Oulips Saliva

4 years have passed since the release of Angil's first LP Teaser for: matter, critically acclaimed in France as one of the top records of 2004. Mickaël Mottet, the man behind the name, has not exactly been twiddling his thumbs: Angil and his live band the Hiddentracks have played many gigs in France, Spain, and Iceland (with the likes of Why?, Bright Eyes, the Kills, Brigitte Fontaine.). The LP (and an exclusive EP) were released in the UK by Megaphone (Karen Dalton, Michael Head.), while We Are Unique Records in France issued Matter, another 4-track EP including self-remixed and re-composed songs. Angil also contributed to the John Venture.

The John Venture brings together Angil and B R OAD WAY, both from St. Etienne. The seven, dressed uniformly in black with red ties, excite the crowd with their carefully-crafted electronica-based, English language songs. They look new rock n' roll but are much more subtle and delicate in their sound (Live review by Claire Kember, Music Towers).

Considered by many as one of the best LPs of 2006, the John Venture led Angil and friends to prestigious French Festivals (Printemps de Bourges, Rockomotives with Grizzly Bear, touring and collaborations with Anticon's Jel.). Meanwhile, Teaser for: matter was remixed by 9 artists (featuring dDamage, Andrei Kiritchenko, Tex la Homa, etc.) and the result, Teased, was sent for free to all members of the Hidden List, Angil's interactive, supporting fan club.

Despite such a hectic period (or perhaps thanks to it?), Mickaël Mottet still managed to write his new LP, Oulipo Saliva. The original concept was formed during an after-gig conversation in Barcelona's Primavera Festival, between Mottet and Hiddntracks' saxophonist Francis Bourganel: the idea of writing an entire album based on the sound of brass and woodwind instruments. OK, Bourganel said, let's do it. But don t use the E key, as it's always been a tough one for alto saxophonists! No sooner said than done: Mottet started writing E-less songs, never employing the E chord in the music, or the letter E in any of the lyrics. This idea referenced Georges Pérec's La disparition (translated into English as A Void, a lipogram novel written under the aegis of the Oulipo.

Oulipo stands for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, which translates roughly as workshop of potential literature. It is a loose gathering of French writers and mathematicians, and seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques. It was founded in 1960. (Wikipedia)

Mickaël Mottet composed most of Oulipo Saliva's songs on a 1904 piano salvaged from a neighbouring clothes shop which was closing down (where it had been used as part of the decor). Instead of having it tuned, Mottet took the weirdly resounding piano as it was, following the example of John Cage's prepared instruments, and adapted his compositions to its strange, Tim-Burtonesque sound. Then, gathering all 11 musicians of his flexible orchestra the Hiddntracks (who also lost their E incidentally) they recorded the album at nearby art squat, La Fabrique, with fellow producer Gilles Deles, who had worked on Teaser for Matter; and is a member of the Hiddntracks as a guitarist. Which reminds us: guitars are barely present on this record: following the predicate stated in Teaser For Matter's opening song No More Guitars, Angil gave percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass arrangements prominence in Ouilpo Saliva. He also emphasised the casual, hip hop feel that had dappled his earlier works, thus giving cross hints to both Why? and Sun Ra, Lisa Germano and Alice Coltrane, Soul Couhging and Tryggve Seim. The final touch to this ambitious project was added by French comics author Guillaume Long, who contributed the inspirational illustrations for Oulipo Saliva's booklet.