Release Date: September 6th, 2011
Named after the working-class revolutionaries of the French Revolution, and born 200 years after said revolution ended, this NYC septet have released their seventh full-length record, featuring 16 slices of passionate French indie pop.
But to call it that is really a misnomer. ‘Pataphysical Graffiti is a collection of rock tunes that borrows the language and instrumentation of the genre but removes the “twee” and “preciousness” that one might expect to hear from a group that does “French indie pop.”
One need not look further than the title of record for the best evidence that this is really a rock record.
‘Pataphysical Graffiti was inspired by the idea of an imaginary meeting of the Led Zeppelin double album Physical Graffiti and the French writer Alfred Jarry’s “science” of ‘pataphysics, which is almost as difficult to explain as the origin of the band’s name (apparently, the French aristocracy pre-Revolution wore fancy knee breech pants called culottes, and the working-class revolutionaries refused to wear that kind of pants).
‘Pataphysics (the apostrophe preceding the word was mandated by Jarry, to underscore the pun potential in his native French) has been influential in philosophy, art, literature and music, most significantly in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Marcel Duchamp, Rube Goldberg, Jean Genet, Eugene Ionesco, Pablo Lopez (who coined the term ‘pataphor), John Cage, The Beatles, Soft Machine, Acid Mothers Temple, and most recently when LA-based noise-pop group Autolux included a track on their excellent 2010 release Transit Transit entitled “The Science Of Imaginary Solutions.”
Alright, so the conceit behind ‘Pataphysical Graffiti is pretty heady stuff. The good news is that one need know none of these haughty intellectual details to derive plenty of listening pleasure from this collection of rock songs, which are at some turns rollicking and other turns meditative, without slowing down the pace.
There’s the obligatory Serge Gainsbourg-informed ’60s keyboard bed and the jokey (but unforced) can-can flourishes, but what’s surprising about ‘Pataphysical Graffiti, and perhaps how it aligns with the “heavy metal” approach of Led Zeppelin, is how much this rock music really does rock. With driving drum beats, guitar riffs that alternate between crunchy and pulsing, and a gifted sense of melody, the ensemble confidently assays through this double album’s worth of material, and it’s also impressive what a streamlined sound the seven-piece group with the funny faux French names produces.
There’s no question that some of the aforementioned philosophical depth is matched in the lyrics of Les Sans Culottes, but given that it’s all sung in French, listeners who are not fluent won’t find the words a stumbling block and they can just sit back and enjoy the music.
Literalists with web access have the option of going to their website for English translations (especially helpful for those whose best guess as to the meaning of the band name is “Those Without Pants”), but the songs do stand on their own without having to know what the words mean.
Given that the group’s moniker was inspired by the working class revolutionaries that fought against the French aristocracy, it also comes as no surprise that terms like “bourgeoisie” and “vive la difference” do stick out, and their critiques include sunbathing, love, consumerism¸ etc. But “Bicycle Day” functions as a love letter to the bicycle, one of Jarry’s favorite pastimes and a form of transportation that was instrumental in early psychedelic experiments by Sandoz and has come to be a focal point in psychedelic music as well. To wit: “A superfantastic day/Reality is a little elastic/The dream is the reality/Bicycle day all year long.”
But aside from that Tour De France and the indictment of rampant consumerism and pop culture consumption on “The Biz,” it’s a pleasant surprise that French is not only a language of love that seems to ooze sensuality, but that’s a meme that’s repeated throughout and undergirds many of the songs. So after the record’s through, a listener who feels all tingly inside is not just suffering from an overactive imagination, even if they’re not fluent in French.
Les Sans Culottes – Pataphysical Graffiti tracklist:
- “Où Est Où Est?”
- “Sur La Plage”
- “Jour Du Vélo”
- “Comme L’Amour”
- “Oiseau Chaud”
- “Le Biz”
- “Hypermarché”
- “Gangsteur D’Amour”
- “Hypocrite Lecteur”
- “New York, USA”
- “Triple Crème”
- “If You See Something, Say Something”
- “Sartre et L’Homard”
- “Chaussures D’Ascenseur”
- “Le Chemin”
- “Magic Baguette”
