This morning you’re woken up by a weird smell, like something slightly burnt, that tickles the edge of your nostrils. Maybe, like Michael Scott from The Office, you’ve put a mini-grill next to your bed to wake up to the smell of grilled bacon (watch your foot when you get up, then!)? But no, that’s not it… You sit up in bed, slowly open your eyes and it seems as if the room is surrounded by a fog of smoke. You pivot to get your legs out of bed and suddenly feel the heat tickle the soles of your feet. You look down and suddenly it’s clear: watch out the carpet’s on fire!
“Watch out the carpet’s on fire”, yes, that’s what the name of the band we’re welcoming this Sunday morning means in French. This somewhat zany name reflects the music of the duo Carla et Martin, which moves between electronic pop toy psyche and shoegaze sounds. But beyond the strangeness and amusement of the first listens, we discover, particularly in their most recent album Boom Boom Duplicata, a sound with soaring electronic textures and lyrics full of metaphors that draw a colorful and gently melancholic universe. Isn’t the present world strange, after all?
Attention Le Tapis Prend Feu’s selection
Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water
Carla: ” Je connaissais Black Country New Road (j’adore la folk, neofolk etc.) et en diguant un peu je suis tombée sur le groupe Jockstrap dont fait partie Georgia Ellery. J’ai écouté le premier titre en suggestion sur Spotify et je me suis dis “waw si mon cerveau pouvait faire un son ce serait la dernière minute de cette track aha”.
I knew about Black Country New Road (I love folk, neofolk etc.) and as I was digging a bit I came across the band Jockstrap, of which Georgia Ellery is a member. I listened to the first track as a suggestion on Spotify and thought ‘wow if my brain could make a sound it would be the last minute of this track aha’.”
PNL - Déconnecté
Martin: ” Meilleur son de PNL de mon humble point de vue, la petite GTR en fond pendant tout le morceau défonce, tout les effets de voix (et le texte bien sûr) sont incroyables, on dirait qu’il faut que chaque fin de phrase soit forcément différente de celle d’avant, j’adore ce genre de concept. (Y’a même un p’tit kick gabber à un moment c’est fou). Et le sorte de solo de voix autotuné/gtr un peu faux de NOS à la fin est légendaire.
Best PNL sound from my humble point of view, the little GTR in the background throughout the track kicks ass, all the vocal effects (and the lyrics of course) are incredible, it seems like every end of a sentence has to be different from the one before, I love that kind of concept (there’s even a little gabber kick at one point, it’s crazy). And the sort of autotuned/gtr voice solo from NOS at the end is legendary. “
Kiss Facility - Blackstone
Martin: ” Je suis tombé sur ce groupe en scrollant sur le insta de Sega Bodega, un dimanche après-midi vide je pense, c’est un duo qu’il forme avec Mayah Alkhateri. J’ai pris un peu de temps avant de rentrer dedans et après j’ai écouté en boucle pendant une semaine. La façon dont iel mélange le Shoegaze avec des éléments électroniques est giga bien vu et la façon de chanter de Mayah Alkhateri amène un truc différent qui m’a bien marqué.
I came across this band while scrolling through Sega Bodega’s insta one Sunday afternoon, which I believe was an afternoon without anything to do, and it’s a duo that they form with Mayah Alkhateri. It took me a while to get into it and then I listened to it over and over for a week. The way they mix shoegaze with electronic elements is really well done and Mayah Alkhateri’s way of singing brings out something different that really struck me. “
MailTape’s selection
Attention Le Tapis Prend Feu - Yumi
Jules: ” Taken from their latest album Boom Boom Duplicata, just released on 7 December on the Brussels label Musique Muscle and the non-profit label Illogique Musique, I fell in love with this track and its dreamy emoteenage style, which has a more intimate and organic feel than the band’s previous EPs and tracks without losing any of its sparkle. For the nostalgic connoisseurs, this track is a reference to Yumi, the heroine of the French anime series Code Lyoko. “
Hanaa Ouassim - LANADELREY
Jules: ” Although circumspect at first, I came to appreciate the auto-tune and other vocal effects, not just for the fun of it but also for all the new things it opens up, particularly when the musicians come to use their voices as instruments alongside the others, sometimes replacing synth notes with long stretches of altered vocals. I discovered Hanaa Ouassim with her album LA VIE DE STAR, released earlier this year on Pan European Recordings, and was immediately swept away by this mix of sounds, blending clubbing, R&B and raï influences, bringing together Moroccan Darija and auto-tune. Freedom, that’s what life as a star is all about. “
WORLD BRAIN - I hope this message finds you well
Jules: ” Another very recent release from an artist we know well, having already welcomed him for MailTape 435. Taken from his album Open Source released in November, the title of this track will evoke for all those with a boring office job, like me, the ordinary magic formula that we mechanically place at the beginning of an email. But how about taking that expression seriously for once and really making that wish for others? Whatever the case, WORLD BRAIN can only wish us all well with this mellow track. “
Lucas Andrea - L’imaginaire
Jules: ” It’s another artist from the French underground pop label La Souterraine who continues to explore the repertoire of Jean-Luc Le Ténia, this eccentric and prolific singer-songwriter, pioneer of anti-folk in France and unfortunately still relatively undiscovered. On this track taken from his album Une peau d’Apocalypso released last November, Lucas Andrea revives the singer’s poetry, exuberance and imagination in a melancholy ballad. ”
That’s it for this morning, thank you for joining us! Many thanks to Noémie Dijon for her stunning and colorful illustration, very much in the duo’s image. Much love to Carla and Martin from Attention Le Tapis Prend Feu for their trippy and intimate selection, in the hope that it will inspire you to get out of bed, without necessarily setting fire to the carpet.
