draait Door, a popular Dutch TV program, and Saturday is the launch party at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. All information about all of this on the mini-website here...

The tracklisting...

01 Bossa 2009 Mix 4'14"
02 Xhosa Vocal Mix 5'31"
03 Laurent & Lewis Electrodisco Remix 6'38"
04 Laurent & Lewis Electrodisco Club Remix 8'22"
05 Laurent & Lewis Electrodisco Radio Edit* 3'42"

The credits... Written by Serge Gainsbourg, vocals by Eddy de Clercq. 01 02 produced by Eddy de Clercq, backing vocals by Jovanna. 01 guitar by Nelson Latif, violin by Melika Hadzic, co-produced by Zorko Opacic, recorded in Amsterdam at ZOX studios. 02 extra vocals by Yemu Matibe, mbira dza vadzimu and other percussion by James Fourie, recorded at Corinne Cooper Studio, Grahamstown, South Africa. 03 04 05 produced and performed by Laurent & Lewis, backing vocals by Jovanna & DJ Natashka, recorded at Studio 109 in Amsterdam, sound engineering by DJ Natashka, mastered by Ferry Verhoeve.

The lyrics... «Sea, sex and sun. Le soleil au zénith. Vingt ans, dix-huit. Dix-sept ans à la limite. Je ressuscite. Sea, sex and sun. Toi petite. Tu es de la dynamite. Sea, sex and sun. Le soleil au zénith. Me surexcitent. Tes p'tits seins de Bakélite. Qui s'agitent. Sea, sex and sun. Toi petite. C'est sûr tu es un hit. Sea, sex and sun. Le soleil au zénith. Me surexcitent. Tes p'tits seins de Bakélite. Qui s'agitent. Sea, sex and sun. Toi petite. C'est sûr tu es un hit. Sea, sex and sun.»

Balearic Japan

2009-08-25T20:34:00.001+02:00

Now that the DJ Janine is finished and out, I can concentrate on other projects. One of them is the forthcoming EP of Maehara Motomutsu, aka Moto, from Japan, a talented DJ and composer that is a bit obsessed with Detroit.
With Lewis we are working on a track that is turning more and more balearic, from the time House music was happy and brotherly. Since I had problems with Moto's chords, he sent me cute pictures to explain me how it was supposed to be, like the one above. I put them in Logic Pro and then exported the file to the dark side of my Mac (the XP side) to mistreat it the right way...

Espace plastique out

2009-08-17T14:29:00.002+02:00

After a lot of work, Espace plastique from DJ Janine & Tamiyo is out. There is a website (dj-janine.com), a video (here or here), and more and more platforms are offering it for download (already Juno and DJMr, awaiting iTunes and Beatport as we speak). Trax asked for the wave of the fourth track, so don't act shocked when you see it on the sampler...

DJ Janine & Tamiyo "Espace Plastique"

2009-08-11T00:24:00.008+02:00

Alright, this one took a long time to finish. My apologies to Tamiyo and her fans. It's the new DJ Janine, it's the Original Soundtrack of an Art installation by DJ Janine (music), Tamiyo (dance, lyrics and singing) and Pierre Marly (visuals), and it's entitled "Espace Plastique". I co-wrote it and produced it. The magnificent sleeve just got finished by Pierre, with pictures made by Sandra & Orquídea from Kraft Video. Mastering was beautifully done by Ferry Verhoeve at MusicTrades.

The lyrics of "Installation Sonore I" (5'19"):
ゆっくり回って。
足元に気をつけて。
おもいっきり息を吸って。
目を見開いて。

...and of "Installation Sonore II" (6'50"):
きこえる？きこえない。
どっち？むこうじゃない？
誰？わからない。
まだ？もうちょっと。

"Installation Sonore III" (5'02") is an instrumental. The fourth (3'46") track is just an edit of the second one, far too long for radios and impatient people.

Espace Plastique = done

2009-08-09T00:34:00.002+02:00

Yes. I'm done with the final mixing of DJ Janine & Tamiyo's EP, "Espace Plastique". It's now at the sound engineer who will master it. It has three tracks (plus an edit): Installation Sonore I, II & III. I think people won't be disappointed. It's techno, it's ethnic, it's avant-garde, it's mostly danceable, and the texts are in Japanese.
Curious?

