Shane MacGowan and Alan Stivell

 There have been plenty of obituaries for Shane MacGowan over recent days, some good, some bad. All giving him the credit he deserved and probably could have heard more of during his career. 

I saw The Pogues live a couple of times, and when living in Paris in the 90s was friendly with a mainly Irish crowd, for whom The Pogues - by then separated from MacGwan who was forging a career as a solo artist- were a landmark of recent Irish musical culture.

It was during these years that MacGowan would work with Alan Stivell, a French musician who was always ready to celebrate the celtic connections between Brittany, Ireland, and the other celtic nations.

Shane MacGowan appeared on two tracks on Stivell's Again album, a collection that saw him revisit earlier work, this time in collaboration with other artists. Three tracks featured MagGowan, Tri Martelot, Suite Sudarmoricaine and The Foggy Dew.

Many artists who worked with MacGown or who knew him have paid tribute to his unique talent, Stivell among them. 

He wrote: "It was a great gift he gave me, and for me a tip of the hat to these punk musicians to whom we owe their participation in a new Celtic wave that was about to emerge. 

"His iconoclastic way of interpreting Irish songs, the opposite of an almost classical polished approach, seduced me like many people." 

They worked together shortly after MacGowan parted from The Pogues, the collaboration probably being a welcome opportunity for him in what was no doubt an uncertain time. 

If it's a footnote to an extraordinary career and the life of a unique artist, it's a worthy one.

David Hallyday sings Johnny Hallyday

With the previously unreleased track Un Cri, the collection of later years' songs Made in Rock‘n’Roll, and a major exhibition opening in Paris later this month, Johnny Hallyday’s presence in French music remains a towering one despite his death six years ago today.

There’s not been an artist since who has come close to filling the space he occupied, and while posthumous releases, repackages and live recordings have fed the demand for new material, there’s not been any heir to his throne. Maybe now it’s time, and maybe the successor to Le Roi is the obvious one after all. Six years is, after all, a decent enough time for things to move on, for Johnny’s legacy to be celebrated and to continue.

David Hallyday's website makes the unambiguous claim: "Only one man can claim the legitimacy and talent to re-light the fire on stage and pit the name “Hallyday” back in the hearts of millions of fans."

Step forward the son of Johnny Hallyday and the equally legendary Sylvie Vartan, with a cover of one of his father’s best-loved songs and the confirmation of a major tour by Hallyday (Jr) next year, preceded by an album of covers of Hallyday (Sr)’s songs.

If there’s any question of whether or not David Halliday has the right to this kind of project, it’s worth remembering his involvement in Johnny’s 1999 Sang Pour Sang album, arguably one of Johnny’s finest later collections. David Halliday co-wrote every song on it, from some of Johnny’s best-know later works like the title track, Vivre Pour le Meilleur and Un Jour Viendra, as well as lesser-known classics like Quelques Cris. Johnny Hallyday’s discography can be an intimidating one that’s difficult to approach on account not only of its size but also of the occasional lapses in quality that often plagued his work, but Sang Pour Sang is beyond reproach.

David Hallyday has a long-established career as a singer stretching back to the mid-80s, his first album True Cool emerging in 1988. He’s sustained that career since, his most recent album Imagine Un Monde released in 2020. While there’s no denying that his heritage may have opened a few doors for him early in his career, his success has been largely on his own terms. Few other offspring of household-name musicians have enjoyed careers as long as David Hallyday has done.

Earlier this year he unveiled the song Le Plus Heureux des Hommes as a homage to his father, the song one he had originally written for his father to perform. The original plan was for this and other songs he had written for an abandoned follow-up to Sang Pour Sang to be included on David Hallyday’s next album, but the project subsequently evolved into an album of covers of well-known Johnny Hallyday numbers rather than ones that were left on the shelf.

The new version of Requiem Pour un Fou is lightly updated with a modern electronic flavour, but at its heart doesn’t stray far from the original. It’s made clear that David has a voice that, albeit very different from his father, can carry the song. No small task with one of Johnny’s best-known power ballads.

David Hallyday’s album, also titled Requiem Pour un Fouis expected sometime in 2024, and a tour will take place in November and December. A date in Paris at the Dôme de Paris - Palais des Sports is scheduled for November 12 2024. It’s a venue his father knew well, with numerous live albums recorded there over his career.

