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Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzales

Room 29

Deutsche Grammophon

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Chilly Gonzales & Jarvis Cocker - Room 29 (Teaser)
1 Room 29  
2 Marmont Overture  
3 Tearjerker  
4 Interlude 1 Hotel Stationery  
5 Clara  
6 Bombshell  
7 Belle Boy  
8 Howard Hughes Under the Microscope  
9 Salome  
10 Interlude 2 - 5 Hours a Day  
11 Daddy, You're Not Watching Me  
12 The Other Side  
13 The Tearjerker Returns  
14 A Trick of the Light  
15 Room 29 (Reprise)  
16 Ice Cream as Main Course  
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Compelling new Deutsche Grammophon album Room 29, a unique collaboration between Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales, asks what the ghosts of Hollywood's golden age can tell us about how we came to be where we are today

Standing at the west end of Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, the Chateau Marmont hotel has seen many a famous and infamous guest pass through its doors since it opened in 1929. A 2012 stay in one of its second-floor rooms inspired British lyricist and singer Jarvis Cocker to look into its history and led to this collaborative project with multi-faceted Canadian pianist and composer Chilly Gonzales. Room 29, a 21st-century song cycle, is set for release on Deutsche Grammophon on 17 March. Gonzales' score and Cocker's lyrics conjure up the lives of some of Room 29's previous occupants, as well as shining a light on the glittering fantasy and often bleak reality of Hollywood.

"If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont," noted Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Pictures, in 1939. Jarvis Cocker was intrigued by the hotel's links to the history of the film industry. He found the key to creativity in the fact that Room 29 contained a baby-grand piano. What if it could "sing" of the life stories and events it had witnessed? The idea also ignited Chilly Gonzales's imagination, and both artists embarked on a three-year journey of artistic discovery, unearthing details about guests such as Jean Harlow, Mark Twain's daughter Clara, and Los Angeles mobster Meyer Cohen, alias "Mickey the Haberdasher". As well as dramatising some of those stories, their songs capture both the essential loneliness of the hotel room and the ways in which moving images have "moved" people in ways they don't quite understand. Gonzales and Cocker have drawn on the 19th-century model of the song cycle for a structure capable of containing the broad sweep of emotions and states of mind elicited by the real and imaginary dramas of one unusual hotel suite. Room 29 emerges as metaphor for a place within each of us, home to our deepest desires and fantasies.

  • On 'Gonzo' Chilly Gonzales has a lot to get off his chest. Isle of Man - New Release of the Week
    Posted At: September 15, 2024
    Pianist, composer and entertainer Chilly Gonzales is no ordinary musician. Originally from Canada, he has broken a Guinness world record for the longest solo piano concert, scored a Grammy for his contribution to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and seamlessly switches from working with Boys Noize to Feist to Drake. In 2018, Gonzales launched his Gonzervatory, a travelling and all-expenses paid music scho...

  • From Aznavour to Daft Punk, Chilly Gonzales celebrates French heritage / France 24
    Posted At: September 14, 2023
    Charles Aznavour, Daft Punk, but also Richard Clayderman: for his first album in French, the elusive Chilly Gonzales cites in his songs pillars of his pantheon, all of whom he rubbed shoulders with.France 24 writes….It's hard to imagine, but the Canadian, who appeared in the early 2000s with his hip-hop/electro DIY, was in demand as an arranger for Charles Aznavour. Story that inspires "Gangstavour", track ...

  • Jarvis Cocker, Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway converge for a scene in 'Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire'
    Posted At: July 18, 2023
    “For three days we had people screaming at us as if we were The Beatles”: Jarvis Cocker on the time that Pulp and Radiohead formed a supergroup to appear in a Harry Potter filmPulp’s Jarvis Cocker enlisted Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway for a scene in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of FireLOUDER's Niall Doherty writes….Pulp are just coming off the back of a run of triumphant, raptu...

  • Chilly Gonzales promises 'a Jazz in Marciac show that will go in all directions' / Khabar Nonstop
    Posted At: July 28, 2022
    Khabar Nonstop's Neha Rajeshvari writes……Chilly Gonzales opens the Jazz in Marciac evening this Tuesday, July 26, opening for Marcus Miller. The pianist is planning an unprecedented concert full of surprises. Dressed in a bathrobe and wearing slippers, pianist and singer Chilly Gonzales fills concert halls around the world. Renowned for his compositions and his talents as showman, he is on the stage of the ...

