Artist: White Town
Album: Alain Delon 7"
Release: 1991
Release: 1991
Label: Parasol
Tracklist:
1. Hair Like Alain Delon
2. And Then It Changed
3. John Selwyn Gummer
4. Life's Too Short
Depending on whether or not you're a master of either the U.S. or U.K. version of 90's Trivial Pursuit, you may recognize the name White Town. His fluke, 1997 smash hit "Your Woman" was as infectious to the psuedo-alt kids of the post-grunge era as Ebola Richmond was to lab monkeys...aaaaaand that's the best I can do with that joke. Iffy!
White Town is not actually the creepy Frenchman from the video above, but is instead an India-to-U.K. Gummi Bear who goes by the name Jyoti Mishra, who is apparently straight edge and, at least in the 90's, a communist. I guess there were red edgemen other than the Manliftingbanner/Seein' Red crew!
90's hardcore aside, I recently re-listened to the legendary spinART compilation ...One Last Kiss in an attempt to actually appreciate it as much as I should. I didn't get very far, though, because I couldn't get past the sixth track, White Town's "Hair Like Alain Delon." I knew who White Town was from "Your Woman," so I left utterly confused by the sound of "Alain Delon," which was part of the classic early 90's indie pop sound and not technopop. A quick Wikipedia search revealed it was indeed the same band. Holy moly!
The only thing that blew my mind more than that revelation was the song itself. It's seriously a pop classic and has been my favorite song for the past six months, at least. In the song, Mishra reveals his wishes to be more like the otherworldly French actor in an attempt to escape this humdrum existence and to overcome his romantic shortcomings. My description fails to come close to giving it justice.
The Alain Delon EP was released on the familiar Parasol Records and features four songs in the indie pop vein. Aside from "Alain Delon," the other three songs are strong pop offerings and it's great to hear Mishra's songs played with a full band. "Life's Too Short" is probably my other favorite jam on this EP. Really, though, this is an incredible pop gem that, for some reason, has flown way under the radar. Please do yourself a favor and check this out!
Thanks to Pat Stankard of Weed Hounds for ripping this for me! If and when I get more of his early material and, if anyone cares, I'll post more.
Download Here
-Adam
Depending on whether or not you're a master of either the U.S. or U.K. version of 90's Trivial Pursuit, you may recognize the name White Town. His fluke, 1997 smash hit "Your Woman" was as infectious to the psuedo-alt kids of the post-grunge era as Ebola Richmond was to lab monkeys...aaaaaand that's the best I can do with that joke. Iffy!
White Town is not actually the creepy Frenchman from the video above, but is instead an India-to-U.K. Gummi Bear who goes by the name Jyoti Mishra, who is apparently straight edge and, at least in the 90's, a communist. I guess there were red edgemen other than the Manliftingbanner/Seein' Red crew!
90's hardcore aside, I recently re-listened to the legendary spinART compilation ...One Last Kiss in an attempt to actually appreciate it as much as I should. I didn't get very far, though, because I couldn't get past the sixth track, White Town's "Hair Like Alain Delon." I knew who White Town was from "Your Woman," so I left utterly confused by the sound of "Alain Delon," which was part of the classic early 90's indie pop sound and not technopop. A quick Wikipedia search revealed it was indeed the same band. Holy moly!
The only thing that blew my mind more than that revelation was the song itself. It's seriously a pop classic and has been my favorite song for the past six months, at least. In the song, Mishra reveals his wishes to be more like the otherworldly French actor in an attempt to escape this humdrum existence and to overcome his romantic shortcomings. My description fails to come close to giving it justice.
The Alain Delon EP was released on the familiar Parasol Records and features four songs in the indie pop vein. Aside from "Alain Delon," the other three songs are strong pop offerings and it's great to hear Mishra's songs played with a full band. "Life's Too Short" is probably my other favorite jam on this EP. Really, though, this is an incredible pop gem that, for some reason, has flown way under the radar. Please do yourself a favor and check this out!
Thanks to Pat Stankard of Weed Hounds for ripping this for me! If and when I get more of his early material and, if anyone cares, I'll post more.
Download Here
-Adam
9 comments:
I had a similar experience from the opposite perspective--I heard One Last Kiss in the early 90s when it was new, and also at least one of White Town's early EPs, so then when "Your Woman" happened, I was thinking, "This CAN'T be the same White Town." It was really strange.
I'd be way into you posting any more material you have from this era of White Town. Even just this EP is great--thank you.
I am so goddamn curious about this!
I cannot wait to hear this. I knew from his blog that he was an interesting character, but I had no idea about his beginnings or his edge. He is vegan, too, right? Revelations as such make the world a better place.
Thank you for upping this, I can't wait to hear this.
Thanks for posting, most appreciated!
Wow! Thank you for the flattery! :-)
I'm actually going to be re-mastering and re-releasing all that era of White Town (when it was still a guitar band and not just me) but the new album is the priority at the mo.
As for me: I used to be an orthodox Trotskyist in the '80s (Militant Tendency) and gave up drinking when I was 16, in '82. But I didn't move in punk circles so I never heard the term straight edge till waaay later. I'm pretty strict on it but I'm not a preachy type and I'm not vegan or veggie. My edgeness comes straight from my dialectical materialism, it's pretty unavoidable. Politically, I now veer between Trotness and anarcho-syndicalism, depending which way the wind blows. :-)
Thank you again for posting this!
love and kisses,
Jyoti
Great to see this post about White Town. Just did a post about their Fairweather Friend 7" on my blog. I'm so glad that Jyoti will be re-releasing the early stuff. I have a few of the 7" singles but not all of them. I had a similar experience as Andrew TSKS. I knew of White Town from the One Last Kiss Comp and the few singles I had in the early 90's, then I was shocked that it was the same White Town when Your Woman came out.
I keep meaning to re-master the early stuff but it's been a very tough year. Maybe in 2011!
love and kisses,
Jyoti
I really want to hear/read more about the intersection of straight edge/sobriety with Trotskyism and dialectical materialism!
I don't know why I thought you were vegan!
Well, a lot of edgers nowadays are, I guess, easy mistake! I won't wibble on about it all here but check out my bzangy.com site, plenty of guff on there! :-)
And also, I've got a brand-new synthpop tune/vid up, check out whitetown.co.uk.
End of plugs! :-)
Post a Comment