If there’s to be a new chapter in the Hallyday story to be written, David Hallyday is more qualified than anyone else to author it.

Gwendoline: Conspire

A quick summing up of where we are at the end of 2023 and where we might be going in 2024 from Gwendoline.

The track comes from the forthcoming second album C'est à moi ça from the Breton duo of Pierre Barrett and Mickaël Olivette, a piece where cold wave synths collide with a dispassionate narration and a punk attitude, irony and anger. They describe it as a “Gloomy inventory and review of the setbacks of a kamikaze humanity which seems to be heading straight towards catastrophe.”

Meanwhile, the video - a whirlwind of images that bears repeated watching in case you missed anything, manages to look simultaneously like a slickly produced marketing campaign and a hand-made video collage made from flicking through cable TV channels.

The notes on the video contents make a pretty detailed read:

Millitary parade at the Kremlin, military parade in North Korea, 14^th July military parade, influencers in Dubai, abattoirs, Amazon deforestation, self-defence classes, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany (Former mayor of Levallois-Perret who was sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion), the CRS (French riot police) in Burger King, champagne in a night club, rich people in Courcheval, the CRS in the Jungle camp in Calais, the CRS with the Gilets Jaunes, military parade in China, the G7, security guards in France, the war in Iraq, Americans and pollution, pollution in India, the worst prisons in America, the Ku Klux Klan, America’s passion for firearms, women in Saudi Arabia, the Le Pen/Darmanin debate, Black Friday in France, England and the USA, fights outside night clubs, jet skis and yachts, Russians fighting, Donal Trumo visiting the Queen of England, Altice (French media/communications company) on the stock market, boat party, Cop 27, famine in Africa, Palestine, Didier Lallement (politician and former Paris Chief of Police) , Syria, refugees on the Turkish border, the CRS, (former Prime Minister) François Fillon

Gwendoline’s debut LP Après C’est Gobelet! was released in 2020 and re-issued two years later, with Saint​-​Valentin released as a stand-alone track in February this year.

C'est à moi ça is released on March 1 2024. Keep a note of it for your album of the year list for this time next year.

Jane Birkin: Oh! pardon tu dormais... Le live

 A final release from the much-missed Jane Birkin, with a double CD and DVD Oh! pardon tu dormais... Le Live released next month.

She had been scheduled to return to live performances in Paris last summer at L’Olympia and La Cigale, but her shows were cancelled for health reasons.  

Birkin died in her Paris home in July last year aged 76. Few have ever achieved the kind of iconic status she attained.

Her last album Oh! Pardon tu Dormais was released in 2020, the documentary Jane by Charlotte, directed by her daughter, came out the following year.

The new release documents a live show that followed the release of her last studio album.

FFF - Les Magazines

 A return for French act FFF with their first album in 23 years expected at the end of November.

FFF were huge in the ‘90s, their self-titled album and singles Barbès and Le Pire et le Meilleur making a massive impact, the band picking up a Victoire de la Musique award in ’97. They called a halt in 2001, their most recent album until now Vierge coming out the previous year.

Marco Prince had been a judge on the TV music show Nouvelle Star, while Yarol Poupaud played guitar with Johnny Hallyday, so they weren’t by any means idle over the years.

There has been the occasional tour, and single in 2017, but finally, a ten-track album I Scream is due for release next month.

The track Les Magazines has emerged to herald its arrival.

Meanwhile, there will be a tour in March and April next year, with eight shows confirmed so far, with the first date in La Rochelle on March 15 before going on to Nantes, La Roche sur Yon, St Lo., Istres, Montpellier, St Etienne and the Olympia in Paris on April 3.  

Taste: their new EP

W-a-y back in January this year I featured the track Bang Bang Bang by Taste, looking forward to their

first release in February.

Well, in our absence Taste have been busy and delivered the goods. The Taste EP emerged in February, with both Bang Bang Bang and its predecessor Shame Game along with three other tracks hitting like Depeche Mode fronted by Nick Cave let loose in a late ‘70s Berlin studio with some of Kraftwerk’s leftover kit.

Taste consists of La Mverte and Yan Wagner, both names you should know for their dark electronica, reinforced with Guillaume Marnez and Marc FKClub.

They’ve now delivered another EP, the charmingly titled four-track Pants Shitters that includes both Pile of Guilt and Walking Home, two tracks released over the past few months.

