If you were to attempt to conjure up an image more gut-wrenchingly fantastic than Patti Smith, it would have to be Patti Smith with a french accent. Right? Lo and behold, such a thing already exists: her name was Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and she kicked around the same late-70s NYC art and punk scene as Smith et al. and made some pretty great records.
Understandably, you might think that this is information more people ought to be aware of. Well, Light In The Attic agree and has therefore decided to reissue the Parisian’s back catalogue, starting with her debut opus Press Color on August 14.
Press Color is the early blueprint for the punk-funk radness that bands like The Rapture lit up your dancefloors with at the dawn of this century, and as usual, returning to the source material is always more rewarding. For example, check out the dance moves displayed by Descloux in this video for “Fire,” the lead single off Press Color:
The Electric Six couldn’t even dream of such mind-blowing awesamity* in an ironic way.
Of course, being a reissue, Light In the Attic has remastered the record and crammed the release with rarities, including the closer “Morning High,” which is a collaboration with Patti Smith drawing on the words of their darling poet idol Rimbaud.
Press Color
01. Fire
02. Torso Corso
03. Mission Impossible
04. No Golden Throat
05. Jim On The Move
06. Wawa
07. Tumor
08. Aya Mood
09. Mission Impossible 2.0
10. Rosa Vertov
11. Decrypted
12. Herpes Simplex
13. Larousse Baron Bic
14. Tso Xin Yu Yin
15. Nina con un tercer ojo
16. Birdy Num-num
17. Hard-Boiled Babe
18. Morning High
*Awesamity is a word I just invented. It means a 50/50 combination of awesome and insanity.
• Lizzy Mercier Descloux: http://lizzymercierdescloux.com
• Light In the Attic: http://lightintheattic.net
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