Fred And Fred's Tip Sheet - Brief Article - Interview

FALL'S GOLD SOUNDS AND GLAMOUR GROOVES

INTERVIEW: How are the worlds of music and fashion intersecting this season?

FREDERIC SANCHEZ: What we're seeing in fashion now is really about very luxurious and elegant clothing, which is a reaction to what's come before, which was all black and very, very strict. Now it's very much about colors and gold and luxury. And we're seeing this in music as well. For instance, there's this new duo called Dusty Trails, whose self-titled debut [Atlantic] is very nice.

I: That's Vivian Trimble from Luscious Jackson and Josephine Wiggs, formerly of the Breeders. It's really starting to happen for them in Europe, right?

FS: Yes. It's fitting music for what's going on now, because it's chic and sophisticated and it's a girl group, but it's not obvious. It's not so "of the moment," which sometimes can be a little cheap. It's the kind of music you might listen to in a very beautiful apartment, and it gives off this feeling of something out of a Sixties French movie starring Alain Delon.

I: And if you don't have a beautiful apartment, these sounds will beautify your space?

FS: Exactly. Because it's very luxurious music. And in the same vein, there's this Charles Wilp covers record, Michelangelo in Space: The Bunny Remixes, which is all different electronic bands from Germany. It is ambient, space-age '60s music, but at the same time, it's very modern. It's like an Ennio Morricone soundtrack; there is always this feminine voice underneath the music.

I: Who else is working with textures like this?

FS: There's this girl group Mirah whose new album, You Think it's Like This, But Really it's Like This [K Records], is very acoustic and pure sounding--it's as if Julee Cruise and Cat Power were collaborating. And there's this other new group called Flanger, from England, whose next record, Midnight Sound [Ntone], is coming out. It's very chic jazz music with a bit of a jungle beat, but very subtle and cultivated. And finally, there's Goldfrapp, whose new record, Felt Mountain [Mute Records] is almost like a continuation of Portishead. All of these records are in a way, the soundtrack to what's happening in fashion.

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