The word from Frederic Sanchez, tuned-in tastemaker

INTERVIEW: So. Frederic, you always have your finger on the pulse of the music scene in Europe. What are you most excited about at the moment?

FREDERIC SANCHEZ: There's a new interest in what's called the "anti-folk" movement. Beck came out of that scene when it started in New York in the early '90s. Now, however, people are talking about artists like Mary Gauthier and Adam Green. It comes from people doing rock again, but it's very folk and noncommercial. People want something more rough. I used anti-folk for a show I did for Miu Miu a few seasons ago. We wanted to create an image of, say, a girl, maybe Chloe Sevigny, alone in a garage, playing guitar.

I: So you've been preparing music to score the fall fashion shows happening this month. What's going to be the sound of the season for fall 2003?

FS: It's going to be a sound that's not so cold. There's a new rock group from America that I love called the Stuck-Ups--they sound like X-Ray Spex on speed. Also things that sound normal but aren't; it's like you're listening to the radio and you know all the songs, but the radio is on acid, so everything comes out different. David Lynch has done an incredible record called BlueBob (on Soulitude Records). It's like very normal rock-blues, but also very strange. Then there's this guy from London, Bobby Corridor. He puts out bootlegs where he'll mix up, say, Radiohead with Britney Spears.

I: It's almost the same idea as Pop art.

FS: Exactly--taking mainstream things and making them really sophisticated. In this vein I really like the Soft Pink Truth from San Francisco. It's one of the guys from Matmos, who've worked with Bjork and make music out of odd things, like surgical instruments. The Soft Pink Truth samples Prince and George Clinton-style grooves, then twists something totally new out of it.

I: So what's making waves now is the familiar, but reconstituted.

FS: Exactly. It's an idea that's almost punk: reality with a little spice on it. In this way, I love the latest Suicide record (American Supreme, Alan Suicide and Martin Rev's first new album in 10 years). It sounds like someone singing along to the radio in a New York taxi. [both laugh] Suicide's comeback is more interesting than the neo-'80s revival, much of which is very poseur, too nice. Suicide is not so nice. It's very disturbing.

I: Disturbing can be good sometimes.

FS: Yes, very good!

Frederic Sanchez is the man behind the music at fashion shows around the world. Illustration: RISKO.

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