This week the music is about holiday. When I began, I started with Saint-Tropez by Klara Kristin and I began dreaming of Saint-Tropez, so that’s where the music lies. There’s a lot of Italian, some UK, Swedish, Brazilian, US and one or two from Algeria. One of my favorite memories from holiday last year is watching The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez in a hotel in Paris without subtitles — the color, the fullness and the novelty stays with me. All of the music is somewhere between technicolor and a beach.
We start with aforementioned Klara Kristin, whose album Lullaby & Drum Machine re-imagines French songs from the 60s and 70s as a “style study.” Side one is acoustic lullabies, while side two is 70s retro drum machine sounds. Hence, the name. Les Chats Sauvages is one of the French rock bands of the 60s; they were a first to play rock and roll in France. The album is rollicking, somewhere between surf rock and Roy Orbison with rolling drums and smooth, Elvis-like vocals. We move from France to Italy with Ornella Vanoni, one of the longest standing Italian vocalists of our time. Caldo is a mid-century record — somewhere in between lounge of the 50s and folk of the 70s. The vocals float above simple keyboard and Spanish guitar, acting equally as an instrument with range and diversity. We can’t talk about vocals without talking about Los Bitchos, whose album has no vocals at all. However, you wouldn’t know it. The slack is picked up by synth and guitar to build a melody just as rich and compelling. We end in Dallas with Triste Janero, though you’d never know they were a Texas-based trio by listening. If you’re starting a road trip anytime soon, make sure you’ve got this album queued.
Enjoy.
The playlist is here.
Monday
Lullaby and Drum Machine - Klara Kristin (2020)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
Est-ce que tu le sais? (avec Dick Rivers) - Les Chats Sauvages (1961)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
Caldo - Ornella Vanoni (1965)
Spotify / Apple Music / Other streaming services
Thursday
Let The Festivities Begin - Los Bitchos (2022)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Meet Triste Janero - Triste Janero (1969)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with:
“Extremely French” carrot salad. I’ve talked about Rebekah Peppler before, but she really is one of the best recipe developers out there. Her book, A Table, is so good and I use something out of it for nearly every dinner party.
Paprika chicken. Easy chicken! The recipe is Hungarian, but someone decided to start serving it at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo and, voila, here I am sharing it with you today.
Populis macerated Chardonnay. Keep reading even if you don’t like Chardonnay! This is one of my favorite skin contact wines and it’s typically cheap (for a natty wine) and so, so good. It’s mostly Chard, but they blend with a few other grapes to round out the flavor and lighten the body. Very stone fruit, baby!
The Gendarme films. As far as I can tell, you can’t stream these in the US and the only way to watch is to get the six movie DVD set. I never thought I’d say “DVD set” again, but this is worth it. It’s a French technicolor dream of hi-jinks!
The sun rose
a pink scar
on the sky
- Adam Zagajewski
Thank you, have a great weekend.