Do It. Gainsbourg And His Girls at the Silent Movie Theatre.

A couple years ago, I read what a fan Beck is of Serge Gainsbourg's Historie de Melody Nelson, and high-tailed it to Amoeba to get a copy.

This past weekend, there was a Serge Gainsbourg Tribute concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Performers included Beck, Zola Jesus, Victoria Legrand of Beach House, Sean Lennon, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, among others.

These days, it seems more Americans may know who Charlotte Gainsbourg (21 Grams, I'm Not There., Antichrist) is than her late famous French father, but a new documentary is in town to change that. Many of his numerous muses are featured in the film--Jane Birkin, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Hardy, and Vanessa Paradis.

The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre is screening Gainsbourg And His Girls tonight through Friday.

611 North Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. Tickets $10. Info: cinefamily.org, (323) 655-2510

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: France 3 + Morgane Productions

Check It. IRM.

The impeccably cool Charlotte Gainsbourg's Beck-produced album, IRM, is out today.

As the child of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, it would be pretty difficult not to be awesome, but it's nevertheless impressive just how right the 38-year-old singer/actress gets it. She's been singing since she was a kid, IRM is her third studio album. While I'm not familiar with Charlotte for Ever or even 5:55, I know Gainsbourg has a way with music from her performance of Bob Dylan's Just Like a Woman on the I'm Not There soundtrack. She played Claire in I'm Not There, opposite Heath Ledger's Robbie. Their chapters are my favorite parts of the film.

In the fall of 2007, Gainsbourg had to undergo emergency surgery at a Paris hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage. IRM is the French acronym for our MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging - the machines of which she apparently spent a lot of time in. She fully recovered, and made Antichrist the following summer. And now has an album out that's sure to be fantastic.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: www.heartymagazine.com

Check It. New Spoon and Hot Chip.

It's December--all those year-end (and decade-end!) lists are already trolling out, but I'm already looking onwards to 2010. Why so soon? Well, with new tunes from Spoon and Hot Chip having just premiered, there's solid proof of something to look forward to.

There's just something so undeniably cool about Britt Daniel. That almost-scratchy voice, those clever lyrics, that just-right amount of confidence. Yeah, he knows how to turn a tune. Spoon's latest single "Written in Reverse," from the upcoming album "Transference" out Jan. 19, is no different. It doesn't brace new territory for the longtime band, but it definitely doesn't settle either. Cutting guitar riffs, backing harmonies, Daniel's yelps--it's all there, and it won't let you forget that the cool kids are back in town.
Purchase "Written in Reverse" as a digital single now, or stream it at NPR.

I became obsessed with Hot Chip's blips and melodies after "The Warning" came out a couple years ago, and thankfully I now have something new to obsess over (as opposed to continue watching this, which often made me feel like I was growing green hair myself). Fresh single "One Life Stand" continues in the Hot Chip dance groove tradition, but follows more in the soft, melodic thread, as singer Alexis Taylor muses over wanting to be more than just a simple hook-up. A little risky for a group known more for its beats than its romanticism, but it'll hold you over until the new album is released Feb. 8.
Stream "One Life Stand" at Hot Chip's myspace.

**Bonus track!
Beck, welcome back to my life.


--Chau Tu