Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[LeoDaV]

Hi all!

6 years in the making and almost ready. The only thing left is the final master before the CD's and DVD-A's (full 2496!) will be made!

The exact release date will be on our site http://www.mercurey.info .


(the cover is bound to be changed a bit hint: READ!)

You can listen to 30 sec excerpts here:
01 - Electric Music (Part 1)
02 - Tibet
03 - Electron
04 - Electricity
05 - Footsteps on a Floppy
06 - Electric Music (Part 2)
07 - Eminentalo
08 - Amber the Cat
09 - Lone Ranger

I also have to mention some ppl who helped me a lot on points where I was stuck and some ideas for tracks where made together: Jan Henriet (aka Mahut), my wife Una (for 'singing' on FOAF and moral support), Marco vd Hoorn (aka Marcoperation), Etienne van der Linden (aka Antigoon for the cover artwork and numerous remarks ), Jeroen van Niftrik (aka Jerome- for being my 'tryout' and critisit)

Let me know what you think!

J.

[Mike Earsen]

Were you inspired by Kraftwerk, Johan? It sounds a bit like this
First of all - the CD cover - I like it. Very simple and quite nice photo on the backside
Second - these excerpts. It's a shame to do the ranking of excerpts but after listening to them, I'll talk about 3 of them, which I could recommend:
1. Tibet (really nice and although this is an excerpt I just listened to it 30 times and I still have to say - it must be a great track! The title matches my feelings while listening)
2. Eminentalo (good old 80's synth-pop music. Good job.)
3. Electron (well, I had an ability to listen to the full version earlier and... Kraftwerk or what? )

... but it really took 6 years? You must be proud of getting close to finish

Regards,
Mike

[D_LeX]

Yep, really inspired by kraftwerk it seems (And that's a good thing).
I like !

[Jakob BC]

Honestly I have been waiting for some music like this. Beats, atmosphere, vocoders and lots of analogish synthsounds.

[Christophe]

Thanks for the info, Johan!

I listen tomorow to the excerpts...

Greetzzz...

[BnM]

Hi Leonardo !

Shocking

ie. COOL... all of them, of what can be heard & the cover art, song names.

The 1st & 9th track (last, nice drum programming btw) are excellent openers & enders.
The only very KW track is 3.
The only somewhat weak track (in comparison to the others) is 7.
Depth in the sounds chosen throughout, sit well together.
Elegant in its simplicity.

Nice note about waving copyright & making it completely open to the public domain.
Hopefully this generosity will be suitably Newtons 3rd lawed.

(ps 6 years ago this would have been ahead of its time in retro trend setting).

[LeoDaV]

Thanks all for the replies so far!

Yes, a shocking 6 years... mostly night and weekend work. But not all!! Sometimes a month nothing because I was creating other things like FX and instruments in Reaktor or persuing other things I like, like old SciFi movies/series.. the older the better. Beside all that I have to maintain and fix the studio. Especially the instruments... Last year brought me my little girl Aurora who also takes up a lot of my time and due to my illness Multiples Sclerosis I have 'good times' where I *can* play and 'bad times' where I'm more like a vegetable waiting for a better time...

Yes, electron is heavely KW inspired. At this moment I'm more a fan of KW then Jarre because of jmj's latest work. O7-13 was the last good one for me. The trouble when using the PE1000, on electron, is it's *so* related to KW like the 310 is to Jarre.

The subtitle of the album is "1001 things you can do with an eminent"... in all tracks, except electron, there is eminent used differently...

As for the copyright statement it's more a joke I'm going to try to find a label who want it. If that fails I'll fall back to DIY. If then still there is no intrest I'll just put it on-line and hopefully after my death ppl like it

As for vocoders: track 1 is completely done with my JUMS Vocoder 5000. I created that one too in the past 6 years. Except for the drone that's oviously the 2600.

J.

[Big time]

Hmmmmm..... 6 years? That´s many years!!

First of all, I really like the artwork!! I thinks it´s great!!!

Second....

Some of the tracks are VERY Kraftwerk!! Why "so-much-Kraftwer-like"???

I´ve heard loooots of such Kraftwerk-like tracks since, well since Kraftwerk!!