2 Justus @ Köln

2009-07-02T00:39:00.003+02:00

This time is, I hope, the right time. Friday I'm taking the ICE from Amsterdam Centraal to Köln HBF to visit Justus Köhncke, and hopefully make sexy music with him, maybe finish some old stuff, maybe make new songs, I dunno yet. He's also going to DJ at some big event, so I'm also very happy I'll be able to dance to the rhythm of the beat of Justus...

Rain Extended

2009-07-02T00:34:00.003+02:00

I heard today from Aaron-Carl that the different versions of Erica LaFay's "Rain" are gone to the distributor for physical and digital distribution. I still haven't seen the sleeve yet, neither do I have a release date. But it's happening.
Inbetween, I got very positive reactions on our remix, from the USA, from France, from Japan and from Holland mainly. DJs seam to really love the extended version, so as a holiday gift (the summer holidays just started in Holland), I give you the Laurent & Lewis Neuhaus Extended Mix. Enjoy.

Pierre Marly online

2009-06-23T15:25:00.003+02:00

It was about time... Pierre Marly, the guy behind the aesthetics of Cherry Juice (and all the gorgeous Laurent & Lewis sleeves), has finally put his portfolio online. Very cool.
http://www.dataselected.com

Rain Laurent & Lewis Neuhaus Original Mix

2009-06-23T12:05:00.004+02:00

OK, I got so many angry emails of people who were curious and couldn't find the song anywhere that I put it online. Here we go with the Original mix. There is also a Radio mix, and a 10 minutes Extended mix... I really love Erica's voice!
Thank you Ferry for the beautiful mastering!

Remix for Erica LaFay

2009-06-22T11:35:00.005+02:00

Yesterday night very late I finished a remix for Aaron-Carl's new protégée, Erica LaFay. The original is very Detroitian, somewhere between Techno and Soul. Since I knew the Detroit side was covered brilliantly by Aaron-Carl, I decided to play a very different card and go for European melodies. Somewhere between Paris and Berlin, to be precise.
I found some nice chords on Logic™ when I was at Didier Lestrade in Normandy (France), then I started to work it in Cakewalk. I changed them again when Aaron-Carl told me it didn't fit. So here it is, for the freaks or the Ukulele fans: Am 7 / Em 7 / Gm 7 / D 7M. Aaron-Carl sent me again treated voices (with extra autotune) so I could have the European sound for the voice, and I made beats on Reason.

At that point, I was in Poitiers (France) for work and the hard disc of my Mac broke. I had to wait untill I was back in Amsterdam to change it. I did, and also installed the new Mac OS 10.5 to make sure I could use Bootcamp to install Windows XP. That wasn't difficult, the only stress was that at the computer shop they sold me the wrong RAM memory so once installed the Mac didn't even start.
I spent my weekend installing XP (still takes forever) and figuring that I had to run the Mac OS installation disc to install all the drivers. Then I installed all the necessary programs and went back to work.

I decided to work only with (virtual) vintage synthesizers and it took a while to find the balance between the voice, the synths and the beat. Now the whole thing is finished and sent to the sound engineer. Once it's back, mastered and equalized, I'll cut the parts to make a Radio mix and an extended mix. I'll put it online here to listen as soon as I have it and that Aaron-Carl is happy with it.
Inbetween, I got enthusiastic reaction. Aaron-Carl loves it, Didier Lestrade wrote me "I love it", which is always very good to know. Come back online soon for the mp3... I still hesitate between "Laurent & Lewis Növohaus Mix" and "Laurent & Lewis Neuhaus Mix" (the ö and the ü are not always well recognized by American computers).

Premère of SSS sunday 21st

2009-06-10T12:03:00.001+02:00

I just heard that the première of our remix of Eddy de Clercq's "Sea Sex & Sun" will happen live in Amsterdam, on Sunday June the 21st at the Paradiso, for the RoXY party. Eddy will perform on stage with Jovanna on the sexy beat of Laurent & Lewis. The tickets might be quite hard to get, so if you want to go, you should hurry to find them before they're sold out (if they're not already). We'll be in the room, checking how the public reacts...
The 21st is also the International Day of Music (Fête de la musique), so don't forget to go out and enjoy.

