The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Musique De Film Imaginé [Album Stream]
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[audiotube id=”3gqalG1djVQ” size=”medium”] Tracklist:
Side A:
1 – Après Le Vin
2 – Philadelphie Story (with Soko)
3 – La Dispute
4 – L’Enfer
5 – Elle s’échappe
Side B:
1 – Le Cadeau
2 – Le Sacre du Printemps (with Asia Argento)
3 – Le Souvenir
4 – Les Trois Cloches
5 – Bonbon
6 – L’Ennui
7 – Bonbon Deux
8 – La Question
9 – Au Sommet[/su_column]
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Stereo Embers asks, Anton Newcombe replies:
When did you become interested in French New Wave cinema, and what were some of the first films you remember seeing and what impressed you about them?
I guess the answer is from the moment I started looking externally for anything thought provoking. I really liked Ray Bradbury when I was younger and got a kick out of Godard’s treatment of Fahrenheit 451. But this project isn’t about French cinema.
I’m interested in the movement and the people it influenced. I’m very interested in the idea of a need for a reaction to Hollywood and a return to the simplicity of making movies for the hell of it.
SEM: How did the theories of French New Wave cinema influence the project?
AN: I’m influenced by the ideas that people like Godard and Truffaut had: “We don’t need scripts reviewed, rewritten, and approved. We can just make a film about nothing or this or that. We don’t have to copy Hollywood or need it’s permission. We don’t have to cater to an imaginary demographic dictated and rubber-stamped by outside forces beyond our control.”
SoKo sings on “Philadelphie Story.” Two questions. Why did you think she was the right vocalist for the track?
AN: She was the right person to ask because she said, “Yes.” She told me she had never sung in French before. I said, “Your culture needs you.” I think she absolutely nailed it.
“La Sacre du Printemps” features Asia’s and your vocals. Tell us about that track.
AN: There are Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Tchaikovsky’s Rites of Spring. One of them hints at ancient pagan esoteric rituals still practiced in secret, in public all over the world in great opera houses and concert halls at exactly 3pm. (I’ve been.)
Traditionally, many people who purchased soundtracks did so to remember the film that they saw in the theater. Did you write the songs with specific scenes, moods, action, etc. in mind?
AN: No, it’s more or less for you to imagine the film. In the 1980s, there was a French film, Betty Blue [it’s original title was 37°2 le matin], and I remember many people having the soundtrack because it evoked a mood. I wanted this album to evoke a mood.
Anyway, this project is more or less a C.V. for Asia and me to make a movie. She’s directed three or more, and I’ve recorded so much music, there’s no question we have the imagination. The problem is that the industry has no imagination.
Tell us about the song, “L’Enfer.”
AN: In French, “L’Enfer” just means Hell – the Inferno. It’s about that all-consuming rage, fear, and anger that you find in a situation beyond your control, like a bad breakup fight, where you are screaming: “I invested this in us, and you threw that away.” And you are mad at yourself and them and it and everything. ✪
