Jean Jacques Perrey & David Chazam — Eclektronics

Eclektronics marks the return of electronic music pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey. The French composer, encouraged by his daughter, hooked up with David Chazam to record a demo LP that was originally released in 1997.

Perrey made a name for himself by using modern-day electronic instruments for easy listening music. Until then these techniques were used for abstract art music like Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and Pierre Henry made. Perrey was hooked up with the American Vanguard staff-arranger Gershon Kingsley. They used new instruments like the Ondioline, the Moog and extensive tapeslice techniques to make happy and uplifting music in the second half of the sixties. Two legendary albums were released on folklabel Vanguard: The In Sound From Way Out and Kaleidoscopic Vibrations. After those milestones in electronic music Perrey released two albums on his own (arranged by Andy Badale, now better known as Angelo Badalamenti). From the seventies on he kept a more low-profile career until 1997, composing background music for the French Montparnasse 2000 label (6 LP’s) and as music director for a small ballet.

In the nineties when sample-culture arose many dance- and hiphopproducers discovered the unearthly sounds of the 4 albums made by Perrey over 20 years earlier. Fatboy Slim remixed E.V.A. and samples popped up on albums by Gangstarr, House Of Pain, Dr. Octagon and Erick Sermon. Well-known is Perrey & Kingsley’s Baroque Hoedown, used in the Disney themeparks for the Electrical Parade since 1972.

With the demo LP Eclektronics French DJ and musician David Chazam and Perrey hoped to get a bigger recorddeal but that didn’t happen. The LP (on vinyl, yes) was made available for sale, but distribution was poor. Now the good folks at Basta Music re-released it with 5 additional tracks on CD. Four gratuitious loops are included as well!

Over 20 years later Perrey sounds as nutty and quirky as on his previous Vanguard albums. Jumpy loops of a plethora of funny (‘concrete’) sounds accompany happy tunes full of joyful samples and uplifting melodies. Chazam’s input gives the music a more contemporary appeal without getting too ‘dance’ or ‘hiphop’. Funny thing is, behind the facade of overtly happy music, Perrey’s message is rather heavy: He warns us for giving computers too much responsibility, they could eventually outsmart us and subsequently cast us into obliteration! O well, I’m off jumping around the house like Teletubby until then!