  • Jarvis Cocker reads Richard Brautigan tale; 'Times Square In Montana' in new bedtime stories series / NME
    Posted At: April 6, 2020

    Jarvis Cocker has shared a reading of Times Square In Montana by Richard Brautigan to keep fans entertained during the coronavirus outbreak. The first offering in his new Bedtime Stories series on Instagram, Cocker's post sees him reading Brautigan's short in his recognisable Sheffield tones. "The calm after the storm: I know it can be hard getting off to sleep at night at the moment so, as of tonight, I...

  • Chilly Gonzales is back on the road and headed to Montreal for the new year / TheSuburban
    Posted At: December 25, 2019

    After welcoming artists for two weeks for his "Gonzervatory" workshop in Koln, Chilly Gonzales is back on the road and will be in Montreal on Monday, January 13 and Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at the Théâtre Saint-Denis. Chilly Gonzales, Grammy-winning Canadian pianist and entertainer currently living in Europe, is known as much for the intimate piano touch of best-selling albums Solo Pia...

  • Chilly Gonzales has it all worked out / Forbes
    Posted At: August 23, 2018

    How do you follow a Grammy-winning album? Chilly Gonzales, who won the award with his friends Daft Punk for Random Access Memories, has it all worked out. He took the lead of rapper billionaires and started his own full-service music company. He set up his own international academy and got a little help from his friends such as Pulp star Jarvis Cocker and singer Peaches. He collaborated with everyone fro...

  • New York Public Radio's 'New Sounds' features Chilly Gonzales
    Posted At: July 25, 2018

    Listen to piano music by producer/composer/pianist Chilly Gonzales, Meredith Monk & Christopher Cerrone, and more.  Sample some piano music by Canadian-born, German-based producer/composer/pianist Chilly Gonzales. Classically-trained, he's lately been working with Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) on a collection of art songs - Room 29. Also, hear music of the American southwest by Peter Garland, inspire...

  • Chilly Gonzales announces UK shows / Complete Music Update
    Posted At: May 20, 2018

    Have you ever seen Chilly Gonzales live? Oh, you must. He's just announced four new UK shows in September, so that's just perfect. He really is very good. I haven't seen him in ages, actually. Do you mind if I tag along with you? I'll buy you a snack. The shows will see him performing some of his solo piano pieces, before being joined on stage by cellist Stella Le Page and drummer Joe Flory. Dates includ...

  • Jarvis Cocker announces UK tour dates - billboard
    Posted At: March 14, 2018

    Jarvis Cocker's last full-fledged solo album Further Complications came out almost a full nine years ago. Of course, the Britpop legend is always still around, frequently guesting on other people's songs (like Feist's), teaming with Iggy Pop to cover Nick Cave, or pursuing idiosyncratic whims like Room 29, his sorta spoken word concept record collab with Chilly Gonzales about the a particular suite ...

  • Shut Up and Play the Piano, a natural choice for a Berlinale world premiere / The Hollywood Reporter
    Posted At: February 20, 2018

    Self-styled genius and musical prankster Chilly Gonzales is the focus of Philipp Jedicke's career-spanning documentary. Piano virtuoso, serial collaborator and self-declared genius, Jason Beck is a singular figure on the music scene. Fully immersed in his outsized alter ego of Chilly Gonzales, this Canadian cult star blurs the lines between rapper and classical composer, performance artist and punk p...

  • Chilly Gonzales, Jarvis Cocker - Room 29 makes Under the Radar magazine's 'Top 100 Albums of 2017'
    Posted At: December 31, 2017

    2017 was a damn fine year for music, which helped get Under the Radar magazine all through the anxiety of the daily news cycle. Here they present their favorite 100 albums from the tens of thousands full-lengths released in the last 12 months. Coming in at #49 was Chilly Gonzales and Jarvis Cocker - Room 29 on DG. Standing at the west end of Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, the Chateau Marmont ...

