Hello fellows,

Many points :

1- The songs you got here on this page are not mastered yet, which means the sound isn't as powerful and colourful as it should be.

2- We're forced to compress our music a lot to make things possible in the wonderful myspace player. If we could at least just compress at 320 kb, it would be great, but alas! it's not the case :

-- Generic is compressed at 160 kb (hell)
-- Holy Holy Whatever at 128 kb (nightmare)
-- Comrade at 160 kb (massacre)
-- A Gospel for Sandy at 160 kb (carnage)
-- Song for Sonny at 128 kb (nuclear apocalypse)

3- The compression tends to make some frequencies appear really louder than normal and, how strange, these are not the most beautiful ones! Compression does have either a serious problem with reverb : it transforms a wonderful noisy blizzard in a pathetic mess.

4- Otherwise, and by the way :

-- Generic comes from the first disc, They Say "God is coming!!"
-- Holy Holy Whatever comes from the third disc, There's no God
-- Comrade comes from the first disc, They Say "God is coming!!"
-- A Gospel for Sandy comes from the second disc, Tales of Santa Teresa (fragment)
-- Song for Sonny  comes from the third disc, There's no God

Yet I hope you enjoy the stuff...
See you...

Totenfest
Absinthe (Provisoire)

Hello people,

As you surely may have noticed, there are some new songs in the player.
First of all, it means that Absinthe (Provisoire) is not dead, which is quite an incredible news that will make your day happy, no doubt.

It too means that we've just finished the mixing of our new album, which hasn't any name for now (it will probably end in something like III)(as we always try to be original, you know us too well).
The process of creation has already been explained in the Biographic section, so I won't talk about this again.

Now, the result.
As we want to express ourselves sincerely and "totally", we had been frustrated by our previous album Alejandra, which, even if it's a terribly good disc (admit it folks!), was only reflecting one precise part of us : depression, anguish, fear, and so on. It didn't either show much of our psychedelic fury moments, which were paradoxically what people remembered much when they saw us live. As the material we recorded was fully improvised, we chose to keep some of these psychedelic improvisations, with their failings, their moments of loss. It sure is an obvious fact, but no so easy to accept : one disc has not to be obsessively controlled, from the first second to the last (which was the case on Alejandra, despite what one could think listening to the music). Maybe we're just not as control freaks than we used to be (well, we're still pretty much control freaks anyway).
So, when we all went in our rooms with the stuff we had improvised and recorded in studio, there was really the desire to put the most of different feelings and faces in our work (cause we aren't lonely crying anguished insane people ; at least not only).
The problem was the following : as we don't do 3'30 minutes but rather 33 minutes songs, how can you put in one miserable cd all the emotions you want to express?
You can't.
So, when we met again to listen to our different mixes and decide what to keep, it appeared we all didn't care about the question of duration. As the numeric era begins, music can almost play with the idea of infinity. But, as we're old school guys, we always like the disc-object-universe-whatever.

All this to say that we finally managed to do three discs.

The first one is called They say "God is Coming!!". It's a profound reflexion about the idea of God in our societies, and how the religions can use this idea to create paranoïac and frustrated assholes.
But, of course, as all this isn't any essay at all but only music, it's 52'17 minutes and 5 songs of uninterrupted incredible music.

The second disc is called Tales of Santa Teresa (fragment) and is deeply inspired by the reading of 2666 of Roberto Bolano, a masterpiece by the now deceased master. It's a profound reflexion about the idea of Evil in our societies, how some people can temporarily incarnate this idea, and, therefore, become the always-changing Evil for a time.
But, of course, as all this isn't any essay at all but only music, it's 51'20 minutes and 3 separate songs of fabulous music.

The third disc is called There's no God. It's a profound reflexion about how someone can free himself when facing the disillusion of being alone, without any presence of God.
But, of course, as all this isn't any essay at all but only music, it's 56'21 and 4 songs of uninterrupted astonishing music.

Three discs, one long album.
Two hours and forty minutes of joy, pain, love and hate.

Now you know everything kids!
See you!
Ciao!

Totenfest
Absinthe (Provisoire)

Hi Folks,

here's a brief (now that I just finish it, I'd rather say : interminable) summony of our european tour, incredible, where we discovered new and unexplored landscapes (of course totally drunk).
Let's begin by the beginning:

27/10/2006 : Liège (or Luik), in Belgium :  invited at La Zone (a great place), by The Rhaaa Lovely Festival and Matamore. Thanks to them, it was really nice, everyone was really friendly, we did a gig that was not bad, but not fantastic neither, quite good in fact, maybe, I don't know, I don't care. We hadn't played together for quite a long time so it was kind of hard to be really deep in the music...
But that was really cool...