I give you the original Laurent & Lewis Electrodisco mix so you can practice before the 21st:

A new remix for AC

2009-06-09T17:56:00.002+02:00

Aaron-Carl has just finished a brilliant track with Erica LaFay, and he asked us to provide a remix. So I'm playing with Logic Pro to find ideas. Got some nice chords, I'm now awaiting AC's answer to see if I go on or if I look for something else... More soon.

Sea Sex & Sun Laurent & Lewis Electrodisco Club

2009-06-04T18:05:00.006+02:00

Here is a Club version (read: with boom boom before and after to allow DJs to mix it properly) of the Electrodisco remix we made for Eddy de Clercq. It is a cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Sea Sex & Sun" (1978). The Bossa Nova version will be released on a Gainsbourg covers compilation in Europe. The Sea Sex & Sun EP should be released at the end of June. Eddy talks on it, Jovanna has an orgasm and DJ Natashka (from Radio Oh La La) is making the backing vocals.

The main synthesizers and the bassline were made on Logic Pro (on Mac) using virtual instruments. The acid loops were made on a virtual 303 (can't live without it). The whole thing was mixed in a very old program (on M$, ooh I really hate it) because I was too lazy to learn the whole Logic Pro thing within a few weeks. The orchestra was made with Reason 3, along with the beat. The percussions are most of them seriously changed. There is no sample, all instruments are homemade. Enjoy...

Sea, sex and sun. Le soleil au zénith. Vingt ans, dix-huit. Dix-sept ans à la limite. Je ressuscite. Sea, sex and sun. Toi petite. Tu es de la dynamite. / Sea, sex and sun. Le soleil au zénith. Me surexcitent. Tes p'tits seins de Bakélite. Qui s'agitent. Sea, sex and sun. Toi petite. C'est sûr tu es un hit. / Sea, sex and sun. Le soleil au zénith. Me surexcitent. Tes p'tits seins de Bakélite. Qui s'agitent. Sea, sex and sun. Toi petite. C'est sûr tu es un hit. Sea, sex and sun.

Remix finished

2009-06-04T01:54:00.003+02:00

Voilà. The remix we made for Eddy de Clercq is finished. Mastered, edited and it sounds really good. Three versions: Radio, Original and Club. The sound is fantastic. I'm really proud, and quite tired. More news soon... hopefully with sound (I'm awaiting Eddy's authorization).

Pasha Hristova savagely remixed

2009-05-29T14:26:00.005+02:00

A few years ago I heard a fantastic disco song from Bulgaria. It was from Pasha Hristova, a local star in the 1970s who died in a tragic plane crash. I really loved it but couldn't play it in my DJ sets because the beat was not clear enough for modern standards, so I decided to make my own remix.
I started by pitching the whole think of half a tone to make it more dramatic and speed it up a bit, then I cut all the measures and glued them one by one on a beat. In the 70s in Bulgaria they didn't use computer for music and the tempo was following the mood of the chef d'orchestre or the diva, not the bleep of a machine.
Then I separated the low frequencies, the medium and the highest frequencies. I compressed the basses, and created a fake stereo effect for the mediums, and even more for the highest frequencies. Then I added some extra sounds, an acid loop (acid always works fine on stuff like that).
At the end I worked on some extracts if the introduction and added some fake orchestra to make it sound as real as possible, to conclude the song properly.

Now I'd like to know if anyone knows how to contact the owner of the recordings to see if we could release it legally. You know the email addres...

How to make a vinyl

2009-05-22T19:40:00.001+02:00

It's a lot of work, and now you wonder why it's disappearing? After all that it has to be distributed, sold, carried around... Still, the sound is fantastic.

Busy busy

2009-05-18T13:40:00.002+02:00

Ooh, I'm really busy this week with politics and work, so my remix for Eddy de Clercq is a bit late on schedule. It sounds really good already, but since I'm a hellova perfectionist, I can't just finish it in one hour.
Inbetween at CJT we got some demos. Jovanna's songs are really good, very pop, quite sexy, but need a tiny sound update, I hope she'll agree to it. We'd love to release her album, really. Got other things from the USA. Good production, but where is the dama? I'll come back to it when I have a little more time.

Good Japanese demo

2009-05-11T23:20:00.003+02:00

Today I found in my mailbox a very cute enveloppe. It was from Hamamatsu, Japan. When I opened it, it was a demo CD. Not only was the packaging really cute, the music turned out to be really good. Somewhere between German Techno, Detroit House, Tokyo electronics and oldskool classics. With Pierre we like it and agreed that some work needs to be done on the progression and that the music could benefit from some vocals, but for the rest we'd like to sign the guy. He seems enthusiastic, we'll see what it becomes. It would such a great opportunity for Pierre to show his skills in Japanese influenced art (he made some amazing posters already for some exhibition).
It looks like Cherry Juice is not a transatlantic label anymore, but also a pan-eurasian or even a transpacific House Music label. We're very excited about this...

Eddy & Jo get an orgasm

2009-05-08T10:38:00.006+02:00

Yesterday Eddy de Clercq and Jo came to my house to record the vocals. Fortunately, the week before DJ Natashka came to fix the microphone and make it sound really good. After a coffee, Eddy and Jo started the recording. They started really calm but it hitted up and Jo got a musical orgasm on her own (photo above), then Eddy joined in (photo under). It is so good, i wonder if I shouldn't only keep the sex part and throw the rest. Just kidding, I'll keep everything...

Afterwards I had fun with Jo. I gave her some of our unfinished tracks, she'll come back to me with ideas and lyrics. To be followed... Inbetween I'll have to mix all the vocals with the music. Looaads of work to be done.

Why radios suck

2009-04-28T19:20:00.001+02:00

Eddy de Clercq re-records at home

2009-04-24T12:03:00.002+02:00

I've been asked by Eddy de Clercq to make a Pop version of his cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Sea Sex & Sun". I've been fighting with it for a few weeks but finally came out with something quite nice. The problem is that I changed the tone and the speed, so none of the lyrics fit properly.
Next week Eddy will pass home to re-record them. I'll have to buy a new cable, since our puppy chewed the one linking the microphone to the pre-amp. I'm a bit nervous...

New Überlove releases?

2009-04-23T12:07:00.002+02:00

I have some nice tracks around the Überlove album that haven't been released yet. I've got three good mixes of "Motion", one from Detroit, two from France. I also have some radio versions of most of the album songs, plus one or two songs that were not released on the album.
I will ask Pierre what he would like, and I'll come back here to explain it all...
Inbetween I'll have to finish Eddy de Clercq's song and DJ Janine & Tamiyo's EP. Busy, busy...

First track on Logic

2009-04-12T22:36:00.004+02:00

Today I decided to take it like a man and finally not only open Logic Pro™, but also try to create something. It took me a while to figure out how the thing works, but, at least so far, I think I've gotten the logic.
I created a little House song, completely unfinished and without any pretention, to see what I could do. I only used virtual synths, no samples, and only a minimum of effects. Here is it...

That was the first step. Next one: integrate audio bits and work them out... I also would like to tune the percussions, and I have no idea how to do that. I'm already quite amazed by the change of sound it brings: every sound is in real stereo, with amazing effects. Listen with headphones if you want to hear it properly...

Espace Plastique almost finished

2009-04-10T17:06:00.002+02:00

Thanks to all the reactions, I got good ideas to help me finish DJ Janine & Tamiyo's forthcoming EP, Espace Plastique. I will now let it rest and concentrate on Laurent & Lewis's EP, since I'm leaving tuesday for Cologne to meet Justus Köhncke there. I'm very curious to see what will come out of it. Also, I should receive the tracks from Eddy de Clercq this weekend, so I will have to start working on the remix.

Inbetween, one of my favourite song of Justus, Timecode.

DJ Janine + Fanfare du Haut-Poitou

2009-04-08T14:59:00.003+02:00

Today I managed to finally mix all the recordings that were laying around for one of the tracks on DJ Janine's forthcoming EP. I don't know what the title will be yet, I guess Tamiyo will come up with one. It's all mixed together in the computer so it sounds really clean. It has to be played really loud with loads of basses. I have around 100 different tracks in the program, from the tiniest hi-hat to the stereo drums and the "noise" sounds (the silence is never really silent, so we have to make sure it doesn't drop, otherwise it sounds really empty).

It still has to go to the ingeneer for compression and mastering. Thanks to Laurent V. for his help with the percussions...

Sexual nostalgy

2009-04-06T13:42:00.006+02:00

Because Eddy de Clercq asked me to remix his cover of Gainsbourg, I got into my old hard drives and got all my Serge Gainsbourg back on iTunes. Some of his songs a pure genious, some others leave me cold. But I had a surprise... his 1980s production.