There’s something of the late ‘70s Bowie and Iggy Pop cool here, with a dark menace not too far below the surface. It’s sophisticated and polished, but at the same time unsettling, in the best possible way. It should be blasting out the speakers in the early hours of the morning through the dry ice of  a haunted nightclub

Meanwhile, the recycling of ‘50s American imagery is a simple but effective way of juxtaposing the horrors, real and imaginary, of society alongside the stylishly fantasized version. It may be retro, but it’s more relevant than ever.

Taste’s good for sure.

Indolore: Way Home

Here's something pretty good.

A new single from Indolore released last week hit s a sweet spot, marking the artist's return to his native Paris from his adventure in Nashville earlier this year that produced the Nashville EP.

He's back on home turf for his forthcoming Paris EP, Way Home the first track to emerge,

There's no shortage of songs about Paris, but this one avoids the clichés and taps into a more universal and relatable situation. While a homage to the city, it also speaks of the realisation of who you are, where you need to be, and why you need to be there. It might be a simple song, but it carries some weight and carries it with ease.

And yes, maybe the cover image of him walking in a corner of Paris I have walked many times makes it seem all the more personal.

In bleak days like this, a bit of optimism is always welcome, and this hits like a ray of sunshine on a grey day. 

Like any visitor with an exceptional guide, I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of Paris.

Palestine, Israel, Zebda and Une Vie de Moins

There have been plenty of hot takes and opinions about the horror that's been unfolding in Israel and Palestine. No one's really been waiting for mine. 

But needless to say, a massacre at a music festival was one of the most sickening acts of terrorism in recent years. Like the assault on the Bataclan or on Charlie Hebdo, this felt closer than it was. If hte victims were not people I know, they were certainly the kind of people I know. A friend would go to Tel Aviv to go clubbing, close family have been in Israel and Palestine several times. People I know will have family and friends there, on either side of the security fence. The world is a smaller place now than it ever was.

And so the second chapter begins; the war on Gaza. I have no doubt that Israelis have the right to live in peace and security, as we all do. And those responsible for the terrorist atrocity deserve to be punished. 

But the deaths of the innocent shame us all. The only side we should back unequivocably in a conflict is the side of humanity. 

Perhaps the Russian invasion of Ukraine unleashed the idea that absolute barbarism is now an acceptable face of conflict. It's not and it never will be. 

Zebda released Une Vie de Moins in 2012, a song telling the story of a young life in Gaza. At the time it provoked the anger of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France, who said it promoted hatred toward Israel, but it gives no credit to extremists and doesn't defend the likes of Hamas. 

Instead, it focuses on the life lived by young people in Palestine, from their point of view, where wanting a peaceful existence and wanting to leave isn't an option as the conflict too often comes to them with fatal consequences.

Silmarils: Welcome to America (and welcome back!)

Digging through a box of old CDs recently, I came across a copy of the debut album by Silmarils, a

self-titled album released in ’95. they were from the Paris area, and if I remember it right, they gave a decent rock/rap crossover thing. I’d not listened to it in years, it had kind of fallen through the cracks and I'd kind of forgotten the details of what it sounded like, but I knew I must have liked it as I’d held on to it since.

So it was time I gave it a blast again.

 

On first impression, it’s very much of its era, funk metal in the style of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and at its best Rage Against The Machine but perhaps moving closer to rap. Pretty good, and the kind of stuff I was probably listening to back then quite a lot. Je ne jure de rien hits the spot, Cours vite and Mackina hit singles that probably deserved to be. It’s a collection that has its charms, Just be True illustrating the glorious thing Mano Negro might have been if they’d had some metal wallop behind them.

In short, I was glad I'd held on to it.

 

I remember seeing their album all over the place at the time, even here in the UK so there must have been some hope they’d make more of an impression. They were signed to EastWest Records who would have had the budget. But it seemed that could have been the end of the story. One album with a push behind it that didn’t ignite commercially and a curtain comes down.

 

But no. I might not have followed what they were up to from then, amid the deluge of work and other releases I took my eye off them. But they persisted and released another four albums up to 2003, including a live album featuring a Beastie Boys cover. A search online, while I was listening to their debut album, showed me I’ve got some homework to catch up with.

 

And there was better news. Not only is there a significant back catalogue, their three studio albums that were originally on EastWest  - their debut,  1997’s Original Karma and 2000’s Vegas ’76 were re-issued on coloured vinyl this summer.

 

Better yet, Silmarils are still a going concern. A single Welcome to America was released in April this year. Older maybe, wiser perhaps, but absolutely rocking for sure. They’ve been playing festivals over the summer including the Vieilles Charrues and Hellfest, and have a new album out shortly.

 

Looks like I’ve picked the right time to catch up.

A few thoughts on Jean-Louis Murat and Murat Live

Sad to hear of the passing of Jean-Louis Murat at the age of 71, one of France’s finest singer- songwriters.

While his late 80s/early 90s releases Cheyenne Autumn and >Le Manteau de pluie are rightly regarded as among his finest releases, I’ve always loved Murat Live. I purchased it not long after it came out and it’s probably the Murat album I return to the most often. I may not have always kept up with his every release, but I have kept on coming back to Murat Live since I bought it.

I’ll admit it was one of the albums that opened up the possibilities of French music to me. I was already familiar with the likes of Trust from my earlier metal listening years, and since then others ranging from Noir Desir to Jarre via Gainsbourg and Christophe and Brel had broadened my musical horizons, but when I came to Murat Live it seemed to be exactly what I needed to be listening to.

By the time I picked it up - it must have been 1996 - I was well into considering myself a musical sophisticate. I was into the likes of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, I was informed by Dylan and Tom Wait, listening to jazz and electronics. I’m pretty sure I picked up Murat Live in Paris the same day I bought the then-newly-released Klaus Schulze Are You Sequenced. I had eagerly graduated from metal to a broader taster in indie, prog, art rock, jazz and the like through a thorough interrogation of the back catalogues of the usual suspects.

I was probably insufferable.

Murat Live turned my head around. He had the style and the sound, delivering something that the likes of Daniel Lanois had promised, a stripped-down organic rawness that while uncluttered and direct wasn’t afraid to use a sophisticated colour palette where it was needed. Combine this with poetry at a Cave or Cohen level and I was intoxicated. While these ingredients could easily be combined into bland sophistication or pretentious arrogance, the music retained a compelling urgency and approachability.

I can only think of a couple of times I’ve bought an album without hearing it before and it’s had such an impact on me. Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel and Miles Davis The Columbia Years were two of those occasions. Murat Live was another. I’d heard his cover of Cohen’s Avalanche on the Les Inrocks-curated I’m Your Fan collection and was curious to hear more, his French version taking one of Cohen’s more enigmatically poetic works to another level and making it somehow his song.

The Murat Live album immediately fascinated me. It still does. Seemingly without effort it outmanoeuvred my youthful pretensions and challenged my assumptions. “You think that stuff you’re listening to is cool? Check this out!” it seemed to say. “Here’s something you’ve not read about in the NME that you’ll love” It added enthusiastically, like an older brother with a mysterious collection of records you’ve never seen before or heard on the radio. 

There was no point being precious or acting superior about music, Murat Live showed there was something you’d probably love out there that you just hadn’t heard yet.

That music like this existed almost without any recognition in the anglosphere disappointed me, I would continue to return to Murat Live as proof of what seemed like a secret only a few of us knew about, that music in France could be everything I was hoping music could be. Another of the experiences that would eventually lead to me writing and thinking about French music and trying to share this enthusiasm.

I may not have followed Murat’s releases with the loyalty one might expect given my reaction to Murat Live but I had a wider field now. What I knew before about music before wasn’t wrong, but it was only the start. It would always only ever be the start of a movie with no closing credits but with an incredible cast and no end of plot twists. 

There were artists like Dominique A, Alain Bashung, Grand Corps Malade, Damien Saez as well as the likes of Louise Attaque as well as an exploding French rap scene to dive into. Murat Live probably finally persuaded me that there was astonishing work coming out in France, and I was unafraid to embrace it

I was surprised to read Murat had died at 71. He always seemed younger than that, a bit older than me but far from old. But we’re all older than we think. I’m no longer the young guy slouching from disquaire to librairie in Paris. I’ll listen to the album again and rather than wallow in nostalgia for those days, I’ll also listen to something new that’s come out in France that I’ve never heard before.

Picture of Jean-Louis Murat in 2010 by Vincent Desjardins

Flavien Berger's new video for Berzingue

An absolutely eye-popping new video from Flavien Berger for the track Berzingue.

