Foretaste 'Beautiful Creatures' album

Can a synthetic melody inspire passion? Music in the new millennium continues to facilitate how we create and interpret beauty. Throughout history, beauty has always been considered a “natural” phenomenon. Synthetic or man-made objects were rarely considered lovely. The most gorgeous paintings have been those which displayed the natural form (flowers, women, water, etc.). As music and art evolves, the synthetic feelings of these contemporary times force people to see or hear the beauty in the unnatural. While the female body’s beautiful mistakes were once painted on a canvas, the synthetic, “perfect” female bodies in today’s magazines are not true representations of the real people. As humans, let us embrace the beauty of the synthetic world, but let us not neglect the magnificence of our natural life.

Electronic music is one dynamic example of how splendor can be created via unnatural methods. From Kraftwerk & New Order to Trisomie 21 & Momus, electronic music has evolved in magnificently diverse ways. The electronic music of 1006 is clever, quirky, emotional, atmospheric, romantic, experimental, and danceable. The emotional spectrum can be felt between each beat created by the drum machine and melody made by the keyboard. Momus took a baroque style of music and fused it with quirky electronic pop. Happy Mondays fused indie-rock guitars with house and disco rhythms. The hard rock of Nine Inch Nails has always possessed a thick electronic foundation. Jazz musician, Herbie Hancock has created complete jazz instrumentals using only electronic instruments. Hip-hop music takes samples of yesterday’s synthetic music and creates a new work of art. Hip-hop producers like Swizz Beats, Just Blaze, Manny Fresh, and J Dilla utilize various keyboards along with their turntables. The art of the remix helps crosses all genres and moves the growth of electronic instrumentation even further.

Synthetic or acoustic, emotion decides the truth within the beauty of music. In the past, the sound of the acoustic guitar has always been considered timeless while keyboard-driven music often became quickly dated. The new millennium marks a new era in synthetic music. Now, electronic music has the power to be emotional, timeless, and classic. Dark electronic artists like Trisomie 21, Joy Division, Psychic T.V., Ministry, Throbbing Gristle, Depeche Mode, and Meat Beat Manifesto utilized electronic instruments to create their passion-filled music. Although these classic groups still exist today, they have given birth new generation of artists.

BOREDOMproduct is a French label that specializes in releasing electronic music. Founded by members of Celluloide, BOREDOMproduct has released albums which possess beauty created by synthesizers and the romantic charm inspired by France. Other signed artists include Foretaste, Thee Hyphen, and Dekad.

Signed to BOREDOMproduct, Foretaste is a group that creates beauty from synthetic instruments. Consisting of Creature XY (Pierre) and Creature XX (Sylvie), this male-female duo released their debut album, “Beautiful Creatures”. The splendor of the modern, man-made world is evident in the title track. Sylvie sings, “…I’m real for you, just for you…” Other dazzling tracks include, “That Smiling Man”, “Everything Is Red Today, “Re-Love”, and “You’re Trying Hard To Look Human”. Foretaste’s electronic music is sexy, clever, and artistic underneath the danceable sound.

Music is a reflection of human life. Our hearts beat to a rhythm as the music we create depends on a rhythm too. The natural world and the synthetic world have become fused together. Through the power and emotion of music, humans can move through life with magnificent style and boundless passion. Walking to a natural or artificial rhythm, we are all beautiful creatures.

TODD E. JONES: “What goes on?”
SYLVIE: “Everything is ok. We have a lot of very good reviews and we are both working hard on a few tracks.”
PIERRE: “We are trying to prepare our gigs, but it takes a very long time because we are working on new machines.”

TODD E. JONES: “Tell us about this new album called ‘Beautiful Creatures’.”
SYLVIE: “Well, this is our first album and we hope that people will love it. We didn't try to tell a story, but just to make music for every day. Sometimes you're sad, sometimes you're happy. We are normal people with joy, pain and strange feelings.”
PIERRE: “The most important is that we didn't try to sound like others. That's maybe why it sounds different. We do like this image of cold people making some very romantic music.”

