Out To Lunch With Katerine Friday Playlist

Here's another gold mine of great songs I stumbled on because of a goofy album cover on the Rhapsody Just Added list. I'm talking of course about French superman Philippe Katerine. The best source of information I found was his translated entry from the French Wikipedia. It's verbal chop suey, but the facts are in there, and they're pretty fascinating.

8ème Ciel (2002) is the most immediately rewarding and accessible record Rhapvailable. It's an opulent, breezy love letter to the eardrums from start to finish. Also of note, Katerine is aided on this album by the Recyclers (with French jazz heavyweights Benoit Delbecq and Steve Arguelles).

L'Homme à Trois Mains (1999) and Robots Après Tout (2005) stretch out for opposite ends of the spectrum musically from there. L'Homme à Trois Mains strips down to voice, acoustic guitar and occasional sound effects, but I certainly wouldn't call it a folk record. It's more like bittersweet diary entries written looking out over a ragged post-apocalyptic landscape.

In the extreme other direction is Robots Après Tout, with its comic urgency, technicolor chorus, and skintight short shorts.

Here's a sampler playlist of three tracks from each of those albums for the curious. Well worth a spin.

Out To Lunch With Katerine Friday Playlist [Rhapsody Online Version]

Inutile (8ème Ciel)
Des étoiles
Saint Vierge
Mr Patrick (L'Homme à Trois Mains)
Le Simplet
Petit Philippe
Borderline (Robots Après Tout)
Louxor J'Adore
Après Moi

P.S. For some reason, I watch this video and imagine this is what everyday life must be like for emigrants like R Crumb and David Sedaris: