Festivals 2020: -M- and Black Eyed Peas for Solidays

Another of France's major summer festivals has confirmed some more of the names on its bill, with Solidays, one of the big events in Paris, listing the more names to appear at this year's event.

The biggest new international name is Black Eyed Peas, following the recent success of Ritmo. While WIll I Am might be a household name in the UK, due to his regular appearance on The Voice UK, he's not one of the judges of the show in France where he's perhaps known for his music, tracks like I've got a feeling and Where is the love being massive hits in France as they were elsewhere.

Metronomy and The Black Madonna are among the new acts announced.

Already confirmed at the top of the bill is -M-,  who has been touring in support of last year's Lettre Infinie album. He's got shows in arenas all over France in May, and also plays at some of the country's other summer events including Main Square festival, in June and July. He's also at the O2 Brixton Academy in London in April.

Laurent Garnier, Aya Nakamura, Deluxe , Niska,  Zola and Videoclub and are among others who were confirmed earlier. Others will be added in the coming months.

It's the 22nd edition of the festival, an event that combines activism as much as music. This year it's taking place on June 19 - 21 at Hippodrome de Longchanps.

Tickets go on sale on February 6.

Noir Désir - Débranche

A low-key collection of previously-unreleased recordings by legendary French act Noir Désir has emerged, ten years after the band ceased to exist after singer Bertrand Cantat was imprisoned for the killing of his partner.

Cantat was convicted in 2004 of the killing of actress Marie Trintignant in Lithuania, and sentenced to eight years in jail he was released in 2007. The following year Noir Désir made hesitant steps to resume their career, but only two more tracks emerged before it was confirmed that the band would not continue.

Débranché, a double live acoustic album features two separate sessions from 1997 and 2002. Both sets feature the songs in intimate acoustic settings.

The first disc features a session recorded for Italian radio while the band were promoting their Des visages des figures album. It features seven songs,  Si rien ne bouge, Le vent nous portera, L’homme pressé, Des visages des figures, Les écorchés, À l'envers à l'endroit and Song for JLP.

The second disc a shorter 45rpm 12'' features four tracks,  Un jour en France, Fin de siècle, Song for JLP and Back to You, and was recorded for TV show Much Electric in Argentina during the band's  666.667 Club tour.

For a band like Noir Désir, the recordings capture the band at the peak of their craft and their popularity, and even now ten years after they split they remain hugely influential and popular.

But there's been little by way of archive raiding by the record company, with 2011's Soyons désinvoltes, n'ayons l'air de rie compilation of hits and rarities marking their last release until now.

Obviously, there are complex and unaddressed issues regarding whether it's right or not to release material that benefit's Cantat, who now performs as a solo artist, but who remains at the centre of the debate on whether rehabilitation is possible for such a high-profile artist.

The new album's had a discrete release, no supporting interviews or videos and it's only available on vinyl and streaming. There aren't even any pictures of the band on the packaging.

It looks like the record company are taking sensible steps to steer a difficult course between the demand for material from a much-loved and fondly-remembered act, and the very hard reality of what Canat did.

Is it right to enjoy archive Noir Désir in 2020 in light of their subsequent history? That's not a question that's easy to answer.