95% of such tracks are more or less "empty" (Even though some of them sounds ok)... But without new way of thinking, it just sounds like another copy... Why not finding your own "sound/style"?? But if this is your style.... like so many others...

Not saying this is bad!! Just not my cup of tea...


Moving on to the more atmospheric tracks....

Still, I think it´s a little too simple.... For me at least!!

The melodies/themes are a bit too weak, if there.... IMO!!!

Maybe it´s just because I´m used to big arrangements and top top produced tracks..... and I´m not sooo much into Kraftwerk-like stuff....

But this is just MY OPINION!!!!

Anyway, good luck with the album!!!

[LeoDaV]

Some of the tracks are VERY Kraftwerk!! Why "so-much-Kraftwer-like"???

I wanted to try to create a bridge between Jarre and Kraftwerk.. but I don't feel all tracks are KW inspired. Maybe the use of a Vocoder reminds you too much of Kraftwerk. A vocoder is a really cool instrument!
Conclusion must be, also seen previous replies, it's too much KW and too little JMJ....

Why not finding your own "sound/style"?? But if this is your style.... like so many others...

I'm afraid you are listening to it... I have thought a lot about style and decided on one point "I'll just make music and I'll see what style comes out"...

Not saying this is bad!! Just not my cup of tea...

I don't excpect all ppl to like it

Anyway, good luck with the album!!!

Thanks for your opinion!

J.

[BnM]

Target audience is important.

The average joe = majority of listeners & buyers, are not really "up"
with what is happening / has happened in EM.

Genereally they look for pleasantness, nice sounding, clean sounding,
and simple : which is easy to digest AND remember.
Hence the populaity of Coldplay for example.

With the right target audience this album hopefully will do fine.
How to reach them sufficiently needs some lateral thinking & luck !

[Jakob BC]

Nothing worng that it is sounding a little like Kraftwerk. I think this has more like humanmusic than Kraftwerks robotmusic. I will say this is something between Ambient, Spacesynth and New Wave. The theme is electricity and I think thats why it shouls be sounding like Kraftwerk... electro.

[Big time]

Maybe the use of a Vocoder reminds you too much of Kraftwerk. A vocoder is a really cool instrument!

No, I know quite well what a vocoder is, I´m a musician/producer myself!

It was just the style itself, with or without a vocoder.... but of course the vocoder add´s some exstra!

And I don´t mind it´s not that Jarre-like, I didn´t want/exspect/hope that!! Just whatever music you did!!



PS: Have you heard "Planet Dada" by Yello??

That is electro-like-kraftwerk far ahead of what Kraftwerk themself could ever do!!!

[Big time]

Some of the tracks even sound a bit Pet shop boys-like!! Which is good!! I looove Pet shop!!

[Velodynamic]

I will try to make a quick judgement of these short clips.
For that I have to listen at the same time.

01 - Electric Music (part 1): -Really beatiful!
02 - Tibet: -I'll hope there is some surprise left in the full version.
03 - Electron: -The Model? Nooo, just kidding. It stands out but it's good.
04 - Electricity: -Don't know...nor black or white...somewhere in between.
05 - Footsteps on a Floppy: -Funny thing with the vocoder.
I like it. Somehow it stands out from the rest as well.
06 - Electric Music (Part 2): -Also beautiful. A little Eminent "Oxygene"-feeling here, with rythmic.
(sounded like a little miss with the timing at 0:09, not much to complain about, just gave it a personality. )
07 - Eminentalo: -Have they mixed up the titles here?
This is more pop than "oxy". Have to listen more of this track to make a statement.
08 - Amber the Cat: -A little messier. It's different, sounds more like a computer game or something...
09 - Lone Ranger: -Really nice Oxygene-feeling here as well.

WOW man! Now I'm really curious about the rest.

[LeoDaV]

Some of the tracks even sound a bit Pet shop boys-like!! Which is good!! I looove Pet shop!!

others mentioned that too It turned out that style is an expression of musical accumulation. aka elements you like in music. I also like PSB!!!

I do know Planet Dada and I like the track but it's not something I could make. I'm not terribly melodic I know.. that's something I have to work on... but who knows what the future brings.. I won't stop here... another album will follow!

I think in the end style also describes capabillity. I know I'm not a top artist. I just do a lot of research and I try to make some music in betweens...I just hope there are others who like it too

J.