Mike Rivard / Club d'Elf - Exclusive mix, portait & interview for Paris DJs


Mike Rivard (Club d'Elf) - The Trance Mix
Exclusive free mix to download


An Interview with Mike Rivard / Club d'Elf
INTERVIEW In English | En Français


Club d'Elf - Electric Moroccoland / So Below
New double album out now


Club d'Elf, the everlasting changing monster-band
PORTRAIT In English | En Français

Mike Rivard (Club d'Elf) - The Trance Mix (MP3 Podcast on www.ParisDJs.com) 2011-08-21 "The crux of Moroccan music is trance. Trance as a quality in music has always attracted me, whether it's an extended James Brown cut, or something by Fela or Steve Reich. I've always sought out music that allows you to forget where and who you are and to break free from the mind's constant chatter", bassist and Club d'Elf founder Mike Rivard said once. Club d'Elf has just released a new and stunning double-album, Electric Moroccoland/So Below (Face Pelt), where jazz, freeform improvisation, rock...

Club d'Elf - Electric Moroccoland / So Below
(2CD/Download) Face Pelt Records, 2011-04-05

Club d'Elf's long-awaited studio follow-up to Now I Understand (2006). A double-disc set, Electric Moroccoland/So Below represents two distinct sides of the groups sound: Moroccan trance (Electric Moroccoland) and funky electronica/DJ-driven beats (So Below). More than 10 years in the making, it features over 26 musicians including John Medeski, DJ Logic, Dana Colley & the late Mark Sandman of Morphine (in some of his last recorded performances), Dave Tronzo, Brahim Fribgane, and Hassan Hakmoun singing a Gnawa-ified version of Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love. 22 tracks worth of music for a playing time of over 145 minutes.

An Interview with Mike Rivard / Club d'Elf

01. Is Electric Moroccoland your declaration of love to sintir and oud?
More or less it's a musical love letter to Morocco, and the sintir and the oud are featured. Since those instruments are connected with North African music they are the primary mediums in which we pay tribute to the Moroccan music styles that we love, such as gnawa, Berber music, and specifically the music of the great rais Hadj Belaid ("Ambib") & Nass El Ghiwane ("Ghir Khoudouni").

Club d'Elf, the everlasting changing monster-band
(Portait by Nicolas Ragonneau for Paris DJs - late june 2011)

Bassist Mike Rivard is the man behind the band called Club d'Elf. But can we still call this strange entity a band, since Rivard has invited more than 100 musicians to join since Club d'Elf played its first note in 1998? This incredible rotating cast (for a comprehensive list of players, jump to this page) makes the project more of a conspiracy (or a club indeed!) than a band itself. The whole story began when Mike Rivard, a busy session player who has recorded and performed with Morphine, Jon Brion and Aimée Mann among others, drew from the players in the myriad of bands he worked with to fill out the ranks of Club d'Elf, creating a mutant in perpetual motion. Formed around a core ryththm section with the addition of different special guests for each show, the idea was to remix Rivard's groove-based compositions differently for each performance. Guests over the years have included John Medeski & Billy Martin (MMW), DJ Logic, Marc Ribot, Skerik, and Marco Benevento (Benevento / Russo Duo), with jambands.com describing the situation thusly : "Club d'Elf consists of Mike Rivard and any cohorts who decide to embark with him into perilous sonic chimeras".

The band enjoys exploring mash-ups of the diverse musical universes they travel, where a Squarepusher-styled drum'n'bass groove may give way to a traditional North Indian tabla interlude, in turn dissolving into some Miles "Live Evil" type electric mayhem. Over the past few years (under the tutelage of member Brahim Fribgane, who hails from Casablanca) the band has been absorbing Moroccan trance influences and frequently adding this element to the live mix, showcasing Fribgane's mesmerizing oud stylings and Rivard's commanding playing of the Moroccan sintir, a 3 string bass lute used by the Gnawa people, a mystical Sufi brotherhood descended from sub-Saharan slaves brought to Morocco over 500 years ago.

Entretien avec Mike Rivard

01. Est-ce qu'Electric Moroccoland est ta déclaration d'amour au sintir et à l'oud?
En effet, il s'agit d'une lettre d'amour musicale, avec la présence du sintir et de l'oud. Comme ces instruments sont typiques de la musique d'Afrique du Nord, on les utilise en priorité pour rendre hommage aux différents styles que nous aimons, comme le gnawa, la musique berbère et plus particulièrement la musique du grand rais Hadj Belaid («Ambib») & Nass El Ghiwane («Ghir Khoudouni»).

Club d'Elf, un monster-band en transformation perpétuelle
(Portait par Nicolas Ragonneau, pour Paris DJs - fin juin 2011)

Derrière le groupe Club d'Elf se cache le bassiste Mike Rivard. Mais peut-on encore parler de groupe, alors que Rivard a invité plus de 100 musiciens à se joindre à lui depuis les débuts de Club d'Elf en 1998? Cet incroyable collectif (voir cette page pour une liste complète des musiciens) fait du projet davantage une conspiration (ou un vrai club !) qu'un groupe. Tout a commencé lorsque Mike Rivard, un musicien de session très demandé (Morphine, Jon Brion, Aimée Mann parmi tant d'autres) s'est mis à débaucher les musiciens des nombreuses formations avec lesquelles il avait joué pour créer un groupe mutant, en perpétuel mouvement. Tout s'assemblait autour du noyau dur constitué par la section rythmique, à laquelle venait s'ajouter, pour chaque concert, de nombreux invités pour réinterpréter sans cesse, et sous différentes formes, les compositions groovy de Mike Rivard. John Medeski & Billy Martin (de Medeski, Martin & Wood), DJ Logic, Marc Ribot, Skerik, Steven Bernstein ou encore Marco Benevento ont tous participé à l'aventure ces dernières années. Le site jambands.com décrivait ainsi Club d'Elf : "Club d'Elf, c'est Mike Rivard et toute cohorte qui décide de le suivre dans ses périlleuses chimères soniques".

