We pressed 1000 of Tete de Bebe and released it late April 2006. As of early July 2006 we are down to 400 copies. It can be ordered through http://s-srecords.com or any of the vendors here http://207.228.243.82/ss/sell.html

Terminal Boredom wrote...

V/A Tete de Bebe LP
 A few years after the release of the quite decent Babyhead LP, which showcased the best in up and coming unconventional punk, S-S Records is back with its much more impressive French counterpart. Like a lot of people, Ive been keen on the fuzzed out sounds coming from France lately on labels like Profet, Nasty Product, and Yakisakana, but Tete de Bebe focuses its attention on the more forward thinking electro-punk scenes of Paris, Strasbourg and Brussels and for that I am thankful, as this is the best comp Ive heard in years. Crack und Ultra Eczema start things off and set the bar high with Testicle, which begins with a dreamy chant of I want your testicle before erupting into a sonic maelstrom thatll fuck your brain. Everything Ive heard from them has really impressed me and Ive been killing myself waiting for their album to cross the Atlantic. Le Club des Chats follow with a short, spastic burst of gratification along the lines of a more fucked up Kleenex or Erase Errata. Dragibus contribute the catchiest song with fey female vocals and ridiculous lyrics about crocodiles, frogs and banana trees (theyre a childrens band), which on paper shouldnt work, yet it somehow does. The Suicide-esque drone of The Electric Guitars is next and the doubled up, female vocal tracks never cease to freeze me in my tracks whenever I hear them. Crash Normal do their best Intelligence impression with Bad Way to Get Fun and its fantastic. You know face A (ie. side 1) is incredibly strong when the only ordinary song is the closer by Lili Z. The flip has Lili in much better form on the Volt track Kein Mensch with its absurdly fierce sounding guitars. Belgium gets the next two with Lawrence Wasser contributing Piggy on a Rooftop, a dancy screecher that fucks with things enough to remind me of Sick Lipstick, which is a good thing. Kania Tieffer follows with a charmingly jagged series of beeps and whirrs that somehow fits, right before Cheb Samir & The Black Souls of Leviathan let loose with some fucking cool sounding slide guitar that collides head on with an asshole tight, hyperactive rhythm section on one of the records strongest songs. The Normals are next with Mud which is good, but it sounds a bit out of place as its so straightforward. Finally, Cheveu contribute La Truite a pulsating noise blast with brain bending drums, a catchy guitar riff and sporadic, incomprehensible vocals, which work perfectly to end the album. Seriously folks, this record is first-rate shit and deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. The scary thing is that France still has a pile of great, new bands not featured on the comp that are pushing the boundaries just as successfully as the bands featured here. Squeletor Papa, A.H. Kraken, 1981, Feeling of Love, it just never seems to end. An explosion seems to be taking place and this is a perfect place to hear it start. (JG) Summer 2006 http://www.terminal-boredom.com/

Agony Shorthand wrote

I know that when Scott Sorianos S-S RECORDS seeks to put a comp together, his stated model follows the anything-goes art/punk nexus of the early 80s Los Angeles scene comps put out by Mike Watt & Spots New Alliance and New Underground labels. These include Chunks, Cracks In The Sidewalk and the three volumes of the Life Is.... Series compilations that would juxtapose punk scene heavy hitters of the day like Black Flag, The Minutemen, The Germs and the like with jazzbo and experimental musicians from around the LA basin. After listening to this new LP from S-S of modern French acts, I know two things for sure that the label has followed the New Alliance/New Underground model in a cohesive and exciting manner (better than their US/UK comp Babyhead from a couple years ago), and that the 2006 French avant-rock/punk scene has got some serious, serious heft to it. On point #2, we already knew that when we picked up those outstanding latest 45s by FRUSTRATION and CHEVEU, and earlier still when we heard records by the Royal/Polly Magoo crew centered around VOLT, LILI Z and CRASH NORMAL, but its nice to know there are even more hungry & wild young pups coming up through the French rock farm system.

In France, it appears, electronics and distortion combined with raw & panicked guitars rule the roost at least until it doesnt. Best of breed awards go to CHEB SAMIR AND THE BLACK SOULS OF LEVIATHAN, who pull off a sort of antique, thrown-together primitivism that makes first-LP GORIES sound sophisticated, and the continually fantastic CHEVUE, who almost never sound the same song to song (this time theres lots some Eastern snake charmer keyboards over metronomic drums & shorted-out guitar, on a brief instrumental that you wish was three times as long). Theres also the weird, dislocated spazz-out Testicle by CRACK UND ULTRA ECZEMA , followed by a great 45-second artpunk flutter by LE CLUB DES CHATS that mightve been performed by JOANNA WENT or 1/2 JAPANESE twenty-five years ago. Nothing save for the kiddie band DRAGIBUSs number is anything but first-rate on this LP, and even Dragibus are a whopping hit with the youngest preschool-age member of our household. So its clear that Tete De Bebe has something for all comers, and clearer still that that trip to the dark clubs and cellars of Paris has simply got to happen before this unique & special little scene implodes. (Jay Hinman, July 3, 2006) http://agonyshorthand.blogspot.com/

