Re: very little news from France

Mark Turner (mturner@netcom.com)
Mon, 16 Jun 1997 14:33:48 -0700 (PDT)


Jim Westrich asks:

> I also have another question not about the TV themes, who is this Pierre
> Henry? I love the Pierre Henry "Psyche Rock" (Fatboy Slim Remix) [good
> groove, bells, the occasional mariachi, how could you not love it].

Pierre Henry is one of the founding fathers of "musique concrete,"
which is basically any type of music that uses natural sounds as
part of the composition. Musique concrete started with the advent
of the tape recorder and was quite popular in academic circles in
the 1960's. During this time Pierre Henry collaborated with
Michel Columbier on a piece called "Messe pour le Temps Present,"
or "Mass for Today." This piece incorporated rock elements along
with tape and electronic sounds, and was the basis for a ballet.
This composition includes the track "Psyche Rock."

"Messe..." was recently the subject of a remix project by several
prominent members of the underground dance scene: Mighty Bop,
Coldcut, Tek 9, Chateau Flight, William Orbit, etc. There were
a half-dozen limited-edition 12"s on Philips France and I hear
there is a CD version but I have yet to see one. AFAIK, there
was no Fatboy Slim remix. You might be getting confused with
the Fatboy Slim remix of "E.V.A." by Jean Jacques Perrey, another
pioneering electronic musician. This track was used for a
Lucozade (sp?) commercial recently in the UK.

-- 
 Mark Turner
 mturner@netcom.com