His Love On The Beat album (1984) is often seen as decadent, American, provocative. Twenty years later, I find it very nostalgic, very sad, with fake provocation and real desperation. Very Pop, but very depressed as the same time. He provokes all the way, talking about incest with his 12 years old daughter (anyone who knows him knows that he meant he loves his daughter, without any sexual content), talks about gay love, backrooms, sexual frustration and drugs.

As a gay man in his late thirties, having grown in homophobic, authoritarian and petit-bourgeois France, having been terrified since his teenage by Aids and depression, Love on The Beat really touches me. Behind a Gainsbourg showing off with sex and his ability to get it up, we feel (through the music) loneliness and desperation. And, as always with Gainsbourg when he's in the mood, besides the poetic lyrics, the melodies and harmonies are perfect.

Gainsbourg created the well-known image of the drunkard that doesn't shave and hits on women. It was to hide how shy he really was, and sensitive. It was then found that his texts about homosexuality were just about provocation (Kiss Me hardy), I think they were about sex and, better, anonymous sex (I'm The Boy), moralistic bourgeoisie, sensitivity and sexage (putting a gender on people). As a proof, the gorgeous sleeve, where he poses as a women. "Je suis belle, hein?" he commented to people asking about it. (I'm beautiful, am I not? / feminine form in French)

I think this album had a huge influence on lots of people. Michel Houellebecq cannot say he never heard it, he litterally copied Gainsbourg's fake cynicism to sell his books.

For those who do not understand French, there are translations of his lyrics online. But, since he plays a lot on assonances (repetitive sounds meaning different things) and homophones (words that sound the same), I advise anyone to just listen to it without prejudice, not trying to understand, in French. For the beauty of the language.

Unfinished Espace Plastique

2009-04-04T14:49:00.006+02:00

I have been working for quite a while on DJ Janine's EP. It's featuring Tamiyo and is entitled "Espace Plastique". We tested two of the three tracks live, and it really works. The idea is quite pretentious: a mix of gay-junkie-club Techno (the first track), some tribal dance in 6/8 (the second track) and a sonic installation, quite bruitiste (the third track), a mix of French situationisme, Japanese hunting for spirits of nature, and the race towards natural mathematics.

Anyway. For the people who have been waiting far too long for it, I've put online the first track, even though you have to remember it hasn't been mastered yet: many instruments are too hard, some other too weak, the voice wasn't compressed yet, and there might be changes before the final release. I'm planning to make the infra-bass a lot harder, and I'm wondering whether I should add acid loops or not.

Like always, do not hesitate to send me remarks...

Working on the sleeve

2009-04-04T14:47:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I went with Tamiyo to Sandra & Orquidea's appartment in Bos & Lommer to have some pictures of Tamiyo for the sleeve of the EP of DJ Janine where she is the guest star. I was really tired (I didn't sleep enough because I got an eye infection from one of the dogs) so I followed most of it from the sofa.

They danced on music, tried different poses, dresses, accessoires and lights... They will send the best pictures to Pierre Marly in Reykjavik who will integrate them in his digital collage.

I'm very curious what it will look like. Since the EP is quite avant-garde and arty, I expect the sleeve to look so as well...

Anyway, it's always fun spending time with Sandra & Orquidea, always so creative and relaxed.

Doesn't Help When We Deny It

2009-04-02T21:01:00.006+02:00

Here is a song that was written years ago. It's called "Doesn't Help When We Deny it", and Aaron-Carl made a nice remix of it, I should ask him the tracks to release it one day. I decided it was time to finally release the original on the forthcoming EP. This is the first draft, I still need to fix Lewis's voice and finish the end. I'm not happy about a few details that make a difference between a good song and an excellent one. I'll remove the player in a few weeks, so enjoy it while it lasts...

My plans: autotune Lewis's voice to make to sound more synthetic, have the whole thing revised by Justus Köhncke (who, I am sure, has some good ideas), finish the end, eventually make an edit version that is more radio-friendly. I also wonder if Tamiyo's voice is at its right place at the end...
Any other ideas?

Switching to Mac

2009-04-02T00:02:00.007+02:00

I have been busy on Windows for more than ten years. When it was time to finish Überlove, I decided to stick to it: I was busy writing a book, finishing an album, I was elected locally and I had some jobs here and there. I had no time to learn a new program. Esko Moisio, our executive producer in Finland, was telling me to buy a new iMac and Logic Pro, but when I saw how complicated it was, I panicked and decided to stick to my old programs.