Le groupe se plaît à réaliser des collages de leurs influences diverses. Un morceau commence en drum'n'bass façon Squarepusher, puis cède la place à un interlude joué au tabla traditionnel d'Inde du Nord pour se transformer finalement en chaos sonore à la Miles Davis période électrique. Ces dernières années, Club d'Elf a, sous l'autorité de Brahim Fribgane (de Casablanca), assimilé la transe marocaine et ajouté cet élément sur scène, où Frigbane fait étalage de sa maestria à l'oud, tandis que Rivard joue du sintir marocain. Le sintir (connu aussi sous le nom de guembri) est un luth à trois cordes utilisés par les Gnaouas (des descendants d'esclaves noirs qui vivent au Maroc).

Club d'Elf - Perhapsody: Live At The Lizard Lounge 10/12/2006
(CD) Kufala KUF0185, 2007-07

Tracklisting :
Disc 1 :
01. Intro/Bass Beatbox
02. Sin Gas
03. Perhapsody
04. Life of the Mind
05. Amazing Prelude
06. Berber Song
07. Goblin Garden
08. The Tingler
09. Hungry Ghosts
Disc 2 :
01. Cave Man
02. That is My Voice
03. Salvia pt. i
04. Salvia pt. ii
05. Jar of Hair
06. Softly
07. Sand

Info :
When Club d'Elf released its first studio CD of its nine years of existence in 2006, it was only fitting that the band should hold its official release party at the Lizard Lounge, where it had been playing most every other Thursday since '98.

For this special evening leader Mike Rivard gathered together a heavyweight ensemble consisting of MMW keyboardist John Medeski, the dual guitars of Dave Tronzo (Daniel Lanois/Sex Mob) and Duke Levine (Shawn Colvin/Jonatha Brooke), Mister Rourke (Soulive) on turntables and samples, and original d'Elf drummer Erik Kerr.

Joining this stellar cast (with Rivard on electric and acoustic basses and the Moroccan sintir) were horn players Tom Hall, Tom Halter (Either/Orchestra) and Sam Kininger (Soulive).

Fortunately the music that evening was recorded, captured in all of it's detail on multi-track. The result is a live release that sounds like a studio release - Perhapsody, the band's seventh release on L.A.-based Kufala.

The album captures the intense energy that d'Elf bring to their live shows, which have become the stuff of legend, featuring telepathic improvisations adorning relentless grooves, played by musicians at the top of their craft.

Links :
clubdelf.com
blog.clubdelf.com
myspace.com/clubdelf
kufala.com/artists/show.php?catnum=190
Buy it on homegrownmusic.net

Discography :
As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge (2000, Grapeshot/Live Archive)
Vassar Chapel 02/26/2001 (2004, Kufala Recordings)
Athens, GA 03/28/2002 (2004, Kufala Recordings)
NYC 04/20/2000 (2004, Kufala Recordings)
Live: Tonic, NYC 5/26/2004 (2005, Kufala Recordings)
Gravity All Nonsense Now (2005, Kufala Recordings)
100 Years Of Flight (2005, Kufala Recordings)
Now I Understand (2006, Accurate/Hi-N-Dry)
Perhapsody (2007, Kufala Recordings)

Benevento/ Russo Duo - Play Pause Stop (Reincarnate Music) parisdjs
Bonobo - Days To Come (Ninja Tune) parisdjs
Burnt Friedman & Jaki Liebezeit - Secret Rhythms 2 (Nonplace) parisdjs
Club d'Elf - Perhapsody - Live 10.12.06 (Kufala) parisdjs
Loka - Fire Shepherds (Ninja Tune) parisdjs
Psyco - There Must Be A Revolution Somewhere (Mind) parisdjs
Radio Citizen - Berlin Serengetti (Ubiquity) parisdjs
Scotty Hard John Medeski, Matthew Shipp's Radical Reconstructive Surgery (Thirsty Ear) parisdjs
The Slip - Eisenhower (Bar/None) parisdjs
Tommy Guerrero - From The Soil To The Soul (Quannum) parisdjs

Club d'Elf - Now I Understand
(CD) Accurate Records, 2006-09-12

Tracklisting :
01. Introduction
02. Bass Beat Box | Go download MP3
03. Hungry Ghosts
04. Quilty
05. Vishnu Dub
06. Toy for a Boy
07. Luminous Things
08. What Would Cthulhu Do?
09. Now I Understand
10. And Shadow Saw the Gods
11. Wet Bones [Extended]
12. Vision of Kali
13. Just Kiddin

Info :
This legendary underground dub/jazz/Moroccan/trance/electronica group led by bassist Mike Rivard (Morphine, The Story) has held an eight-year residency at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. The group has garnered critical praise, drawn sold-out crowds, and topped local polls in jazz, DJ, electronica, and jam band categories. Features John Medeski & Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin & Wood), DJ Logic, Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie), Mat Maneri, Duke Levine (Shawn Colvin), Alain Mallet (Paul Simon), Mister Rourke (Soulive), and more.

Links :
clubdelf.com
myspace.com/clubdelf
accuraterecords.com
Listen to a Medley of the album