It's not all about looks, I swear. My appreciation of Lizzy Mercier Descloux stems from her track record, which was as consistently interesting as it was undefinable. Though she rubbed shoulders with the late seventies CBGB's crowd, no wave artists and the like, she resisted the easy tack. Too hip to succumb to hip. It just occurred to me today that part of the thing she had, part of the attraction, was something a few of my housemates had at roughly the same time I first became cognizant of her. That, admittedly, has got to have come into play at some point.
She moved to New York at the age of 18 as a writer for a French rock magazine. She became tight with Richard Hell and Patti Smith, performed with Lydia Lunch, knew Jean Michel Basquiat, had parts in multiple independent films, and hung out with Chet Baker. She was nomadic, traveling and recording in locations all over the world. At the time of her death in 2004, she had been living in Corsica, devoting her time to painting. She packed a lot into her life, and never stopped creating. Yet, she's but a blip on even the most fiendish radars.
I did a post about her roughly a year ago, but I just found a couple videos and a few songs that weren't online at the time. Her music had elements of disco, no wave, and South African music, but was not purist in any sense but her own. (Check out the sparse cover of the early Bob Marley song, "Sun Is Shining.")
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Funky Stuff mp3 at Planet People
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Sun Is Shining mp3 at New Dust
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Decryptated mp3 at Clumsy & Shy
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Wawa mp3 at Unpiano
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire mp3 at Unpiano
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Hard Boiled Babe mp3 at Altered Zones
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Funky Stuff (Kid Cole remix) mp3 at Waves At Night
Video:
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire at YouTube
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Ou Sont Passés Les Gazelles? at YouTube
Visit:
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Bio/eulogy at Lofiles (Moving...get out the hankies.)
Richard Hell remembers Lizzy Mercier Descloux
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