Saturday, November 15, 2008

Le Le 'Flage' - new album on Magnetron Music

Le Le – pronounced Le French way.

Champagne – the province in the northeast of France best known for the drink that bears the region’s name – is the imaginary hometown of unique and quirky Amsterdam trio Le Le.

“In the mind we are all based in the region of champagne... It's all about making due with what's around us. There's a-holes and douchebaggery and fuckboy music and culture everywhere everyday, probably even in the Champagne area, but it's all about making it happen in the mind. It’s about mixing and matching.. Otherwise every day is another day.”



Le Le comprises of band members Serge Fabergé (lyrics/vocals), Pièt Parra (production / graphic design) and Rimer London (production / synthesizer obsession). The band formed two years ago after meeting in the quintessential bars of Amsterdam.

“We like to drink wine and look at pictures of Bridget Bardot and the first stuff we recorded was a bunch of French songs, so we naturally wanted a French name for the band. ‘Le’ is the most French word that everybody knows, so we went along with it: Le Le.

‘Flage’ is the debut artist album from the group who doesn’t let language confine them to a single genre; a creation of their own style of musical genius that portrays their ability to adapt and bend the rules of music as a whole. “Our collective genius doesn’t let us restrict ourselves… We make our own brand of magic called “Esperantology” - it’s a science within a musical galaxy. We write songs in English, Dutch, German and French. And that’s just so far.” The album has already entered in the Dutch national charts in the top 30.

Inspired by Disco, Nu Wave, Italo, Electro, House, Techno, Pop, cliché gangster rap, synthesizers and 60s Glamour magazines. Le Le is a unique force: Musically, vocally, their imagery (imagery and videos all designed by Pièt Parra) and their attitude: “ A lot of songs on ‘Flage’ were inspired by the rich attitude – people with a lot of gold on, sailing around on big boats; no taste but lots of money and ugly Versace shirts. We also all have a deep love of old, old Playboy magazines; they inspire us every day.

About Flage: From the opener ‘Flage’ – the introductory dramatic synth driven slow-jam, all about introducing Le Le. ‘Show Monaco’ – a full on disco-chopped up-tempo filter song about turning the dancefloor into a boatshow, Riviera style. ‘International Pants’ a song about pants in Dutch and English. ‘Sachen’ - a minimal German synth house stomper, with lyrics rooted in 80's materialism. ‘Captive (de ton chiffre)’ – a haunting French song about being obsessed with ones numbers. ‘Beautiful People’ - Get with the program and join the Beautiful People Club; lose weight and Jump like the Mario Brothers… ‘Breakfast’ – check the lyrics - nothing else needs to be said. ‘Kickstart Le Brommer’ - another disco chop, with a vocoder vocal acting also as bassline. ‘Jean Pierre Le Douche’ – a Scritti Politti homage, about French a-hole. ‘Human Garbage’ - Electro/Italo-jam about people basically being wasted - great for taking Drugs. ‘Ich Clack Dich’- Wavy/Electro tune about everything photography related, sung, of course, in German because that’s where the real photography is from. ‘Hard’ – a Dutch song about coming Hard and all things hard. ‘Drunk With Power’ – uncompromising Chicago track. ‘Grand Mechant Look’ - First Le Le song recorded, ever. Crazy garage-chop with French vocals about, food. And the finale – ‘La Bouche’ - a 90's carnival track.




Says Faberge on the multi-language lyrics: ”It depends on the music, some stuff is really French sounding or in need of a French theme. Or, we make a beat and add the synth and it will sound cooler and different - maybe German sounds - so we would add German lyrics. Then there is ‘Breakfast’ – talking about sex to a woman in English but using some crazy words that don’t make a lot of sense. It’s the way that the music communicates with me which decides which language to use.”

Serge Fabergé (real name Pepyn) not only the front man and vocalist of Le Le, is also the front man and vocalist of the Dutch rap-electro crew de Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig (Youth of Today) aka DJVT. Their first single ‘Watskeburt’ (Wathappened) went to number 1 in Holland and Belgium and stayed there for eight weeks – becoming the biggest selling record of 2005 in BENELUX (Belgium/ Netherlands / Luxembourg). They followed with album ‘Parels Voor De Zwijnen’ (Pearls For the Swines) – widely acclaimed as the best Dutch Hip-Hop album ever made, winning uncountable awards in the process (Dutch Emmy, MoBo and many more). Their second album De Machine ("The Machine") was released earlier in 2008 and the band have headlined many festivals including Lowlands and Pukklepop.

Rimer London is the magical producer of Le Le – playing every instrument imaginable. Rimer is also a well known music producer in the add world (Renault, Nissan, Lays, Nike), but he's best known in the underground as part of the Electro Duo ‘Comtron’. Their album ‘Follow The Money’ caused a storm in the electro world and was even picked up by Kraftwerk - who asked them to support them on several tour dates – as did Faithless and The Scissor Sisters.

Parra is a non-stop world on his own. He started out as pro-skateboarder in the late 80s/early 90s, but was forced to retire early due to injuries. Coming from a family of painters and poets, he has been drawing since an early age and soon took up graphic design. He has worked for every multinational company imaginable and designed shoes for Nike, Etnies and Alife, as well as more exciting projects yet to be disclosed. He also runs his own clothing-line; ‘Rockwell’. With Le Le, Parra masters the beats and alongside Rimer works in the studio to re-build / fuck-up to create a new track.

Le Le ‘s live performances are exclusive to ensure the band only perform at the best shows. Not to be missed, previous high-light gigs include festivals Lowlands and Pukklepop and venues including Paradiso and 11 in Amsterdam and Doorroosje in Nijmegen – with future performances scheduled for Paris fashion week (at club Regine on 28th September) and Culture Club in Ghent. On stage Rimer is the master of the music, Parra makes live drawings and communicates with the audience and Serge is the front-man who likes to rap, sing and sip the champagne.











Tracklisting: - Le Le - Flage (album CD/digital)
1. Flage
2. Show Monaco
3. International Pants
4. Sachen
5. Beautiful People
6. Breakfast
7. Kickstart Le Brommer
8. Jean Pierre Le Douche
9. Human Garbage
10. Ich Clack Dich
11. Hard
12. Drunk With Power
13. Le Grand Mechant Look
14. La Bouche

Youtube links to videos:

Breakfast http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=6X33jBLvC_E
Hard http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=RC-VQPQNZgo
Skinny Jeans http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=8UpwHM7pOIU
La Bouche http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=pI9ptz47N0U

The first single to be released from the album will be ‘Breakfast’ – released October 1st and including remixes from Staygold and Aardvarck.


Buy online from: iTunes, Juno, Beatport