The French artist Losange  (Benoît Baudrin), who was booked at the Transmusicales de Rennes in 2018, will release an album called “Soul Chopper” the 28th of june 2019 on the Johnkôôl label, a record that he qualifies as light and pop, dancing, fun. Meanwhile I offered him to make a mix for 716lavie and he eventually came up with this idea of doing a selection of classical music : a brilliant idea, I’m trying to push more classical music on 716lavie.com but it’s hard to approach classic music artists, they are always afraid to appear on a website like 716lavie that features so many other musical genres. So far there is just one playlist on 716lavie that is fully dedicated to classical music and it’s this one, published under my name dj7, but made by my parents. Anyway this new one by Losange is excellent, enjoy listening to classical music through a cool podcast.

“À la base, je n’écoutais pas de classique. J’adorais le rock, la musique pop. Plus tard j’ai découvert la musique électronique, pour en arriver à écouter Wendy Carlos qui est considéré comme une précurseuse. Elle est une des premières à utiliser des synthétiseurs. Son album le plus connu “Switched on Bach” est une réinterprétation de morceaux de Bach à partir d’un synthétiseur modulaire Moog. Aimant ce genre de sonorité, la pilule pouvait mieux passer. Et je me rappelle que le déclic s’est produit lorsque j’ai écouté le morceau “Jesu, Joy of Man’s desiring”. Un sentiment bizarre, un peu de Noël avec de la neige et cette mélodie si longue qui se répète parfaitement. Je devenais alors obsédé par ce disque, qui joua le rôle de pierre de rosette pour m’ouvrir les portes du classique, et me donna la voie de ce que je voulais faire en musique. Ce que j’aime dans la musique classique, ce sont les structures harmoniques et les développements, des sonorités naturelles et non compressé, et le fait que cela soit instrumental. J’ai voulu vous faire une petite sélection de morceaux de certains de mes compositeurs favoris, en commençant par Bach interprété par Wendy Carlos, puis en allant de façon chronologique du baroque au classique, les périodes qui me plaisent le plus.”

Losange, 02/2019

1. Wendy Carlos – J.S Bach – Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring
2. Vivaldi – Concerto for Oboe in C major RV 449-op.8 no.12 – III. Allegro
3. Telemann – Concerto pour flûte à bec, flûte traversière, cordes et basse continue – Largo
4. Haydn – Symphony #22 In E Flat, H 1_22 – The Philosopher – Adagio
5. Mozart – Symphony #7 In D, K 45 – Allegro
6. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Symphonies – Symphony for 2 Oboes, 2 Horns in E flat Major

When I published the 716 Mix of Lord Guardado , I got introduced to Daniel Nielles. I found Lord Guardado through the amazing compilation “La Llama De Prometeo”, dedicated to the New Age Folk Spanish movement 1989-1999, that was released on his label Discómanos. Actually Discomanos is co-ran by Guardado and Daniel Nielles and Daniel did the selection of tracks.

Daniel is a record collector, a selector and a music curator. He runs the cool youtube channel Tuharrdosons Beta VMusic, he sells records on discogs under the alias Tuharrdosons. The Left Ear record label asked him in 2018  to do an edit from the 1985/86 unique tape by the Spanish band Respuesta Alternativa in order to release them on vinyl under the name “Grata Compañía“. Unfortunately the label didn’t pick up all the tracks of this masterpiece.

I started to talk with Daniel about a mix he could do for 716. He told me : “Great, I did few years ago a Spanish disco selection for an Italian magazine I have the second part in mind, maybe it could be a great moment to release it.” In this volume 2 called “Cerrando la Discoteca”, you’ll hear some disco, funk/soul, rock, pop, and some subtle electronic rumba jazz, rumba funk and flamenco fusion. Great vibes are guaranteed all along the listening.

“This selection of songs aroused new emotions to the youth protagonist of the spirit of the Discoteca. These songs together serve us as a host to feel and imagine a memory of that disappeared scenario. Over there, I tried to capture a melancholy tone in this mix, at the same time rich in rhythmic nuances and sound arrangements.” Daniel Nielles, february 2019