Pascal Comelade -- What's the dilly yo?

I can't recommend you enough this French artist! Look for the 1990's Cent Regards LP that was recently re-edited on CD with 4 bonus tracks. (G3G is the music label for this CD if I am not wrong (it's a spanish label I think))

Pascal Comelade was born in 1955 and raised in Montpellier, where his father worked at the local psychiatric hospital. He now lives in the Pyrenees area of France and has made over 30 albums in 20 years. He's very interested in outsider music, and was impressed by hearing the way schizophrenics in his father's care played the accordion. He records at home, using toy pianos, plastic guitars. He sometimes works with Pierre Bastien, whose excellent album 'Mecanoid' has something of the same 'mechanical sequencer' feel, as though MIDI had been invented in the 19th century (in a way it was, with the roll piano). (F.S. Blumm of Sack and Blumm has also explored this 'mechanical sequencer' idea.)

Robert Wyatt sings the title track on Comelade's 'September Song' album, which came out around 2000. It's a really beautiful record, classic Comelade: imagine instrumental Tom Waits numbers played on tiny toy instruments, a certain wistful and cute carnival atmosphere, the sound of little whirring machines, music boxes, xylophones, mechanical monkeys. It's filmic, soundtracky music with a European feel.

I got a copy of one of his albums (the one with PJ Harvey). And this is definitely my discovery of the year.

Brilliant!