AOTY #15. Peine Perdue - Moreceaux Choisis

Peine Perdue (that could be translated by Wasted Effort) is a French duo, sharing their time between Berlin and Paris, which was created by Stéphane Argillet, composer, keyboardist and programming the magical machines, and Coco Gallo, who writes most of the texts and recite them more than she sings. Together, they offer a music often cold and yet very endearing, sometimes pop, sometimes more minimalist and experimental, which mingles inextricably with the smooth voice of Coco, whose poetic and enigmatic texts fascinate as far as they intrigue.
Often with groups that propose minimal compositions, charm lies in the subtle blend of the melodies and the voice. With Peine Perdue, the synthetic and mechanical music perfectly fits with this sensual and although distant voice, that loves to lead us into the vortex of her poetic riddles. One without the other would be missing a part, the two together are wonderful, and have managed to create their own universe, in this quite crowded world of minimal-synth duets.

Lena Platonos

Lena Platonos is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. One of the pioneers in the Greek electronic music scene of the 1980s, she remains active today.  She released 3 collaborative albums between 1981-1983 and her debut solo album in 1984. Her work is surreal, abstract, in places futuristic but always full of unpretentious honesty and tenderness. Through complex imagery, telegraphic lyrics, and analog synths accompanied by the Roland TR-808 drum machine, she paints an intergalactic and elusive soundscape capable of transforming punchy and haunting basslines into cryptic messages. Like the untranslated poetry of Platonos it makes sense beyond the usual; beyond it's own time, beyond words.

Die Form

Die Form is the primary project of the French electronic musician and multimedia artist Philippe Fichot. He began by recording a number of experimental cassette releases, starting with Die Form 1 in 1977, and with the first Die Form vinyl release ('Die Puppe') appearing in 1982. Whilst the project was still in its infancy, the underlying concepts were still evident - a combination of esoteric electronic experiments with an underlying theme of erotism, death and other 'taboo' subjects, apparent in both the music and the album artwork, which Philippe also produces. Other early projects of Philippe Fichot included Krylon Hertz, Mental Code, Camera Obscura, Eva-Johanna Reichstag, Hurt and Fine Automatic.