Pepe Bradock
I’ve discovered Pepe Bradock a few years too late, which truth be told is how I usually discover most things. It was Panash, his 2004 collaboration with Jackson which I came across at the end of last year, that alerted me to his work. Bradock’s micro-celebrity precedes Jackson’s. The earliest release of his I can trace is the “Un Pepe En Or Vol.1” on kif records from 1997 ("Lara" off which is pretty straight noodling French House) Part of Bradock's charm is how few records he puts out, contrary to the typical knock-em-out factory production line attitude of most House producers servicing the dancefloor, he seems to relish taking his time on a record. Obviously there are arguments against this kind of approach but within its context it's refreshing.
From "Intrusion"
With the foundation of his own label Atavisme this studious technique has extended to the packaging and identity of the records. Bradock has extensively used the artist Numero Six to develop "concepts", worked out in a combination of sculpture, illustration and graphic design to counterpoint his spooky, lushly-textured, soft-edged deep house. Part of me finds Six's work (like Bradock, about whom I can discover nothing on the internet) faintly revolting. There's some element of it which reminds me of "Delicatessen" or Marc Caro's other famous film "La Cité des Enfants Perdus" the over-ripe camembert aesthetic of which I find difficult to bear. But, interestingly, it does connect strongly with the artwork of Progressive Rock.
From "6 Millions Pintades"
Immediately this has become the context within which I've been understanding Pepe's quite unabashed "Progressive" House. Obviously France has a rich tradition of Progressive synthesizer music. Currently rocking my socks is a Lard Free "April Orchestra" library record from 1976 (I understand their later work becomes more and more synth based- presumably as Gilbert Artman was deserted in his own group, lol). Other documents include Richard Pinhas's "Rhizosphere", Heldon's "Allez Teia" (yet to check this, but have it on good word) and the elegant electronic watercolors of Pascal Comelade circa "Detail Monochrome".
From "Burning/Deep Burnt"
One of the striking parallels between this largely abandoned backwater of music, passed over in favor of Krautrock, and Bradock's is the comfortable, unquestioning relationship it has with American Jazz. It's not just the use of similar tonalities and chord patterns, but also the occasional saxophones and in the case of what is often described as Bradock's high-point "Deep Burnt", a sample of Blue Note stalwart Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower". I guess this is something which is audible in French music from the 1950s to the present-day. While we in the UK connect more strongly to the Electric Blues and the Blues, in France (and there is some vestigial connection to my Beatnik-AvantYob theory here which states categorically no French people are AvantYobs, that needs working out) Modern Jazz is the sun.
From "The Forbidden Fruit EP
All of the Atavisme EPs are worth investigating, though Panash is perhaps the highlight and the perfect entree for those fans of the post-PIL "Death Disco" strain of Techno. I'm also grateful to Dave Stelfox for hipping me to the astonishing 'Brad Peep' remix of Iz and Diz's "Mouth" which as Dave correctly observed, out-hiccoughs Herbert and which you can hear a sample of at the Atavisme website.
From "Panash"-Imagery by Jackson/Bradock