  • Jarvis Cocker calls bingo in Belfast / Belfast Telegraph
    Posted At: November 27, 2017

    Attendees at a social club in east Belfast on Saturday night were treated to a surprise when Britpop icon Jarvis Cocker stepped in to take over bingo calling duties. The ex-Pulp frontman was appearing at the God's Waiting Room club night held by Belfast DJ David Holmes at the Ulster Maple Leaf Sports & Social Club. Cocker had been doing a DJ set in one of the rooms with David Holmes while singer ...

  • Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales describe how a hotel room became an album / BBC News
    Posted At: August 25, 2017

    Standing at the west end of Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, the Chateau Marmont hotel has seen many a famous and infamous guest pass through its doors since it opened in 1929. A 2012 stay in one of its second-floor rooms - Room 29, inspired British lyricist and singer Jarvis Cocker to look into its history and led to this collaborative song cycle project and album on DG with multi-faceted Can...

  • Jarvis Cocker - Wireless Nights comes to ABC's 'Double J'
    Posted At: August 11, 2017

    The ultimate late night radio show is coming to Double J, as Jarvis Cocker's Wireless Nights takes over the airwaves every Thursday night for the next six weeks. The program is a celebration of the night, where the much-adored Pulp frontman takes us on a dark adventure, finding stories of the night people and exploring the battle between the forces of darkness and light. It's a nocturnal examinat...

  • Edinburgh Festival & Edinburgh Fringe celebrates 70 years / STV News
    Posted At: August 4, 2017

    The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are both celebrating seven decades of performances. They begin today - Friday Aug 4 and will run until Monday, August 28 as the Scottish capital plays host to the largest arts jamboree in the world. This year will bring more than 2000 diverse artists from 40 nations together with a line-up that features theatre, dance and music,...

  • Jarvis Cocker | Chilly Gonzales - Room 29 makes Under The Radar Magazine's 'Top 50 Albums of 2017'
    Posted At: July 20, 2017

    In the past we've avoided posting midyear best albums lists. It seemed somehow impatient and premature to evaluate the year's albums halfway through. And how do you decide which period the list covers, which arbitrary release date do you work out is the cut off point, as every midyear list seems to cover a different period? But 2017 is a year that demands a partial evaluation. The first half of t...

  • Chilly Gonzales and Jarvis Cocker collaborate for 'Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything' at MAC / exclaim!*@#
    Posted At: June 16, 2017

    Last year, we learned that an elaborate exhibition honouring Leonard Cohen would be opening in the late singer's hometown at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC). Now, more details of the upcoming project, dubbed Leonard Cohen – Une brèche en toute chose (or A Crack in Everything), have been revealed. The exhibition will open on November 9 - one year after Coh...

  • Sony Classical signs Francesco Tristano
    Posted At: May 25, 2017

    Sony Classical announces the exclusive signing of Francesco Tristano, a musician as acclaimed for his performances of Bach in the concert hall as for his electronic dance music in clubland. His first album, featuring the award-winning Canadian pianist and songwriter Chilly Gonzales, will be released in September 2017. Born in Luxembourg in 1981, Tristano began to learn the piano at the age of five. I...

  • Jarvis Cocker introduces Pierre Henry's - Liverpool Mass 50 years after commission / YourMove
    Posted At: May 16, 2017

    Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker introduced a unique electronic music concert at Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral – 50 years after it was originally commissioned. Pierre Henry's ‘The Liverpool' Mass presented by Bluecoat was performed by the electronic pioneer's collaborator Thierry Balasse as part of the cathedral's golden jubilee celebrations. Pierre was commissioned to compose music for the i...

  • BBC Proms 2017 'relaxed concerts' include Jarvis Cocker, Nicola Benedetti & Simon Rattle / Evening Standard
    Posted At: April 21, 2017

    BBC Proms 2017 - relaxed concerts will take place in venues outside of the Royal Albert Hall once again, including Tate Tanks and Wilton's Music Hall. Proms audiences will be able to walk around the Royal Albert Hall, make as much noise as they like and hang out in "chill-out areas" at the event's first ever relaxed concert. Jarvis Cocker, Nicola Benedetti and Sir Simon Rattle are among artists ...
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