TODD E. JONES: “What is the meaning behind the title, ‘Beautiful Creatures’?”
SYLVIE: “We wanted to speak about people who try to sell products by using models and actresses. Those beautiful creatures are asking you think, ‘Buy me, buy me, buy me’."

TODD E. JONES: “You describe ‘Beautiful Creatures’ as an LP ‘…about passion, sadness, forgiveness, passion, crime, lust...’ Please tell us more about this description.”
PIERRE: “I think that all bands talk about that. But, we tried to do it with our touch.”

TODD E. JONES: “Do you have a favorite song on the ‘Beautiful Creatures’ LP?”
PIERRE: “It's probably ‘Killing Disco Machine’.”
SYLVIE: “It changes everyday, but maybe ‘Victim's Heart’."

TODD E. JONES: “Since ‘Beautiful Creatures’ is your debut LP, what kind of emotions did you have while recording the album?”
PIERRE: “We wanted to do electronic music with human feelings. We worked hard on finding good melodies.”

TODD E. JONES: “What song took you the longest to do? Why?”
PIERRE: “‘That Smiling Man’ was very easy to write, but I don't know why. It took a very, very long time to get the version for the album.”
SYLVIE: “Yes, we made a lot of versions of this track. Maybe, around 30!”

TODD E. JONES: “The shortest? Why?”
PIERRE: “If I do remember well, ‘Everything Is Red Today’ was written, recorded, and produced in a few hours.”
SYLVIE: “It's hard to explain why. Sometimes, your mind is opened and it's time to write good songs.”

TODD E. JONES: “Besides the obvious connotations to chromosomes, is there a deeper meaning the names, Creature XX and Creature XY?”
PIERRE: “That was just for fun. We were looking for strange pseudos. We hope that most of people will understand. That was never meant to be serious.”

TODD E. JONES: “How did XX and XY meet and eventually form the group, Foretaste?”
SYLVIE: “We both met on the Internet in 2003, after the first singer of Foretaste had left. We started to work together. We realized, a few months later, that we wrote about 20 tracks.”

TODD E. JONES: “Does the name Foretaste have a special meaning?”
PIERRE: “No, Foretaste has no a special meaning to us. It just sounds good when you say it.”

TODD E. JONES: “Favorite electronic instrument?”
PIERRE: “I can only play keyboards. So, your question is hard for me! But, I used to say that the vocoder is the most romantic instrument.”

TODD E. JONES: “Most songs are created by only you two. Do you enjoy working with other musicians?”
SYLVIE: “Why not in the future? But for the first album, we tried to tell what we had to tell. I don't know if we will have the chance to have good collaborations. We are open-minded.”

TODD E. JONES: “Why do you use mainly electronic instruments?”
SYLVIE: “Because they are very simple to use. By pressing the ‘Play’ button, you can make people dance all night!”

TODD E. JONES: “How do you think electronic music has evolved throughout the years?”
SYLVIE: “It's now very easy to make a self product at home, but it doesn't mean that you're a talented artist.”
PIERRE: “I agree. You can use thousands of software but, if you're not inspired, you won't make a hit.”

TODD E. JONES: “When creating songs, do you go into the studio with pre-written lyrics and themes, or do you create the music first? What is the creative process like?”
PIERRE: “We use to write the music before. Then, we try many vocal lines.”
SYLVIE: “We try a lot of things before recording the song. Sometimes, when vocals are recorded, we change all the music and create new melodies.”

TODD E. JONES: “Foretaste is signed to the BOREDOMproduct label. How did you get involved with them? How are they different from other labels?”
PIERRE: “BOREDOMproduct only signs French bands who make pure synth-pop music. I don't know if they are different from other indie labels, but they helped us and supported us a lot.”
SYLVIE: “We were both fans of Celluloide before signing with BOREDOMproduct. We do like their vision for electronic French acts. We wanted the same thing, a very good album!”

TODD E. JONES: “Musically, who are you major influences?”
SYLVIE: “We listen to many kinds of music. Our inspirations are Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Front 242, Client, Goldfrapp, Ladytron, Celluloide, Muse, Propaganda, Angelo Badalamenti, Air, Indochine, David Bowie, and Manson, for example.”

