Since the 1990s, Manu Barron has been a figure in the contemporary music scene: a former graphic designer, music curator for the venue Aéronef in Lille and numerous festivals: Dour, Printemps de Bourges, Global Techno, founder of various cultural venues (La Condition Publique in Roubaix, the Social Club, Silencio, Wanderlust in Paris), director of cultural action at Fnac, talent scout (The Blaze , Brodinski, Gesaffelstein to name a few), he is also behind the creation of Savoir-Faire, which, since 2008, has established itself as one of the most fascinating artistic management entities in France and Animal63 label (in partnership with Believe) house of artists such as Johan Papaconstantino, Para One, Myth Syzer and Blu Samu.
Our recent chat with Manu discusses his favourite campaigns and talks about the overlaps between visual creativity and music.
IM LOVING
When I read the question, it made me realise two things:
1) I still listen to a lot of music that isn’t work related. So that’s good news for sure.
2) I pretty much don’t listen to any new music. Maybe that’s good news too.
So I would say the records currently gracing my record player and Spotify at the moment include:
- Lucifer on the Moon. Spoon’s legendary album remixed in its entirety by the timelessly brilliant Adrian Sherwood.
- Anything by Lester Robert Folsom, the obscure American artist hailing from Georgia, who was rediscovered by the really good Anthology Recordings.
- Misha Sultan and any new releases from my friend Glen’s new record label called Patience.
- The song In a Manner of Speaking by Tuxedomoon.
- The live version of The Last Song by Trisomie 21.
- The album Laughing Stock by Talk Talk, a forgotten masterpiece.
- The song Requiem Again by The Durutti Column.
- The song Baltimore by Nina Simone.
Ok, I’ll stop now. However, I’m incapable of telling you why but these songs give me goosebumps.
FAVOURITE VIDEO
I don’t really have a favourite music video, I don’t really watch them to be honest. That said, there is one scene from a video that still haunts me. It’s in Rabbit In Your Headlights by UNKLE, at 4 minutes 20 seconds. Denis Lavant is an incredible actor. The video is by Jonathan Glazer, who is an extremely interesting filmmaker, even if he’s been described as “promising” for a long time now.
BEST ARTWORK
I’ve spent my whole life buying albums for their artwork, without even listening to the records. That pretty much sums up my whole childhood. I loved the record covers so much that I would convince myself that I liked the music. It’s too hard to pick my favourite. So instead, I’m going to pick one that’s really stands out from the rest. I think it has to be Armed Forces by Elvis Costello. It’s a masterpiece by Barney Bubbles who is the greatest graphic designer/artist in the history of popular music. It’s crazy what this guy came up with in the space of his short life. His covers for Hawkwind are also pretty amazing.
COLLABORATION
For me, working with brands is always a violation. I don’t work with brands. We only sell rights to works that have already been created. I refuse to “create” content for a brand.
Instead, I’ll tell you about a campaign for the Re#Start collective which looks after and supports women in difficulty and/or victims of violence. It’s a project produced by our friends at Iconoclast. We gave the rights to a piece by Enfant Sauvage, the solo project of Guillaume Alric from The Blaze.
HOTTEST RECENT VIDEO
I'm going to have to do a bit of self-promotion here, considering that I don’t watch other music videos ;) I would say Pursuit by Gesaffelstein and Madly by The Blaze.
LOGO LOVE
It’s funny because it’s something I often talk about with my artists and my team. There aren’t that many “logos” in the history of popular music, so it’s quite rare to find one that remains throughout an artist’s career. But without a doubt, I’d say the Cramps’ logo, with Stray Cats coming in a close second.
GO FOLLOW
I had to check because I don’t really follow any musicians on Instagram, I mainly follow visual artists or friends. I think the only two musician’s Instagram accounts that I think are cool are Kid Congo Power and Tekilatex.
ICONIC PHOTO
The photo on the cover of Pacific Street by The Pale Fountains. It’s a picture of Gabor Deak, a young Hungarian during the 1956 uprising, which was taken by Mario di Biasi. The young man received 20 years in prison after being arrested during the insurrection.
