Quote:
Originally Posted by Fenris
Got the mag today. For anyone who is interested, here are the parts with Chateau Marmont and Rob (don't know if this is already posted):
 
Image quality is not the best, but schould be readable.
Just don't expect me to translate it all...  |
And better late than never, here is my translation of the Château Marmont interview:
The quartet Château Marmont composed four (captivating) morcels for the ex-Lolita.
They still dreamed of her
Albeit they have still not released an album, Château Marmont find themselves parachuted into the principal composer of "Une Enfant du Siècle". How have they gone from underground senation to the accomplice of a popstar? Story of a dream become Alizée.
We came to know Alizée through Jean-René Etienne, who prepared the artistic direction of her new album. He suggested that we make a piece for her, we wrote something, she liked some of it, then we went to the studio, one thing lead to another and we found ourselves with four pieces on the disk.
Alizée's demand: good pieces. She was very open throughout the production of the disk. Jive/Sony had it once it was done, they liked it, this was a value beyond estimation. There were no compromises. We proceeded with carte blanche. (They had no interference by Jive/Epic/Sony. They could do whatever they wanted. I would add, perhaps because Alizée decided it would be that way. She produced the thing and licenced it to Sony.) We made some pieces that were more pop, more singing, some feminine. We especially thought of productions like the album of Adjani writen by Gainsbourg, of Glass Candy, of an ambiance femino-retro-futuristico-French. But our mode of creation has not budged a bit because of it. If you calculate your music based on how it will sell, it's dead, opportunism has rarely gone beyond the short term. Obviously we want it to do well, to be heard. We did things as we felt them, while realising for whom we were doing it. We did a thing which we are proud of, now it's kind of, the die is cast. No one has the secret to success. Except perhaps Phil Spector or Pharrel Williams. Financially, it's also not negligeable, it allows us a greater autonomy for what comes next.
Your favorite hits? Missy Elliott, Madonna "Music", Kylie Minogue "Can't Get Out Of My Head", all that club stuff like Imagination or Chic, the first U2 stuff, Elton John, 80s stuff like Nick Kershaw or even Jacky Quartz. 80% of the stuff they play on Nostalgie (a radio station). We make no bones about it. The first hits from Alizée produced with Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat? Who are they?
We make music very influenced by synth music, and unfortunately we are no longer in the era when one could hear "Oxygene" or "Radioactivity" on the radio, when Kate Bush was at the top of the charts. If recent years and their dumbing down had not existed, we might be at a stage where our music would appeal to a maximum of people. Who would not want their music heard by everyone? To become mainstream, if that means having greater means, turning towards better conditions while keeping total control, that's great. If it means having your face everywhere (in the press, for example) and 125 people to talk to for a yes or a no, that's less great. As long as you can continue exercise and create your art as you heard it from the beginning, it's cool. It's no doubt necessary to know how to make some compromises at certain times, that's all. In no case, sell off your music (I think that means make something just because you think it will sell rather than because it's your own expression of art). But, for the moment we aren't doing anything for it (?), there's nothing to do but listen to the ouverture of our new disk.
France being a country with a shitty mentality, where everyone judges in permanance, takes their opinion from the majority, or alternately knocks down to distance onself and stroke one's petty ego, it's difficult to put out something different destined for the general public, people aren't necessary open minded, they can quickly criticize things with which they no longer have a connection. (??) Anyway, we made a thing very accessible, and we mustn't exaggerate either. The risk for us is that one will propose a reiteration of the experience. We would be delighted to. We're not exactly trying to come off as erudite, it's the perception of people who tend toward that. The border between mainstream and underground is sometimes so slight musically.
Quite sincerely, it is a dream for us to work with a mainstream singer. But, we were thinking more about anglo-saxon artists like Britney or Fergie. We never would have thought about French artists. Yet, Alizée took the risk of innovation, novelty, and when you really think about it, it's hard to see how anyone else could have done that.
compiled by B.S.