Sticking to Windows meant installing it on my MacBook, have different hard discs with the programs (on USB) and the music data (on firewire) on them, and having to switch on the same machine between the Apple side and the Windows side all the time, since it was too heavy for a virtual computer. I hated it but was so happy not to have to learn new programs and new ways of making music. I was too busy with the music to have to bother with machines.

Now, it's different. I am actually thinking that it is the right time to switch and learn to program everything on a Mac. I had a glimpse on how Logic Pro works, and I think I understand Ableton Live as well. But between understanding the process and actually mastering it, there are hours and hours of failed trials, mistakes and irritations. And I am not looking forward to that at all.

My brother, Babozor, said he could install a new cool hard disc, super fast and super big, on my MacBook, and allow me to run these monstruous programs. I am tempted.

I know most people will tell me how cool these programs are, that everything is now possible. I know that. But I am not after cool and infinite possibilities, I am after some simple thing that will allow me to make exactly the type of music that I want, without headaches and complications. My old programs allowed me to do that exactly, untill now. But I feel trapped in these horrible Windows things I grew to hate.

What made me feel quite confident about it is the fact that a friend of mine, Rodrigue, just downloaded Reason on his PC and managed to make nice things within a few hours. I remember what a revelation Reason was. Especially the orchestra part. I hope to get the same kick from Logic or Ableton, actually.

Junky, moi?

Remix for Eddy de Clercq

2009-04-01T19:20:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I went to Eddy de Clercq's office, downtown, to talk about a remix. I swore I wouldn't tell much about it, since it's supposed to be a surprise, all I can tell is that he asked me to remix a cover he made and make it more dancefloor friendly.

I have no idea what I will do yet. I told Pierre, of course, but I have to talk about it with Lewis, since he might have some cool ideas.

Yes, indeed

2009-03-25T01:35:00.002+01:00

I just got from England the special edition of Pet Shop Boys' new album, Yes. I already got it for weeks on mp3, to tell you the truth. I just couldn't wait.

I al fascinated by the Boys. 50 years old, still making perfect Pop music. Just compare them to their peers: Depeche Mode got lost in depression and heavy productions, Duran Duran list itself in coke, Erasure is not listenable anymore, Björk lost it for real and is busy with pretentious bruitisme, and only Madonna survives, thanks to Injectables and Kleenex producers...

Pop is usually looked at with a bit of arrogance. When I read the critics we got for Überlove, what fasinates me is that besides Didier Lestrade's critique, it's all about Techno and intrumental tracks. Nobody seemed to have bothered really listen to our vocal tracks. There were too Pop, obviously.

I think Pop is the best music can make in 2009. God knows I'm listening to everything nowadays, from minimalist Techno to Dutch Trance, from Arabic Pop to Japanese Kawai, from Classical to Jazz, from Gospel House to Detroit pretentious remixes... But nothing makes me (and Lewis) as a good Pop song, with a verse and a chorus.

Yes is that kind of album: you put it on, and you sing along. No complicated manual to follow, no hangover. You play, you like, period. Besides two songs I needed time to adjust to (Building A Wall, and Legacy) the whole album was really accessable and enjoyable at once. I adore Love etc., that reminded me strangely of our own Just Want To Be Loved.

One thing to understand the Boys is the fact that they are gay, with a gay musical background, but do not play the "gay for straight pigs" card. They are not Queen, Mika or Scissor Sisters. They're not the funny fags with attitude. They're the control queens with an eye on the mixing table. I put them in the same category as Prince, Trevor Horn, Debussy or George Michael.

Anyway, you got it, I love the record. How surprising..

Meeting Justus in Cologne

2009-03-21T23:58:00.000+01:00

Justus Köhncke is a busy bee. I am quite busy myself, but not thaaaat busy. Anyway, we found a whole in our agendas that connected, and I'm going to visit him in Cologne. He said he'd like to co-produce our forthcoming EP. I would love to actually write a song with him, maybe some kinky duet, or just a very gay ballad.
Got first class tickets on the ICE for quite a low rate. It's gonna be so luxurious. Ooh, I'm so excited... Now I really have to send him some of my tracks. Some are almost completely done for years, some other unfinished for years also. And some are just a mess.

