When you start a music project in 1982 and then, after several other projects, you start a new one in 2010, it means that you devoted your life to music. If, meanwhile, you worked with EBM legend Front 242, with France's most awarded artist of ‘Victoires de la Musique', Alain Bashung, and have created soundtracks as varied as "Baywatch" and "The Thorn Birds", and still, on and off, work in video and computer game soundtracks, that means, without any reserve, that you know the ropes of the music industry. And, still without any reserve that you go under the name of Jean-Marc Lederman or Jimmyjoe Snark III. We like the Jean-Marc part, and that you are going to see in our artist-of-the-month piece, occasioned by Mr. Lederman's new project, La femme verte, out November, 9.

Few artists rise to the expectations of an ever-changing environment such as the music industry. Says Jean-Marc Lederman, even if in 1985 he had a project music going, namely Kid Montana, and another one on the way, the long-lived Weathermen, and mustered a certain interest in computers, he did not think of composing music for video and computer games would end up being a productive and creative niche of his life in music. It goes the same about TV soundtracks. If shows poles apart such as "Baywatch" and "The Thorn Birds" used The Weathermen music composed by Jean-Marc, it must be because of its polyvalent sound and ability to move from one realm to another, from a certain imagery to another.

The Weathermen is Jean-Marc Lederman's project with the utmost longevity. Its EBM tempo and creed saw the onset and downfall of many musical genres and bands, in its history between 1985 and 2007. However, the latest album from the band which included in its history no more and no less than 11 engineers, producers, musicians and live technicians, namely "The Last Communique from the Weathermen [?]",  preserves, in Jean-Marc's words, the notion that ‘all doors are open, (...) but I think that the Weathermen had their moment and now it's time to move on'. For an artist that dealt in the past with Fad Gadget and Joy Division, as well as remixed Front 242, the versatility of projects is in the blood: Man-Dello, Ether, and Jules and Jim are just a few of the music projects Jean-Marc boasts in his CV.

While for many artists 2010 is a moment to sit down and reflect on how it is a pity that their zest and creativity made in the 1980's has somehow withered in the course of time, Jean-Marc Lederman says to Viva Music that he never stopped thinking forward, exploring new ways. With an ever-shifting scene, but with refined product features and always handier means of production and dissemination, Jean-Marc has not given up. Two of his current projects, beside his solid career in video and computer games, generate buzz in 2010, just to prove that if you have the outlook and the tools, time is of no consequence in your career. A know-how project with Seabound's Frank Spinath, mastered by Front 242's Daniel B., Ghost & Writer will release in January 2011 the album "Shipwrecks". Designed as a mirrored structure of 8 tracks and 8 renditions, it has a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde quality to it: ‘both Frank and I are involved in different bands and projects, so there are some elements we put in here and not there, maybe because that is not the right project for it, and in that sense, there is a Dr. Jeckyll aspect to how we behave', confessed Jean-Marc to Viva Music.

As if this project weren't spectacular just as it is, Jean-Marc Lederman does musical chairs with a number of artists on another project, La Femme Verte. Already available as a digital download from the project's dedicated site, the ensemble album "Small Distortions" gives Jean-Marc the chance to work with artists he had been in artistic labor with before, such as Julianne Regan and Jay Aston, but also with eight different artists, being an exercise in community and conjugated effort. Alongside the free digital download, the album will be released on November, 8, both as a digipack and classical disc from record shops. You can already read our review of the album on Viva Music's site darkwave.ro. 

We do not know what to expect from such a creative artist, and we probably do not want to. Knowing his commitment to embracing new technologies and new solidarities on the music scene, we know, however, that we are going to hear again from Jean-Marc Lederman. And wish everyone heard from him, too.

JEAN-MARC LEDERMAN's official site

JEAN-MARC LEDERMAN on Facebook

La Femme Verte

Ghost & Writer

The Weathermen