Conversations, hesitations in my mind

I started working at a community center again working with francophone high school kids. I saw a kid who was pretty much me at 16 except with pierced ears. He even goes to my highschool. Brought back some memories... Theme for today is francophone nostalgia. Québec is an odd place. It's my nation, it's my history, it's who I am in a lot of ways but most of the time I feel alienated from it. One thing that bugs me is Québec being really late on a lot of art and fashion but also being way ahead of the game without knowing about it. Things have been changing recently with the whole electrorap scene but jesus christ. Young people's cd players in Québec (and the chunks of french-canada that still speak french) have been dominated by either anglo classic rock or franco artists from the early 90s. This shit has bugged me so much. Now I like these artists to but I hate lethargy, we gotta move forward! Anyways this post is about that.

First up LES COLOCS. Led by now the late André "Dédé" Fortin. One of my best friends in high school was also nicknamed Dédé. This group kind of had straight forward ska/Québec folk influenced music but they were really the best at it. Dédé also directed all the videos which I think makes him the best music vidéo director to come out of Canada. Looking back that kid was really fucking talented and it's a bummer that he killed himself. Apparently the narrow defeat of the yes side in the 1995 referendum really fucked him up. If ever we get a country this guy should be on the fucking money. Doublepack of JULIE (great stop motion animation) and TASSEZ VOUS DE D'LÀ (which makes me think of another high school friend who nearly died from drug abuse. the video is 100% rue st. catherine). Tonight I'm drinking one for Dédé, R.I.P.





Next up is Jean Leloup. I think it's like the law to like him if you're French. Which pisses me off because I like him. It's like a black man who's a university professor and works for the NAACP but just can't get enough watermelon and koolaid. Kid is like a French Beck though. Really original and totally out there. His videos are also reaaaaaally good. I leave you with ISABELLE and 1990. Isabelle was a song my friend Simon used to butcher every single thursday on karaoke and I loved him for it. The video is like a mini movie which is cool. 1990's lyrics really underline the vibe the western world had in 1990, optimism and the dawning of a new world. I think we are seeing the darkside of this "revolution". What he says about technology still applies today. ENJOY!





If you're French this post was fucking obvious. So for you I leave you with my song of the week! It's the kind of track that makes me want to get motherfucking rich and famous. Sorry for the lack of video.