 With its constantly evolving images and organic fluidity, the video is reminiscent of the work created by US artist Bruce Bickford for Frank Zappa in the 1970s. But it’s taking psychedelic to a new level and rather than relying on Claymation it’s reflecting and distorting artificial intelligence style imagery into a whirlwind of sensory overload, sliding effortlessly between the mundane and the surreal, the threatening and the friendly and the reassuring and the bewildering.  

We may see more videos like this in the near future, but I’m uncertain they’ll be as good.

The clip is by Jamie Harley, who was responsible for Berger’s Vendredi and La Fête Noire videos as well as works by Koudlam, Judah Warsky and others.

Berzingue features on Berger’s recent Dans Cent Ans album, his third album. Released on March 17, it’s a collection that features the previous single Feux Follets and it makes clear the case that Berger's one of the most impressive artists working in electronic music at the moment, himself moving with a fluidity and fluency through innovative and previosuly unexplored regions.

Berger’s just started an extensive tour that runs until mid-November, with two dates the Olympia in Paris at the beginning of May and some festival dates over the summer including the Francofolies in La Rochelle and Rock en Seine in Paris.

Christine and the Queens new video: True Love

A new video drops from Christine and the Queens ahead of the release of a new album in June.

The track True Love features a collaboration with American rapper and singer 070 Shake, one of two tracks on the forthcoming collection she appears on. The new video follows the release of To be honest last month.

If Christine's last album Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) didn't perhaps have the same impact as the 2014 Chaleur Humaine debut or the Chris follow-up, the tracks that have so far surfaced for Christine's forthcoming album Paranoïa, Angels, True Love shows an artist at the peak of their abilities, presenting work that is both immediately accessible and innovative at the same time.

The haunting To be honest probably ranks as one of his finest works so far, True Love suggests that Paranoïa, Angels, True Love might be one of the year's strongest releases by any artist. The new album is expected on June 9 and it includes three tracks featuring Madonna. 

Ditching his Redcar alter-ego and returning to the 'Christine and the Queens' name, not even the 'Chris' identity of his second album, it seems Héloïse Letissier is back to using the name that established his position as one of the most interesting musicians to emerge in recent years.

The new album Paranoïa, Angels, True Love takes its inspiration from the award-winning play Angels in America by Tony Kushner, a work from the early 90s that was set in 80s New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic. It's a complex piece with intersecting storylines and some characters representing angels and ghosts as well as others in communities affected by the unfolding tragedy.

Christine and the Queens are touring extensively with a show at the weekend at the second round of Coachella in California, and are in the UK for dates in August and September including a show at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on September 8.

Moodoïd: Memories - My LIttle Paris session

We've been fans of Moodoïd here since we first came across him at the Les Transmusicales de Rennes almost ten (!) years ago, and his career since has been a rewarding one to follow. If his recent releases have seen him move on from the more overtly psychedlic pstylings of work like Je Suis La Montagne and his  Le Monde Möö debut album, he remains an artist who deserves following, his universe continuing to expand in unexpected directions.

For this session he performs for My Little Paris an acoustic version of Memories at the Petit Palais musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, an incredibly scenic and atmospheric location. They've run four previous sessions over the past few weeks, including Catastrophe and VOYOU, each one making the absolute most of the Paris locations alongside some very well-selected music.

Memories features on Moodoïd's five track PrimaDonna vol. 2 EP which was released at the end of last month. Like its PrimaDonna vol. 1 predecessor, it features collaborations with other artists including Lottie P, Dora, Zombie Chang, Jane Perry as well as Olivia Merilahti who features in this session

For this session, he's accompanied by Olivia Merilahti, half of The Dø who also operates as a solo artist under the name Prudence. Since their 2014 Shake Shook Shaken album, a top ten hit in France, she and partner in Dø Dan Levy have been pursuing solo projects. 

The other musician playing in the session, Paul Prier has just released his solo EP Punctual Problems, and recently played piano at the YSL Winter Collection launch at the Bourse de Paris, where he accompanied Charlotte Gainsbourg. I'll give him some more well-deserved attention soon on this blog.

In the meantime, Moodoïd demands your attention for a sophisticated and atmospheric moment of unashamed beauty.

Magma: Hakëhn Deïs

If you're a musical act that's been around since 1969 and only got around to making a video for a song in 2023, it's more about making history than just making a clip.

