hey all. i missed the weekly download but here’s something of another kind. with kavinsky’s untimely passing i’ve been thinking about his music, and that naturally led to a dive into guy-man of daft punk. some stray thoughts barely held together.

kavinsky is a fascinating case. from his first releases he had a somewhat interesting perspective on the french house sound of the time still being honed by his buddies at ed banger and institubes (he released exclusively on air’s label, surprisingly). what was really compelling about kavinsky though was his visual identity. right from the jump, his persona was fully formed. letterman jacket, ferrari, glowing robot eyes, an element of danger, the threat of violence. you can point to a few other figures, but he immediately made the connection between the kind of synthy dance music he was producing and a hazy, 80s, night time neon aesthetic. without kavinsky i don’t think we get the aesthetic pictured below, or synthwave, or the movie drive frankly.

one of the many kavinsky eulogies came from the weeknd, maybe the single person who owes the most to kavinsky’s pioneering visual identity.

not only his visual identity though. after a string of singles which, aside from the bombastic testarossa autodrive are mostly middling, kavinsky released nightcall, his greatest track and one of the greatest songs of the century so far. guy-man from daft punk is credited with music, lyrics, and production on that song, leaving kavinsky with credit only for the persona. but with a persona this strong, that’s enough.

i won’t linger too long on noted phantom of the paradise obsessive guy-man blessing kavinsky with a perfect song from the shadows, channeling his music through another robo-voiced identity before receding to his studio deep in the paradise, but it undeniably made kavinsky’s career, and i might argue it made nicolas winding refn’s as well.

it’s hard not to read drive as kavinsky fan fiction right?

anyways back to the weeknd. daft punk are credited twice on starboy, on the title track and ‘i feel it coming.’ you’ll have to indulge some speculation and gossip, but let’s focus on ‘i feel it coming.’ to my ears, it sounds like its from the same well as nightcall, with a similar simmering pulse, and a similar mood, if a bit less melancholy. bear with me a bit further.

when daft punk each started their side project labels, bangalter started roulé, and guy-man started crydamoure with his closest friend eric de chedeville (combined they were prod duo le knight club). together they released some of the best house music recorded, and more than that one of the most cohesive discogs of any dance label i know, as well as two perfect compilations. you will not regret listening to the discography in its entirety, but the comps represent it well. the label name stemmed from their love for one another, eric and guy-man, and the label was their ‘cry of love’ to translate the french portmanteau. not to dwell on crydamoure’s perfect summer soundtracks too long, but do listen.

i saw an album called cri d’amour pop up on bandcamp a while back, and in the liner notes i found out it was released by eric de chedeville’s wife, and was about the love her husband shared with guy-man, and their eventual explosive breakup. digging into it a little bit, it seemed the spark of the schism was guy-man presenting the beat for ‘i feel it coming’ , purportedly made by eric and guy-man, to the weeknd as his own, and boxing out eric from any royalties or credit on the track. this schism seems to have isolated guy man even deeper in the chambers of the paradise, trading his last friend for one more hit.

it’s a compelling story if you indulge some of the speculation.

i hope this doesn’t come off as disrespectful to kavinsky. what he did with his image is as impressive as what others do musically. having just revisted his discography after his passing, the way his persona comes to life when animated by guy-man’s music is profound, and otherwise the shell feels somewhat hollow. he was an actor first after all, and what is an actor without a great script?

guy-man is a fascinating, maybe tragic figure. it’s hard not to think he identified too closely with both swan and leach from phantom of the paradise, both puppet master and musical genius locked in the studio, hidden from view. for more of his production genius, see sebstien tellier’s ‘sexuality’, animating his perfect, and perfectly french, persona with some of the best music of the era. notably tellier has the writing credit, but the production is unmistakably guy-man. tellier’s own identity is compelling but the blend of both was magic.

the weather is right for a dive into guy-mans production discography, the crydamoure catalogue, maybe some weeknd for good measure. soak it up, and maybe the emotional intrigue will imbue it with more meaning.

thanks for indulging, love you. <3