Dance etc
Jean Michel Jarre’s latest set, Téo & Téa (Atlantic), is as much trance as it is ambient/prog, and RC caught up with him in Paris to ask him all about the new album.
“I wrote 50 tunes quite quickly, some in the studio, and I took 20 from these and used a number of them on the album. It came together after a dark period of my life on a personal and professional level. I approached this, my first studio album with a new record company, with excitement. The theme is the meeting of one’s soul mate, and it’s amazing to see the explosion of internet sites where people are trying to find a partner, not only for sexual reasons, but to share the same values, feelings and emotions. We have the technology to communicate – the web, satellites, mobile phones – but people are more lonely than ever before. There’s a quest that I’ve taken as a global concept for the album. So that perspective made it more rhythmic and dance-orientatedâ€.
Did you plan to target the dance scene when you made it?
If I’d want to go for dance-floor feel, I could’ve done that with Oxygène in the disco era, or in the 80’s with house. It was not done with the idea of doing something dance-orientated. It came from pure instinct.
Do you have any unreleased tracks in the archives?
Sure, I have unfinished parts of Oxygène that I’d like to release one day, and other tracks from different projects that could come out in the next year or so.
What was the first record that ever bought?
The Shadows’ Apache, when I was a kid. I still have a lot of vinyl, as well as CDs and downloads. I have iTunes on all the time, to play things I’ve recorded, or discover new things from all genres. I’ve Djed on radio in France, Germany, Poland and Italy.
What’s the most recent album that you have bought?
Klaxons. Very good.
What would you keep forever?
It’s always changing, but maybe John Lennon’s Imagine.
What music would you like played at your funeral?
My new album!
Do you plan to write an autobiography?
I’ve not kept a diary systematically, but I’ve actually been asked this morning to do one. I think it would be like Bono did – conversations with a writer. It may be something that will come out in French and English by next Christmas.
What would you change about your past?
I would go the same way, most times, but probably the relationship with my father [composer, Maurice Jarre] over the years. It’s much better now, but it could’ve been much fulfilled, because it was difficult for quite a while. So that would be it.
Which band would you like to have played in?
The Rolling Stones
Have you done any sessions fans might not know about?
I’ve played small clubs’ improvising with Laurie Anderson on New York, and private parties here in France. There’s also lots of tapes from when I was at school, but I don’t know where the tapes are. It was experimental punk trash, with lots of echo. One band I had was called The Dust Bins [laughs].
Have you ever done karaoke?
Only with friends in Japan. Mostly J-pop and American stuff.
What other instrument would you like to have learned?
I like brass, especially the trumpet and saxophone.
What keyboardists to you admire?
Lots of different styles – Keith Jarrett, Elton John, and Rick Wright from Pink Floyd, who invented this type of ambient playing.
Who would you like to work with?
Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Arcade Fire and Goldfrapp – I’m a big fan.
Would scoring film soundtracks interest you?
I’ve always been a bit cautious due to my father’s career, but I’ve just finished a film for Volker Schlondorff, director of The Tin Drum, and I’d be interested in more.
When’s your next live extravaganza?
I just did it – a show in the Saudi desert for the United Nations Water For Life programme, to promote the idea that water is a key issue [for people to be concerned about in] the future. I hope to do a showcase launch of the album at the Apple Centre on Oxford Street, in London, and play Glastonbury and some other summer festivals.
There is a small picture as well but we have already seen it (here).
Please don’t be like that Robbie. I want you and everyone to be happy about this interview that's why I typed the article with my little fiingers. 
He'll not get away with it as Glasto thats for sure