The future of music

2009-03-03T23:32:00.003+01:00

Everyone speculates a way or another on the future of music and of the Industry. I have been busy for more than twenty years with electronic music, ten years with part-time DJing, and five years with the Industry itself. I chose to invest part of my time, money and energy int it, but at the same time not to depend on it. I just read a very luminous article on TorrentFreak (link), and it leads me to a few remarks...

- Music is an absolute necessity for humans. There is no civilisation that doesn't know music. Event without music industry, there is music. Music and the Industry are not necessarily linked. One mouth, vocals chords, two hands, there you go. Researchers are starting to understand how important music can be for us as a species, how our physiological well-being is linked to our faculty to bind with rhythmically and harmonize them properly. Music is as necessary to us as oxygen or food can be. I have no worries about music: event without Industry or record shops, it will live on, give rhythm to our lives, move us, get us together.

- The music industry had glorious days because of a technical and organisatory monopoly: to access the music that you love, you had to buy a vinyl, a tape of a CD. Since the promotion and distribution was quite a complicated process, the Industry was necessary and managed to live off quite luxury from this need. But it was more a historical accident than anything else. I wonder how they will justify their tax on music in the future...

- The issue of pricing in music is interesting. Recording an albul is not necessarily expansive, unless you have luxury taste. In 2009 all you need is a basic computer, some programs (some actually for free), maybe a microphone if you need to record sounds or voices, and there you go...

If you're making electronic music, the costs are close to zero. The real issue is about all the time, energy and passion the artist has invested in it. It's the classical question of the cost of Art, which I am not going to answer. In my case, it is a lot of money, time and energy. But like 99% of the (good or bad) artists, we make music not because we want to hit the jackpot and get rich, but because we have to make music to survive emotionnally.

I think a lot of artists would accept to give their music for free if they know that nobody would make money with it. They work for years, perfecting their art, and suddenly some people make loads of cash with your art without paying you and start screaming that "pirates" are killing the artists. This sounds absurd, but this is what is happening right now. Artists are not against absolutely free music, they are against free music if other people earn money with their music while themselves do not.

The real cost of music is not in distributing it anymore, but in sacrificing some of your life to make it. Why not inmagining scholarships or special prices for artists who give their art for free to the masses. It happens in other branches already, why not in music?

- Minorities are essential to art. Blacks, gays, women, Jewish or Rrom artists have a key role in today's music. Funnily, they're the ones profitting the least from the money generated by the Industry. It shows that musicians are not doing it for the money. It also shows that the industry is not about the artists, but a story of social domination from whiste straight guys, while their artistic importance is not very impressive. The question of the link between artistic utility of the Industry as it is and its financial burden on the collectivity deserves to be asked, I think.

The real question is, I think, about the real role of music in our lifes. It is about considering the role of the record companies, the radios, the press and their contempt towards the public and the artists. I haven't read anything really exciting about the selecting role of the DJs, the legitimism of the musical press, the race towards gigantism and big sound (a real disease in Holland), musical education of the masses, instrumentalisation of music (in shops, in advertisings), the place of the artist, the starisation of mediocrity...

Big groups and people from the Industry want to talk about the future of music. Let's do it, but seriously. i'm not sure they're going to like what will come out of it.

STME on Deezer

2009-03-01T23:35:00.001+01:00

It took them a while, but 'Si tu m'aimes encore' is finally on Deezer (lien). I do not understand what Deezer is busy with, lately, making iPhones apps that do not work, being the last ones to put records online while they built their reputatation by being always the first... Obviously they're too busy paying their bosses giant salaries and spending what's left on technology.

Anyway, inbetween it's a practical tool to listen to our songs online without having to pay to listen. So, go for it!
http://www.deezer.com/#music/album/275009

Travelling, travelling

2009-02-27T23:42:00.000+01:00

In the forthcoming I will be travelling quite a while. I will be half of my time in Amsterdam, and the other half I will be in Poitiers, Paris, Brussels, and probably Cologne... with some journeys through The Hague and Rotterdam. Those who want to meet for a coffee or a lunch should contact me so we can plan this properly. I'll bring Dutch cheese for those who have been good boys and good girls.

