All right, all right! Obviously, resistance is futile: I have been tapped — twice! — in the Music in My Kitchen game that’s been going around our little world of food blogs. I usually try to keep things more or less focused on the edible around here, but since my kitchen is a “cuisine à l’américaine” that opens onto the living-room where the hi-fi gear is, musical ambiance is an important aspect of my cooking life. So here goes.
What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
I have very few files directly on my iBook: most of my music lives on the mp3 server that Maxence has set up, from which our stereo reads via a cool wi-fi device. Um, wait: is this getting too geeky for the general public?
The CD you last bought?
Nolita, Keren Ann‘s latest album. The next one I will buy (I know you didn’t ask, but whose blog is this?) is likely to be Coralie Clément’s new album Bye Bye Beauté: it comes out on Monday and I’m going to her concert on Thursday night, so I’m going to have to act fast!
What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
Over breakfast this morning, I had a sudden craving for Arte, a song by the Spanish group Nosoträsh (on the album Popemas). We discovered Nosoträsh a few summers ago, as our friends Nathalie and Damon were visiting from San Francisco. Nathalie, who works in the music industry and therefore has very sharp tastes, knew about this group and about the mini-concert they were giving that night on a péniche called Le Batofar, a bar/disco barge on the Seine. So we all went, and we spent the evening drinking mojitos and listening to the Spanish girls sing. A soft, slightly melancholy (although of course I speak no Spanish and have no idea what the lyrics say), beautiful song.
Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
1. Cosmic bird by Air and Jean-Jacques Perrey (on the album SourceLab, Vol.3: Cream of French Underground)
This is my magic good mood song — I challenge anyone to listen to it and not have their heart lift in their chest and start dancing. This was the very first tune I played on my iPod, and it will most definitely be on my playlist when mobile clubbing finally comes to Paris!
2. Ripplin’ waters by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (on the album Dream)
To fully experience the sheer beauty of this song, it must be sung at the top of your lungs with your father and sister, in a car with all the windows rolled down, on a summer vacation in the moutains.
3. 25 ans by Superflu (on the album Et puis après on verra bien)
This is a song I mentioned before, a song about being 25, sung by one of my very favorite French groups — who I’m happy to say are currently recording their third album! And they’ve setup a blog to tell us about it! See, I told you they were the coolest!
4. Dream a little dream of me by The Mamas & The Papas (on the album ‘Papas & ‘Mamas)
This song was on a home-recorded tape (yes, “tape” as in “audio tape”) left in the stereo of the car that Maxence drove in the US, a car he borrowed from his stepmother. Since this was the only tape we had, we listened to it over and over and over again (until we installed a CD player in that car), so it forever remains the original soundtrack of the first few months of our life there. Thankfully it was nothing but fabulous songs!
5. Un Après-Midi à Paris by Philippe Katerine (on the album L’Education Anglaise)
A real candy of a song, super joyful and sweet, about an afternoon in Paris. I adore the whole of this album: Philippe Katerine wrote all the songs, but it is his sister Bruno (a very strange name for a girl) and his girlfriend Anne who do the singing — brilliantly I might add.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
I’m hoping I’m not double-tapping anyone, but I would like to pass this to Debbie from Words to Eat By, La Coquette from La Coquette, and Jason from NYC à Paris — not all of them food bloggers, but all of them foodies at heart!