Then, after a pause in brussels where everybody became almost blind drinking shitty whisky, we decided to save our lives and went to the center of France (in Blanlhac, a beautiful tiny village in Haute-Loire, near Le-Puy-en-Velay) to practise and compose what should have been our next album. So, in fact we did not compose a lot, we played, we read a lot of Journal de Mickey (I don't know the fuckin'name in english sorry), we drank some of the worst red wine ever created, ate incredible mushrooms that the fantastic neighboor, Serge (we love you) gave us, but we did not compose a lot. We worked on the integration of Guillaume Contré and his incredible laptop and pretty synthetiser in the band, and it was hard. However, we played a lot and it was the best thing we could do.

10/11/2006 : Then, after another short pause in Brussels we went in Den Haag in Netherlands, in a great squat mysteriously named the SCSI Morlock. The venue was maybe the smallest I have ever seen (if you're poor, take your room : this is it)(if you're rich, take your toilets : this is it), but it was perfect for the people that came. The gig was kind of a mess, but alive at least... We played with a great band whom I forgot the name (sorry), but it was really good... Thanks to Andreas (I hope I write well your name, I'm not sure) for the hospitality, the kindness and everything. We stayed there for two days, with friends (Hi to you Mael and Herbert), sleeping in the old canteen of the building (formerly the foreign office of the country). Green walls with neon lights, perfect for smoking head-blowin'weed. However, the city looked kind of sad and boring, but we didn't stay as long to see anything. We met some really friendly people in the squat and I'd like to say to everyone who's reading this (if anyone reads this one day) that love song for a dutch bitch is not a song about women in general, nor a song about girls in r'n'b videos (mmmmhhh), but simply a love song to a dutch bitch. We maybe could (should?) have written "prostitute", but hey, you must admit it would have sounded much worse than "bitch"..?! However, thanks to the really cute girl that made me see the potential machist aspect of this title (I think I'm in love).
Hey Ho, Let's Go (to Berlin).

16/11/2006 : After a few days wandering in Berlin (Germany, for the inhabitants of Planet Mars) and in the suburbs, admiring the complete anarchy of the architecture and the great squats we can find there, sleeping in beautiful flats lended by our friends Dadajam (check in our friend list), we finally played at Schokoladen, in Ackerstrasse. A really, really gorgeous place, all in red, with a beautiful scene like an old cabaret. Great food, great people, good gig. Not yet a complete liberation, but nevertheless good, even if I was playing on a seat (I'm such a complete fucker sometimes I must admit). We stayed in Berlin for a week more : music and tourism, it's the best. So, we discovered the city, incredible city, we went to a huge party where, once everyone gone, the cops came to make us go (it was just a bit early), we ate a lot of really strange kebab and wonderful frühstuck and went to the (best) worst place to be in Kreuzberg a saturday night : Alex almost get kidnaped by drunken homos (ok, guys, it's a bad joke, you were really nice...!), drunken survivors of the seventies were doing strange psychedelic dances on the sound of Hendrix, billiard players were hardly staying on their own two feet, and a great battle finished the night in love and joy..! Wunderbar! Sehr gut! And in the middle of this wonderful alkoholic chaos, a girl was standing at the bar, writing poems, not drunk, really introspective... We must say we were intrigued and impressed by her, so, if you're her (one chance for 3624867621988533217895 you read this), you can send us your poems, we'll be really happy. Thanks...
And I could not, of course, conclude this chapter on Berlin without thanking one million times our friends : Flo, Christian, Seb (do you write it like that?), their friends, and Laura and Carola for the washing machine...
We'll tour with Dadajam at the end of the year my friends....

21/11/2006 : A miracle happened this day! We had forgotten the map, the indications, everything, we only had the name of the street, and it was not on the bus plans! No way to find the venue! Lost in Chemnitz, Germany!! And for three days! So we decided to stop the car to think a little bit, turned to the right, and then, what was the name of the street?? Dig?! Well, in fact, I don't remember the name...but you dig it! it was the good one!
Lucky you say ?!
You say luck, I say GOD!
God was there with us!
Okay, alright alright, enough bullshitting my friends, let's go on...
So, after this little miracle, we finally arrived at the KI26, a cool squat where the scene, a small but pretty room, is in the attic. We are welcomed by Norman, a great guy (like, honestly, all the people we met in Chemnitz : you people are gold : love). Once more, great food... We sat up, we played, and finally it happened! We were free! We really played... I forgot myself and everything else in the sound, we were not playing music, it was just alive... it was...God !! (okay I know it's not funny I stop)... Well, I don't know what it was, but it's the reason why Absinthe plays music, so it's a total happiness... At last we had the brain wave... And as it was not too bad, some people were gonna set up a new gig in two days, in a squat called B-Hof (or Crasspub). So : Party, and then we went to sleep with Paul to Nadiya's house...
The day after, Paul and Nadiya showed us their town, ex-Karl Marx Stadt. You can see a beautiful picture of a gigantic head of Karl on the profile (I don't know how to put it here I must admit)... It was great : they're really lovely... We finished at night in a bar called Kapital, ex-Voxxx (for those who know), drinking whisky while talking politic and looking at tango dancers, just behind Karl's head... Strange and moving atmosphere...