Step forward Magma, giants of French progressive music, with a video for Hakëhn Deïs, a track from their recent Kartëhl album.

Magma have never made any concessions throughout their career, an act who have followed the vision of Christian Vander regardless of the ebb and flow of musical fashion, a world unto themselves. Their music remains as extraordinary today as it did when they released their debut in 1969.

Two dancers from the Paris Opera, Loup Marcault and Ida Viikinkoski bring the track to life, their movements amid a swirl of further almost psychedelic changes. If the dancing was already beyond anything normal, the visual effects take things further without getting in the way of their performance.

That Magma are still capable of surprises like this, after a career of more than 50 years, is an extraordinary achievement. Maybe it's a sign that the 21st century has partially caught up with Magma.

Magma are supporting Porcupine Tree in Manchester on June 29, along with shows in Paris at the Salle Playel in October celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh album. 

Dancing optional.

Rock en Seine festival

 Tickets go on sale today for this year's Rock en Seine festival, at the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud near Paris.

Billie Elish headlines the first night of the four-day event. Across the other three days acts like Florence + The Machins, Placebo, The Strokes and The Chemical Brothers have been confirmed.

It's more of an international music event, but there remains a significant French presence on the bill, with Flavien Berger and Bertrand Belin taking part.

More artists who are playing will be announced in the run-up to the festival.

Rock en Seine is taking place on August 23, 25 26 and 27.

Tickets are available here and y tickets are available from 55 euros per day.

David Crosby and Orléans

Sad to hear of the death of David Crosby the other day. I know for many Crosby was more a symbol of the 1960s, from the peace and love Woodstock generation to the problems in his later life, he was almost a metaphor for his times. 

I was a fan of his music, perhaps not surprising given his considerable links to the Grateful Dead, particularly on his If I Could Only Remember my Name album. The collection his first solo album from 1971, featured contributions from many of the leading lights of the San Francisco scene, from  CSNY collaborators Neil Young and Graham Nash to members of Santana, The Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. the musicians hung out at the Wally Geider recording studio in San Francisco and became a loosely affiliated group, the Planet Earth Rock 'n' Roll Orchestra, PERRO for short, who would work on this album as well as Airplane solo releases and a few casual gigs.

While songs like Cowboy Movie, Tamalpais High and What Are Their Names feature members of the Grateful Dead in as spectacular musical form as they ever were in the studio - Garcia's snaking guitar lead on What Are Their Names a particular stand-out - it's one shorter piece that concerns us here: Orléans.

It's just under two minutes long, and a solo vocal piece from Crosby, but it's a spectacular one. It features the special brand of harmonies that Crosby could do, it's the kind of piece that defined his sound from The Byrds, to CSNY, to his solo career. Based on folk music and updated for the modern audience, but retaining its apparent simplicity and honesty.

It is of course originally a French folk song, a children's song dating from the 15th century Le Carillon de Vendôme. Crosby simplifies it, losing the (short) verses and repeating the chorus, a list of French towns that remained in the control of King Charles VII during the Hundred Year War. 

Orléans,
Beaugency,
Notre-Dame de Cléry,
Vendôme,
Vendôme.

It's an unashamedly beautiful piece of music. As time marches on and hearing deteriorates, it pleases me no end to have heard it.

But as is the way with folk music, songs get amended and passed down through generations and locations, words get changed to suit different circumstances. 

So it is with this song. In 2011 the French band Justice released a song on their Audio, Video, Disco album Ohio. While the song is undeniably a Justice piece, there are more than a few similarities

Ohio,
Tennessee,
California,
Endlessly
Reign on

It could be seen as a French band re-interpreting the Crosby version of the original, but using the names of American states instead of French towns. It's a simple but effective technique, both reclaiming it and adapting it, making a gesture to the American version of the song that introduced it to thousands who would probably never have experienced it had it not been for Crosby. Again, in true folk music style they adapt it for a modern audience. 

The fact that Ohio was also the title of a (very different) CSNY song was, I suspect, not lost on Justice when they chose that state in particular as the title of the song.

Funny how the wheel turns. I'm sure Crosby dug it.

Serpent feat. Lescop "Dysfunktion" : Jack live

An up-close-and-live-session performance of the song Dysfunktion by Serpent, the project fronted by Lescop.

