vinyl podcast

Once again I have to apologize for the break from my usual schedule this past week. I won’t give you an excuse, but if I did, it would involve a sick cat, a four-digit vet bill and an aborted vacation. Anyway, I intend to make it up to you, and I think today’s track should go a long way in doing just that.

On this show, I’m going to play a song called “Aria” recorded by a Belgian group called Placebo. Now before anyone starts making plans to rob me, I have to admit that I’m not playing this off of the rare and valuable 1970s vinyl, but rather off of a 1999 compilation, Marc Moulin: The Placebo Sessions on Counterpoint Records which has itself gone out of print in the past few years.

Placebo was helmed by keyboard player Marc Moulin, who’s had quite the career. With Placebo, he created a sound that was unique and modern, bringing together the rhythms of contemporary rock and soul with jazz in a style that managed to be uncompromising. The songs are challenging without sacrificing accessibility, they showcase musicians of the highest caliber, they’re dramatic and joyful and precisely arranged, and throughout, they maintain an unflinching groove. If you haven’t guessed by now, this is one of my all-time favorite groups. Before you go off and try to find any of Placebo’s albums, I should warn you that there’s a current group recording as Placebo, and while they appear to have a large and loyal following, and have been recording for the better part of ten years, if you pick up one of their albums looking for funky jazz, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

The Placebo I’m showcasing here only recorded three albums, from 1971 to 1974. Marc Moulin went on to record another fantastic jazz album under his own name in 1974, before completely switching gears in the late ’70s, forming the band Telex. Telex’s Kraftwerk-inspired sound garnered them some chart success, in particular with the track “Moskow Diskow” from their 1978 album Looking for Saint-Tropez. That song is an early synth-pop track which prefigures acts like New Order as well as the late-80s house and techno movements. I’ve got that one in my collection, so maybe I’ll play it on a future show.

More recently, Marc Moulin has been recording again under his own name, and in the past couple of years he’s released two albums of house-influenced jazz (or maybe it’s jazz-influenced house). Anyway, it’s reminiscent of St. Germain, and is a little slick for my taste, but I bet he’s doing well for himself licensing the tunes for European commercials.

0314vinylpodcast-Placebo.mp3

This entry was posted on Monday, March 14th, 2005 at 5:21 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.