So far Tete de Bebe has gotten a very good reception. Brian Turner of WFMU wrote:

Various - Tete de Bebe (S-S)
Oh, the French and their music. Yes, we all love to laugh at the Gitanes-huffing septegenarian speaking obscenely to Whitney Houston, deify the likes of lookers like Gall, Bardot, Dutronc, Hardy, but rarely does the issue of France's absolute kickass punk rock scene get the headlines, which is a damn shame. And unfortunately the stuff that does trickle into American punk consciousness is rife with bands playing up the kooky-beret-and-Pepe-le-Pewisms that frankly bore the shit outta me. On the better side of the coin though, you have Metal Urbain's Stooges-go-synth-destruction "Panic" which might be up there with the best punk singles of all time (and they were still amazing screaming total hell when they reunited for a US tour that stopped at WFMU's Record Fair!), and a whole new breed has taken the torch and blasted the rocket off yet again. Somewhere along the line, California's wickedest weird-punk label S-S has become the prime importer of this stuff, distributing and putting out Francofreaks like Cheveu and Dragibus, and in recent years a few other cool artifacts have trickled into the station from bands like Lili Z and Volt, whom all seem a bit intertwined personnel and vision-wise. This new vinyl comp Tete de Bebe neatly wraps together the more ragged edges of France's more treble-endeared proponents of modern music including the four above-mentioned outfits plus some unknown-to-me peops like Les Club des Chats, Lawrence Wasser, and Cheb Samir and the Black Souls of Leviathan (and I understand a few Belgians are tossed in there). They all share a common thread of crude production, definite fandom of Chrome and maybe some of the LA weirdos of yore like Beelzebub Youth, Nervous Gender and the Screamers, but there's a healthy array of deviation and also awareness of some of the bluesy electromutants like Doo Rag. (http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/05/recent_faves_fr.html)

We pressed 1000 and have gotten rid of 500 in less than 2 weeks!

 

It is available through the following distributors: Revolver, STD, & X-Mist. The following mail orders have it right now or will shortly: Goner, Florida's Dying, & Know Shit.

For more info or to order a copy direct go to http://s-srecords.com

 

 

Finally, Tete de Bebe LP is available. You can buy it directly from S-S Records via paypal.

US/Canada $10 postpaid
Elsewhere (surface) $15
Elsewhere (air) $18

Add $1 to orders under $20 to cover paypal fees.

Paypal ss@s-srecords.com
Please put TETE DE BEBE in subject line.

More S-S stuff at http://s-srecords.com

May 1 will be the day that Tete de Bebe will be available for sale. There will be a release party (see events) in Paris where the bands will get some of their copies and a few will be for sale. 

the tete de bebe test pressings have arrived and they sound great.

john golden mastering did a great job and we recommend them for allt he mastering you need. now we wait for the records!

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Yeah, it is. Meanwhile, the record is at the pressing plant and the sleeve is at the printers. We should get test pressings and covers really soon. Other than that not much more to report. 

We are certainly getting ahead of ourselves here, but one of the S-S braintrust (sic) is going to be in Paris and hopefully will have the record before the plane takes off. If that is the case (and we've planned it to be so...but there are always delays), there will be a record release show at Planete Mars at 21 Rue Keller in the 11th in Paris on 24 April, 9 pm. SS, Sr. will be spinning records along with Jacques from Volt and probably more people. If the record doesnt arrive, it is just another party but a good one!

We are proud to announce the coming birth of Tte de Bb. For S-S Records' 10th release we put out a compilation called Babyhead. For our 20th, decided to do another comp, but this times featuring our French speaking friends. Those friends are Crack und Ultra Eczuma, Le Club des Chats, Dragibus, Electric Guitars, Crash Normal, Lili Z, Volt, Lawrence Wasser, Kania Tieffer, Cheb Sabah & the Black Souls of Leviathan, The Normals, & Cheveu.

Today, SS, Sr. went into Monster Labs Audio with Eric Broyhill and edited the record. It sounds great and we anticipate that John Golden Mastering will do an excellent job on their end when they get it on Monday. After that it is off the the pressing plant to be pressed on white vinyl.

Meanwhile, we are arranging to get the cover shot (the image pictured is not the cover) and then that will be off to the printers.

When all parts are delivered to the S-S HQ



we will call our army of dwarves and assemble the thing.

And that is all there is to report right now.

We will post snippets of songs soon.