It's a funkier proposition than his previous releases, his self-titled debut from 2012 and its 2016 follow up Écho were much darker and more electronic propositions. Needless to say, we absolutely loved them

Serpent has been a going concern since 2020, with the release of Distant Call the lead track from the Time for a Rethink EP. 

There certainly seemed to have been a bit of a rethink, although it wasn't perhaps as dramatic as it first seemed. He hadn't - as they would have said in the late '70s/early '80s - "Gone disco", just expanded his musical horizons and the post-punk flavour that was at the forefront of his earlier releases is still there. 

Just look at the song titles: Ice Age; Waiting in the Park; Love/Hate; and even Dysfunktion could all be  the names of obscure tracks from first-wave cold-wave acts, many of whom were not afraid to embrace funk, reggae and dance music. And they were all the better for it.

Dysfunktion is the title track of a six-song EP released in May last year with Don't Waste my Time emerging as a single ahead of it.

Madonna: Two Paris shows in November

There are two nights at the Accor Arena in Paris for Madonna coming up this autumn, with shows on November 12 and 13.

The concerts are the only French dates of her Celebration Tour, marking the 40th anniversary of her career. The tour begins over the summer, with dates in North America before making its way to Europe, with shows in Rome, Milan, Copenhague, Cologne, Berlin, Lisbon and the O2 Arena in London.

It's not always been a celebration for Madonna to play in Paris, as her show at the Olympia in July 2012 made clear. During her MDNA tour she played the famous Paris venue, a much smaller hall than the arenas she played elsewhere on the tour. The intention of the show was to give her the opportunity to pay tribute to French artists and cinema, and how the country welcomed inspiring artists. She clearly included herself in that category. 

Tickets were expensive and initially limited to fans before being made available to the public and the show was streamed internationally. It wasn't exactly without a hitch. 

Despite a cover of Je t'aime... moi non plus, possibly the most obvious cover she could do in the whole history of French music, the 45-minute running time of the show was met with scorn by many who had paid almost 300 euros to attend the event. Water bottles were thrown at the stage with cries of "Recompense!" from the audience. It was not a happy ending to what she probably expected to be a warmly received intimate show in front of fans.

She commented later on her website: "Playing the Olympia was a magical moment for me and it was real treat to do this special show for my fans and be so close to them. Unfortunately at the end of the show – after I left the stage – a few thugs who were not my fans rushed the stage and started throwing plastic bottles pretending to be angry fans."

She added: "nothing can take away or ruin this very special evening for me and my fans. When I looked out in the audience, everyone I saw had a smile on their face. I look forward to having this wonderful experience again."

With two shows at the Accor Arena scheduled, she's unlikely to have the time to fit in a show at L'Olympia, but you never know.

Flavien Berger - Les yeux, le reste: A COLORS show

A sweet and low-key performance by Flavien Berger for COLORS.

 Les yeux, le reset is his new single, and it's an effortlessly stylish one

Last year his 2015 Léviathan album was re-issued, and the song D'ici là released as a single in November.

Berger has an enviable position, where he's a popular artist but one who is able to release some genuinely experimental electronic work. Despite his incongruous appearance, there's some sharp work going on and a feeling that while he's pushing at artistic boundaries, he's doing it with a sense of humour and fun.

Any new release by Flavien Berger is a real treat, and it's a pleasure to hear this one.

He's playing L'Olumpia in Paris on 4 May and it's already sold out.

Spiderland play The Vaselines

So this is a Scottish-based blog that celebrates French music. How could we not be blown away by a French act that celebrates Scottish music?!

Spiderland have been around since the 90s, and based in Douarnenez in Brittany, although their influences came from further afield. With their name obviously a nod to Slint, their sound was more in tune with some of the more interesting acts on the UK indie scene during that era. 

They released their self-titled debut album in '98. The band came to a halt a short time later, but members became involved in other acts including Kaiser Palace and Coude.

Time moved on, and the members reconvened as Spiderland, releasing an EP Milestone in 2020. The album A Gentle Breeze followed last year. It's a great release, thoroughly worth investigating and enjoying. 

The new video is a cover of a song by legendary Scottish act The Vaselines. 

Spiderland announced the song as "A little present for the start of the year", adding "You're aware of our interest in Scottish music. BMX Bandits, Teenage Fan Club, The Pastels...and the Vaselines!"

We just need to get them over here to play to a Scottish audience! Mono in Glasgow would be ideal...