TODD E. JONES: “What was it like growing up in France? What kind of kids were you?”
PIERRE: “Normal guy with a normal life.”
SYLVIE: “Normal girl, until I met Pierre.”

TODD E. JONES: “What is your favorite part of your live show?”
PIERRE: “The moment we are coming on stage.”

TODD E. JONES: “How has your live show evolved?”
PIERRE: “We only played about five or six concerts in France in 2005 and one concert for a Synth-pop festival in Belgium. We used to play different versions of our songs. We always liked to make our gigs more danceable than the album.”

TODD E. JONES: “Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?”
SYLVIE: “Martin Gore didn't answer for the moment.”
PIERRE: “Maybe, an Italian band called Babylonia. I really like their first album.”

TODD E. JONES: “What has been in your CD player or on your turntable recently?”
PIERRE: “Elvis ‘Best of’.”
SYLVIE: “Devision ‘6 Feet Underground’.”

TODD E. JONES: “Out of all of songs, which ones do you love the most? Why?”
PIERRE: “Hard question, but I would say ‘The Damned Don't Cry’ by Visage. I do like the Arpeggiator on that song.”
SYLVIE: “Hard question too. Maybe, ‘Ice Machine’ by Depeche Mode because it's one of their darkest songs.”

TODD E. JONES: “Can you explain the song ‘You’re Trying Hard To Look Human’? That is one of my favorites.”
PIERRE: “At the beginning, it was just a very short track. We wanted to use a sentence from the track ‘Beautiful Creatures’, when the creature in TV says, ‘I'm real for you, just for you’.”
SYLVIE: “It starts with a slow Rhodes theme. It sounds human and different because we didn't used to play that kind of instrument. But at the end of the song, electronic instruments are more present and win the fight.”

TODD E. JONES: “You covered ‘King’s Cross’ for The Pet Shop Boys tribute album (on Synthphony Records). Why did you choose this song?”
PIERRE: “Believe me or not, we recorded this song the same day of the terrorist attack against the Subway station King's Cross in London.”
SYLVIE: “We love this song but, we wanted to make a dancing track. So, we changed the tempo.”

TODD E. JONES: "Where were you on Sept. 11th (The World Trade Center Terrorist Attack)? How did you deal with it? How do you think it has affected music? What was Europe’s reaction?"
PIERRE: “I will never forget this day. I was in my office in Paris with some colleagues. We watched TV during the 5 or 6 hours non stop. Everybody stopped work. But, I don't think that it changed anything in music.”
SYLVIE: “I remember when I saw the second plane hits the tower. Then, I said, ‘This is the beginning of the end’.”

TODD E. JONES: “Can you explain the song ‘Re-Love’? That is another one of my favorites.”
PIERRE: “That song is very simple. We wrote it in a very short time. The first album of Miss Kitten inspired us a lot for that one.”
SYLVIE: “We wanted to try something else with my voice. I wanted to speak during the whole song but Pierre told me, ‘You're not Anne Clark you must sing the chorus line!’”

TODD E. JONES: “Word association time. When I say a name, you say the first word that pops in your head. So, if I say ‘Joy Division’, you may say ‘Ian Curtis’ or ‘New Order’. Okay?”

TODD E. JONES: “Joy Division.”
SYLVIE: “Suicide.”

TODD E. JONES: “New Order.”
PIERRE: “Rebirth.”

TODD E. JONES: “Trisomie 21.”
SYLVIE: “Le Fête Triste.”

TODD E. JONES: “Celluloide.”
PIERRE: “Bodypop power!”

TODD E. JONES: “The Dandy Warhols.”
PIERRE: “Duran Duran. I don't know why...”

TODD E. JONES: “Blur.”
SYLVIE: “Gorillaz.”

TODD E. JONES: “The Human League.”
PIERRE: “The Lebanon.”

TODD E. JONES: “Richard Ashcroft (The Verve).”
SYLVIE: “Bittersweet Symphony.”

TODD E. JONES: “Dr. Robert Moog.”
PIERRE: “God's real name.”

TODD E. JONES: “George Bush.”
SYLVIE: “Funny guy.”

