Jean Jacques Perrey west coast tour with Dana Countryman

I'm stuck in some kind of trance, I can't explain it. For the last couple of days I've just been walking into shit and just in my own little world, all I can think about is seeing Jean Jacques Perrey perform in San Francisco’s SOMA District next week. The 76 year old French born musician was one of the early pioneers of electronic pop music. Often noted for his early promoting of the Ondioline but it was really his work on albums such as 1964's The In Sound From Way Out that Perrey is well known. Well, that and E.V.A., his often used funky hit off a later album.

Perrey, who just recently finished recording a brand new electro-pop album with the Dana Countryman, will be doing three US shows over the next week:

8/27 at the Triple Door in Seattle

8/29 at the Recombinant Labs in San Francisco

8/30 at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood

and a special in store mini performance at Analogue Haven in Pomona CA

For more info and posters and whatnot, go here

I went to Re/Search's headquarters in North Beach earlier this week to pic up my tickets and V. Vale sent me this awesome pic he took from Perrey's last visit to the Bay Area.

I've never seen J.J. Perrey, but I heard his last show in the city was sort of a potpourri of local experimental musicians that wasn't really all that memorable. This show, however, sounds more exciting because he will be touring with Dana Countryman, they should be well rehearsed and play classic songs and songs off the new album. Vale mentioned that there is a good chance of a follow up Q and A segment after the SF show.

I still can't believe it, I'm going to see one of my electronic music heroes. Where Walter(/Wendy) Carlos popularized the Moog sound by playing classical and pop covers and Edgard Varèse pioneered early experiments with Musique Concrete and tape cut ups, Perrey helped create an entirely new sound of music that was both bold and catchy, making the new art form highly accessible and influencing electronic musicians for nearly 50 years.

I'm not much for autographs, but I've been carrying around my Feb '97 issue of the now defunct Cool And Strange Music! The issue which original inspired me nearly 10 years ago to learn more about Perrey. Dana Countryman was the publisher and the writer of the story, BONUS: two autographs at one show. I'll probably leave my copies of Moog Indigo and In Sound From Way Out on my record shelf though.