Sebastien Tellier: L'Amour Et La Violence / Fingers of Steel
Sebastien Tellier, the unique voice of modern French electronic-edged pop, and the undisputed coolest man in music returns with the final single from his acclaimed album ‘Sexuality’. A split release showcasing outstanding re-workings of Tellier’s originals by two of today’s hottest and most talented artist/producers Floating Points and Penguin Prison.
23 yr old Sam Shepherd, aka Floating Points, a neuroscientist by day, continues to stretch sound in his unique post-dubstep modern classical style. Already acclaimed by cutting edge DJ’s from Radio 1,1Xtra and Rinse FM his recent releases via the Eglo, Planet Mu and R2 labels have all been essential purchases. For his, a quite breathtaking and beautiful, mix of ‘L’amour Et La Violence’ Floating Points fuses waves of analogue synths, simmering sub bass and Tellier’s intimate vocals for the ultimate textural cocktail of a dance music experience. It is very special indeed and adds further to the growing acclaim for his work.
In it’s original form, ‘L’Amour Et La Violence’, is perhaps the simplest song on the album, it’s solo piano only containing a smouldering splash of electronic augmentation, while Tellier’s voice is at its most honest and vulnerable; ‘Tell me what you think, about my life, about my childhood, I like love and violence too’. It has been widely described as Sebastien’s true follow up to his seminal release ‘La Ritournelle’. The video for the original has been shot and directed by Roman Coppola, ‘at home with Sebastien’, to set-off the album’s most sensitive mood-setting classic.
Native New Yorker Chris Glover, aka Penguin Prison, has recently delivered a sterling remix of Golden Silvers’ ‘True Romance’ and his sublimely effortless disco-fication of Marina & the Diamonds’ ‘I Am Not a Robot’, together with his own Penguin Prison material, is currently sustaining excitement in that frequently fickle world of A&R. Further reason why can be heard in his complete reworking of Tellier’s neo-romantic Kubrickian fantasy ‘Fingers Of Steel’. Assimilating a perfect brew of down-town funk hybrids his unique re-imagining features Penguin Prison himself on lead vocals, crooning a blue-eyed cover, whilst Tellier steps up solely to sing his own BV’s on the chorus. It’s a swirl of space-funk with added pop appeal, a Talking Heads-Tom Tom Club mélange of the highest funk factor.
All in all, we think you’d be hard pushed to point to a more impressive pair of remixes released throughout this year and that’s the beauty of Sebastien Tellier – on top of his game whether it’s his own work or other artist’s interpretations.