TODD E. JONES: “What do you think music industry, in general, needs these days?”
SYLVIE: “Emotion.”
PIERRE: “I really don't know. I used to say to myself, ‘It could be worth…’. It's easy with the Internet to discover some new bands or underground labels.”

TODD E. JONES: “Do you think that success and credibility are mutually exclusive?”
SYLVIE: “Sorry, I don't know. I don't think it's easy for us to speak about success.”

TODD E. JONES: “What is the biggest mistake that you made in your career?”
SYLVIE: “Our career is very short. So, let's take time to make some mistakes!”

TODD E. JONES: “How are audiences from other countries different from European audiences?”
PIERRE: “France is not the best country for making electronic music and going on stage. We knew that before recording our album, so it was not a surprise when saw beautiful reviews about Foretaste.”
SYLVIE: “We had the chance to play several times in Belgium. That was so great. The audience was fantastic. You don’t feel like playing underground music when you're there.”

TODD E. JONES: “What are some major misconceptions that people have of Foretaste?”
PIERRE: “It's easy to think that we are the beautiful creatures. That's not true!”
SYLVIE: “We don't live in the 80's!”

TODD E. JONES: “If you could re-make any other song, what would it be?”
PIERRE: “‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ from Procol Harum.”
SYLVIE: “‘I'm Not Scared’ from Height Wonder / Pet Shop Boys.”

TODD E. JONES: “How do you pick the tracks that end up on the final album?”
SYLVIE: “That was the demo version of ‘Everything Is Red Today’."

TODD E. JONES: “Do you want to be cremated or buried?”
PIERRE: “I don't expect to die.”

TODD E. JONES: “What do you want on your epitaph?”
SYLVIE: “She didn't want to die!”

TODD E. JONES: “Will there ever be solo albums?”
SYLVIE: “No, I don't think so.”
PIERRE: “Sylvie sang for other artists few months ago. I did some remixes for friends, but that's all. We don't want to lose our major goal.”

TODD E. JONES: “What is in the future for Foretaste?”
PIERRE: “We are trying to write some good songs, and we're still looking for some gigs all across Europe.”
SYLVIE: “We now have 4 or 5 songs for the next album. We expect to release it in 2007.”

TODD E. JONES: “What collaborations should fans look out for?”
SYLVIE: “If we could stay together for the next album, it would be a very good challenge!”
PIERRE: “Yes… and Martin Gore is not available.”

TODD E. JONES: “Final words?”
PIERRE: “Thanks for your patience. We hope you will love our music.”
SYLVIE: “Thanks for your interest in Foretaste.”

Interview by Todd E. Jones
toddejones@yahoo.com

NOTICE: This interview is property of Todd E. Jones and cannot be duplicated or posted without written permission.

WEBSITES:
FORETASTE: http://www.foretaste-music.com/
FORETASTE MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/foretaste

BOREDOMproduct: http://www.boredomproduct.online.fr/

VIDEO:
"Re-love" LIVE- ESTAIMPUIS SYNTHPOP FESTIVAL 01.07.06
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/Foretaste%20-%20Re-Love%20(live%20video).wmv

"Everything Is Red Today" Live- ESTAIMPUIS FESTIVAL 01.07.06
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/Foretaste%20-%20Everything%20Is%20Red%20Today%20(live%20video).wmv

AUDIO:
"It Doesn't Matter Two" (Depeche Mode) - performed by FORETASTE
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/Foretaste%20-%20It%20Doesn%27t%20Matter%20Two.mp3

"Secret (Move Your Feet Mix)" (OMD cover) - performed by FORETASTE
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/Foretaste%20-%20Secret%20(Move%20Your%20Feet%20Mix).mp3

"Un Singe En Hiver" (Indochine cover) - performed by FORETASTE
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/Foretaste%20-%20Un%20Singe%20En%20Hiver.mp3

"Re-Love" (excerpt) - performed by FORETASTE
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/bc/07-Re-Love.mp3

"That Smiling Man" (excerpt) - performed by FORETASTE
http://www.foretaste-music.com/MP3/bc/03-ThatSmilingMan.mp3

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Foretaste - Beautiful Creatures