STME better distributed

2009-02-21T02:02:00.001+01:00

"Si tu m'aimes encore", remixed par Eddy de Clercq, is finally available on most legal digital platforms. Thats is... iTunes (lien), Beatport (photo ci-dessus, lien), Juno (lien), Fnac Musique (lien), eMusic (lien), Trackitdown (lien), Digital Tunes (lien), Audio Jelly (lien), Beats Digital (lien), DJ Download (lien), Starzik (lien) et Music Me (lien).

Colours

2009-02-09T02:15:00.002+01:00

Releases are following each other (link), and we're starting to understand Pierre's masterplan, to the point that people talk about it. It is beautiful. There are lots of things we could release, including acapellas, short versions, somthing mixed together, but I'm trying to focus on our forthcoming EP, with new songs. Most people have no idea how much work it takes, knowing how perfectionist I can be...

Si tu m'aimes encore 3.2

2009-02-05T02:06:00.003+01:00

Our new single was sent to our ditributor. It is entitled like the previous one, «Si tu m'aimes encore», except that it got remixed by Eddy de Clercq.

One can listen to it on uberlove.info/music if one's browser is not too old.

I'm very priud, because it's a beautiful song, and the sound is really great (thanks to Ferry for the mastering). I advise the use of headphones to appreciate fully. It's our first song entirely produced in Amsterdam, and also the first one Lewis sings in French.

For the nerds out there, like Didier Lestrade, yes there are flutes on the right. There are about 200 tracks, including three basslines, a symphonic orchestra, trompets, trombones, flutes, electric guitars, analogic synthesizers, infrabasses, electronic bleeps and a dozen of Lewis singing together. Isn't technology great?

The sleeve is signed by Pierre Marly. He says the colour is called "salmon".

Update 7 feb. 09: The song is already on iTunes (lien). Eddy de Clercq brought us luck and speed, obviously. Merci Eddy.

Success at the Amsterdam Fashion Week

2009-02-03T11:21:00.002+01:00

Our concert at the Amsterdam Fashion Week was quite a success. It went fantastic, Lewis was brilliant, but most of all we got really lucky to be able to participate to such a complicated machinery. For a song of 3'40" and a ten minutes fashion show, preparations lasted for weeks, especially a whole sunday afternoon to rehearse, get makeup, get dressed, talk to models and the army of assistants.

Too bad we're gay, because all these gorgeous girls in underwear were hysterically in love with Philippe and Martin, our licking doggies.

Musicallu, it seems that Eddy de Clercq made only small changes (changed the level of different instruments, added another bassline, some spacey sounds and a flanged synthesizer), but he actually transformed the whole song and made something quite impressive. With the giant speakers in a place that looked bigger than a church, a public of 650 and a good hundred people working on it, it still had an incredible sound. People screamed of joy at the end, especially when Lewis performed his Electric Boogie. Years of DJing didn't go unnoticed, thank you Eddy.

Bastiaan van Schaik, who was in charge of the show, was really sweet to invite us. Besides, we saw him in the action: he managed to stay calm and sweet while the pressure and the budget were enornous. Respect, Bastiaan!

STME out on iTunes

2009-01-14T11:42:00.000+01:00

It was about time... 'Si tu m'aimes encore' is finally available on iTunes (lien direct). On the side, Eddy de Clercq just finished a really nice disco mix of the song (that should to tonight to mastering) and Josh in Detroit is toying with sounds, as well as Trashelle. I'm curious to hear the thing finished.

If you are in a remixing mode, just contact me (laurent (at) cherryjuicerecordings (dot) com) for the URL of the acapella. Listen to the original on Deezer here. The beat is at 175 bpm in 6/8 (meaning 116,66 bpm on 4/4).

Cables

2009-01-07T11:54:00.000+01:00

Josh, in Detroit, is working on different remixes, including one of 'Motion'. He asked us yesterday to record extra vocals and I had to install the microphone as I could in the office. All these cables, what a mess... Two computers, three external drives (ine firewire for music, one for general backup, one for work), a microphone, a pre-amp, a mouse (wireless), a signal converter (analogic to digital), headphones, cables to connect all that together, and more cables to bring electricity to the machines.

The hardest thing is to find the right cable for the right machine. Some are equipped with fool-proof plugs, but not all. A external drive can be burned in a minute if connected to the wrong cable. yes, it did happen to me. My experience is that a good sound ingeneer is a good cable guy in the first place, with coloured stickers, an good sense of order and the intuition of good connections. I'm very far from that...