Press Color

Description

Lizzy Mercier Descloux may have come of age in Paris, but its in New Yorks Lower East Side that she really came alive. The French punk pioneer, a friend of Patti Smith and Richard Hell, moved to New York in 1977 and soon immersed herself in avant-garde poetry, performance art, and punk music.

Closely associated with the founders of ZE Records (home to Was (Not Was) and Kid Creole & The Coconuts), Descloux released her debut album, Press Color, in 1979, revealing a punk-funk sound that positioned her as the French answer to the UK group The Slits or New Yorks own ESG. Just as The Slits gave I Heard It Through The Grapevine a makeover fit for warehouse parties on their celebrated Cut LP, Desclouxs album revealed a penchant for the unexpected cover version too. It kicks off with a brilliantly rhythmic take on The Crazy World Of Arthur Browns Firea hit, like Marvin Gayes in 1968. Theres also a version of Lalo Schifrins theme from Mission Impossible that appears to predate the breakbeat scene by a good twenty years. Elsewhere, we hear echoes of Serge Gainsbourgs Afrobeat-influenced work, Blondies disco-inflected punk, and Talking Heads world music-inspired art pop.

?acked by guitarists/bassists D.J. Barnes and Erik Elliasson plus drummer Jimmy Young, Descloux creates a naïve musical world in which rhythm is everythingnot a byproduct of the song but the reason for its existence. Its neither played nor sung with any great skill, but it has feel and character in spades and a looseness thats all too rarely achieved.

Of course, an artist with song titles including Tumor (a cover of Fever with amended lyrics) and Herpes Simplex is never a shoo-in for mainstream acceptance, and like many a No Wave classic, the album sold little. Now regarded as a cult classic, this Light In The Attic reissue is presented in an extended 18-track edition, collecting much of Desclouxs work, including Morning High, recorded with Patti Smith.

Descloux returned to Paris upon scoring a contract with CBS and soon found herself travelling to Africa to research the Afrobeat sound experimented withfrom afaron Press Color. The hit single Mais où Sont Passées les Gazelles? and album Zulu Rock followed. By the 1990s, Descloux had turned her back on music in favor of painting and writing, which she continued until her death in 2004. Her playful spirit lives on in this LP.

* All tracks newly remastered
* Double LP housed in a Deluxe Stoughton gatefold Tip-On jacket
* Liner notes by Vivien Goldman
* Includes download card for MP3 of the full album
* Special Edition exclusives:
* Expanded double LP with bonus tracks
* Pressed on Yves Klein Blue wax
* 18×24 poster