MeeK
Mar
4
Written by:
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Although he takes his nom de rock from Joe Meek, it's fair to say that Stéphane-Franck Pascal's favourite '60s British pop stars are The Beatles.
After all, his second album, 'Sleeping With Big Ben', consisted entirely of Fab Four covers. (The record was released in 2003 in Japan only.) You think you're a dedicated Beatles fan for having read the official biography of Sir Paul by Barry Miles, 'Many Years From Now'? Pascal translated it into French.
Unsurprisingly, his own songs are steeped in Lennon and McCartneyism, which is never a bad thing for songs. Sortie De Secours' (which translates as 'emergency exit') is the fourth album by MeeK (right), who insists on that upper case 'K' at the end of his name. The album slipped out at the end of 2008 but only came to our attention this week.
MeeK's brand of acoustic pop may be a bit too sugary for some tastes. But then again, there are people who don't like chocolate. And we'll never deter French pop stars from writing melodies and hooks and choruses, stuff many musicians here wouldn't dream of doing lest it taint their art.
Check out MeeK's MySpace page and listen to a selection of songs off 'Sortie De Secours'. First single 'Six Feet Under', inspired by the cult U.S. series of the same name, is currently getting plenty of airplay on Paris radio. Here's the video, a retro and romantic tour around Paris:
8 comment(s) so far...
About this "chronicle" of yours...
Hi Aidan...
Well, I feel embarrassed really about all this because I don't know whether to spit at your face or just slap it off... The thing is it sounds stupidly unfair to keep hammering on about "Beatles, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles" when talking about my work in general and this last album in particular... The Beatles WERE indeed a musical influence of mine as they are for the 68 million other people who write Pop Music all over the world, but they were just one influence amongst many others including French artists you probably never heard of... And anyway that's not even the point, because I do believe the 15 tracks on this new album DO HAVE a sound of theirs and they're neither copies of the Beatles' sound nor imitations of any kind. Listen more carefully and more intelligently to those songs and their arrangements and their lyrics and their sounds, and if your brain DOES work, you'll easily find there is much, much, much more to them than this lazy and stupid "Beatles-centered" analysis... If you do think that tracks like "Troublemaker" or "Elle est tellement vieille" or "Je vous aime immediatement" are just Beatles-derivative, then you're either deaf or silly or Beatle-obsessed YOURSELF or the three of them...
Dig the lyrics (not one single bit like anything the Beatles used to say in their songs), hear the different textures, feel the core and the gist of the music, forget about this too easy comparaison and next time try and do your job properly.
The thing is I'd rather people like you didn't write about me at all that having that kind of shit thrown at me.
Cheers. (Why don't you fly back to your country where you obviously belong, like right now, and write about the incredibly original and unique and never heard before bands and singers your contry's packed with ?...)
MeeK.
By MeeK on
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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Re: MeeK
Wow. You realise how ridiculous and pretentious your comments make you appear, right? And xenophobic too.
By aidan on
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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Re: MeeK
I'll second that Wow from Aidan.
The negativity of MeeK's comment has me perplexed. Aidan's blog entry is actually quite positive, and written in such a way that it is nudges a reader to check out MeeK's music.
As for MeeK's final comment, it speaks for itself.
By eoghan on
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Re: MeeK
All I'm saying is : your analysis is very narrow-minded in the sense that from the first line down to the last one, it's just "Beatles, Beatles, Fab-flavoured, Beatles, Fab-obsessed, Beatles, Beatles" for fuck's sakes !!... And the thing is, not only is this narrow-minded but also untrue, because the Beach Boys, the Stones, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel and Cat Stevens to name but a few have all been great influences to me every bit as much as the "Fab" !... And anyway that's not the point, as I can't see anything particularly "positive" in being held as nothing more than a "Beatles-obsessed" copycat ! Don't tell me you don't know what I mean ! And that in itself prooves that you haven't really listened to the album, and I'm sorry to say that but it just pisses me off to see how superficial your visons of things are, totally bypassing what makes my originality and my own artistic input, that's all. And there's nothing "pretentious" about my reaction ! It's a logical reaction from someone who's been trying to build something personal with his music for the past 15 years, that's all...
MeeK.
By MeeK on
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Re: MeeK
(Oh and I forgot : I'm not French, I'm Franco-British.)
By MEEK on
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Re: MeeK
I've no problem if you disagree with me, but the violence of your reaction is ridiculous. As I never suggested you were a Beatles 'copycat', your latest comment now sounds paranoid. The clarification re: your dual nationality makes the xenophobia of your first comment hard to understand. It's a pity, because your music is good. I regret that what I wrote caused such a reaction from you - it wasn't my intention. But you must accept that you can't control how people hear your music: that's the risk all artists take by putting their work in the public domain. If you react like this to me, what do you do for negative reviews? (After all, mine was positive.)
By aidan on
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Re: MeeK
Well, "good", but it's still a bunch of "too sugary" "Beatle-obsessed" numbers, right ?...
By MEEK on
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Re: MeeK
Ah. Maybe you misunderstood. My point was: some people think pop melodies are sugary and awful, which is as incomprehensible to me as hating something good like chocolate. In other words, your melodies are good. And 'Beatles-obsessed' simply refers to the fact that you made a Beatles cover album and translated Paul's bio (true?), and that makes you a very big Beatles person by any standard, and any music fan will be interested in that. Yes, I focused on that aspect and I stand by what I wrote. I have a comments box exactly so that readers can disagree with me. But no need for xenophobia and insults: I don't think you meant them anyway. Aidan
By aidan on
Friday, March 27, 2009
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