Compilation Central: Bertrand Burgalat and The Free Design

Bertrand Burgalat issued his second proper full-length Portrait-Robot, in 2005, and as could be expected, it was full of analog electronics and silky atmospherics that could have provided the music for an extended hallucinatory dance-club scene in Godard’s Alphaville. It was a solid album, but Burgalat’s best known for tweaking the music of others, and 2000’s The Genius of Bertrand Burgalat is both an entry into his unique method and essential collection of his best work. He made his name by completely reworking Air’s “Sexy Boy” by stripping it of its spacy, romantic disco, adding layers of synth, fuzzy guitar and organ, and refiguring it into more of a swinging jam session. The original is definitely superior, but there’s no clearer indication of Burgalat’s modus operandi than his work here. Elsewhere on the record, he succeeds in making Ladytron’s “He Took Her to A Movie” sound even more detached and cold than the original, by replacing the stark electronics with an open-collared shuffling lounge-jazz atmosphere.

Buy The Genius of Bertrand Burgalat here.

Late Sixties psych-pop group The Free Design have enjoyed a hallowed existence for the past thirty years in the snobbish canon of critically adored but commercially ignored bands. Their undeniable influence on the the broad-based mid-nineties psych resurgence–Stereolab, the High Llamas, Olivia Tremor Control and Ladybug Transistor, inter alia–was destined to rekindle an interest in their exquisite kitsch-pop, however, and resulted in 2005’s terrific The Now Sound Redesigned, which features the first two previously mentioned acolytes and many others, including Super Furry Animals, Caribou and Belle and Sebastian’s Chris Geddes. The best songs on the compilation, though, are the ones that take the most liberties with their updates of the original material, providing a surprising testament to the malleability of what at first listen might sound like toss-off pop trifles, but gradually reveal a precision and care unrivaled by most of their peers. Check out Peanut Butter Wolf’s (who spearheaded the project) work on “Umbrellas” and Kid Koala and Dynomite D’s excellent trip-hop reimagining of “An Elegy“.

Buy The Now Sound Redesigned from Light in the Attic Records here.

Filed under: Air  Bertrand Burgalat  compilations  Free Design  Ladytron