23/11/2006 : We played in B-Hof, and it was just great, pure joy, even if we almost fought after an alkoholic baby-foot tournament, hum...
So : we'd really like to thank Norman, Paul, Nadiya and Tobias for all the time and love they gave us, everyone at KI-26, and everyone at Crasspub...Respect, and keep up the goods...

24/11/2006 : Dresden (always Germany, for the dunces), Alternatives Zentrum Conni, great venue, huge scene, cool place... Our friends came from Chemnitz to see us, that's great..! We played with a band called Condre SCR, they play classical but catchy post-rock... Droopy was our sound-engineer (just joking man!)... We were just high and high... My favorite gig of Absinthe (Provisoire) of all time, to be honest. It was totally orgasmic, the audience was great, we sold a lot of albums, received a lot of love, and finally went crazy till total chaos in our little heads (the bodies were a little bit broken in fact)...
As a funny coincidence, the manager of the venue had seen us in Montpellier in 2002, with Godspeedyoublackemperor, cause he was driving for them..

25/11/2006 : Tabor, in Czech Republic. We were really tired from the night we spent when we arrived in Cesta, the heartland of Sabot, where we were gonna sleep. Fortunately we had great food waiting, prepared by the lovely Naomi, thanks...The club, Orion, is cool but... no one came! There was a punk festival the same day... So we played in front of ten people, who tend to become two at the end! Honestly we were tired and it was not an unforgettable gig... I was kind in a absence and alex, drunk and exhausted, was happily walking on my pedals for all the show..! It happens! After the gig we talked with Naomi, Pepa from the band C, and Daniel. They're lovely... It sure was a fiasco but there always got to be at least one : it would be there...

26/11/2006 : We arrived in Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic), met the Pooh, the band we were gonna play with and that sat up the gig. Cool people, who prepared a beautiful bottle of absinthe just for us! We played in this pub, Club Velbloud, and it was fun, there was some audience, the fiasco was forgotten, and, as you know, my dear friends : absinthe is always good for health...
(forgive me if I make it shorter but i must admit I'm tired of writing, folks)
So, good gig, great peole (thanks to The Pooh, Sicmen and Anna), and way to Praha...

30/11/2006 : Holidays in Praha, capital of Czech Republic...
Great, funny, drunk, especially drunk, Guillaume the drummer who vomited on our beautiful car, fantastic walks, sordid place full of tourists (like us, alright), funny gig in a discotheque (Club Nebe), unforgettable human being (Petra), etc.....

02/12/2006 : Last gig before Paris, a small town in the South East of Czech Republic : Breclav! We played in a pub, Piksla,  where Petra knows everybody, and I believe we made quite a good show, even if we were totally dead drunk from the last night... At a moment I really thought I was gonna die but hey, the magic of alkohol! Merunka! Absinthe! Beer! Whisky! Party till dawn! The two Guillaume as dj's, a lot of great and interesting people, Alexandre more powerful than ever, Christophe and I seriously drunk dancing for hours : Party!!!
Vaclav, the bartender, is just incredible...
The craziest party I did for a long time...

I will not speak about the journey from Breclav to Paris, five in the car, exhausted, with a mystical hangover, because it was just a total nightmare... However, we did it...Miracle!

04/12/2006 : End of the tour, Paris, Le Klub, friends from Distile, family (Seb, Benoit, Ben Shub...), good audience, good gig. Perfect ending...

THANKS AND RESPECT : Andreas, everyone at Morlock ; Dadajam, Flo, Christian, Seb, Laura, Carola, everyone in Schokoladen ; Norman, Paul, Nadiya, Tobias, everyone at KI26 and everyone at B-Hof ; Pepa, Naomi, Daniel, everyone at Orion and Cesta ; Condre SCR, Droopy, and everyone in Conni ; The Pooh, Sicmen, Anna, everyone in Velbloud ; Panika and everyone at Club Nebe ; Jérôme and Pierrick from Distile ; and of course, Petra and Vaclav :

You all gave us so much love : Thanks...

(sorry if it's getting unbearably sentimental, but hey! we're like that! Dig?!)

See you..!

Totenfest
Absinthe (Provisoire)

Yep my friends
It's real simple and maybe probably you all have understand everything, but just in case :

- The dates with the venue not followed by [=>] concern Absinthe (Provisoire), your gorgeous favorite band of all times
- The dates with the venue followed by [=>] concern any of our plethorous and absolutely incredible parallel bands or musical projects, whose you can read the name after the [=>] and even, O technology miracle, get a little description by clicking on it (generally...)

Isn't it beautiful?

So, come on, let's all piss on this wonderful dream-like life together.
See you on the shows....

Totenfest
Absinthe (Provisoire)