Aug 29, 2011 By Laura Studarus

It’s deceptively easy to see the career of French musician Serge Gainsbourg as one continuous punchline. With his distinctive vocal style—a muttered sing-speech—parodied almost into oblivion since his rise to popularity in the 1960s, the inclusion of his music in film or television seems to automatically indicate the horny bachelor, the ill-conceived seduction, or (horror of horrors) hipsters aiming to embrace kitsch with both hands. Last night at the Hollywood Bowl however, cool was the name of the game—as Beck, Zola Jesus, Victoria Legrand (of Beach House), Mike Patton, Ed Droste (of Grizzly Bear), The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Lulu Gainsbourg, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, sang, spoke and cooed their tributes to the late performer. More