Bilbao Kung-Fu: New video - Oh !

What is it about Bordeaux producing decent rock bands?

I hadn't come across Bilbao Kung-Fu until recently, and their effervescent punk pop is as catchy as it is fun. 

A live show would be a life-affirming and energetic experience, I reckon. Last year saw them gigging extensively in France, no doubt winning friends and influencing people around the country.

Their new EP follows their Arc en Ciel debut EP which was released in 2021.

The new video is (literally) a punchy interpretation of the song. Hard-hitting, so don't try it at home.

Oh! comes from the band's second EP, released on the Toulouse-based Kaa Productions. If 2023 is anything like their previous years, expect them to be playing live somewhere in France most of the time

Zombie Zombie: Erebus video

A new video for the track Erebus from Zombie Zombie, with some appropriately creepy imagery.

The clip features the inhabitants of the Musée des Automates de Limoux, a collection of over 100 automats set up with theatrical backdrops and lighting.

A trio of Etienne Jaumet, Cosmic Neman and Dr Schönberg, Zombie Zombie have been active since 2007 when they released their A Land for Renegades album. 

Their 2010 release Zombie Zombie Plays John Carpenter, where they performed works by the legendary filmmaker and composer, saw the band gain widespread recognition for their work. For an act who were themselves inspired by the worlds of horror and fantasy, the decision to cover John Carpenter was a good one.

They've gone on to release further albums, including 2012's Rituels d'un Nouveau Monde and 2016's Slow Future. Following the John Carpenter album, they have themselves been involved in soundtrack works including Irréprochable in 2016, and L’Heure de la sortie in 2019. 

You'll also find some well-chosen covers in their back catalogue, from Suicide's Dream Baby Dream to Sun Ra's Rocket Number 9 via New Order's The Beach, an instrumental version of Blue Monday.

The song for their new video features on their Vae Vobis album, available on Born Bad records, which was released in March last year.

Feu! Chatterton: Three nights at L'Olympia

 The first of three sold-out nights at the Olympia in Paris gets underway tonight for the mightly Feu!

Chatterton, marking the end of their tour promoting their Palais d'argile album.

While Palais d'argile is the band's third album, last month saw the release of the double album Live à Paris 2022, recorded at the  Zénith de Paris on April 14 last year.

There's a ten-track double vinyl release, a limited edition four-disc vinyl version of the collection which expands it to 18 tracks, all these tracks included on the double CD version.

There are tracks from their previous three albums, from their remarkable 2015 debut Ici le jour (a tout enseveli) like Côte Concorde, Boeing and La Malinche, some from 2018's L'Oiseleur including Souvenir and Sari D'Orcino, but material from Palais d'argile obviously dominates, which is frankly no bad thing given that the album is one of the best releases in recent years.

Among the tracks is a previously unreleased version of  L'Affiche Rouge, a song originally by Léo Ferré based on a text by surrealist poet Louis Aragon.

It's been astonishing to see Feu! Chatterton's rise, fulfilling the promise of their early work. A band who have always been articulate yet approachable, grounded in the traditions of French chanson but unafraid to take things in a new modern direction.

Feu! Chatterton are an extraordinary band who have enjoyed an extraordinary 12 months. The Palais d'argile tour may be coming to an end, but hopefully, we can look forward to more activity in 2023.

Arnaud Rebotini: The Spark in her Eye

A recent release from Arnaud Rebotini, the French master of dark electronics. 

There are echoes of hard dance acts from the 80s/90s like Nitzer Ebb and Front 242 going on here, a kind of electronic industrial rock.   

Rebotini may be best known for winning a Cesar award for the soundtrack of the film 120 battements par minute in 2018, but he's been a busy artist for some time, as part of Black Strobe or as a solo artist. 

His first solo album Music Components was released in 2008, and since then he's followed that up with Someone gave me Religion in 2011.

He's also continued to work in soundtracks, his most recent being for Dario Argento's Occhiali Neri, a Franco-Italian Giallo released in 2022.

The Spark in her Eye comes from a four-track EP that was released at the beginning of January 2023 entitled I Drive East, released on Mannequin records

H-Burns - Late Bloomers

A new release from H-Burns is usually a cause for celebration, especially with the new single Late 

Bloomers being such an impressive piece of work.

The video, with its American big-screen teen drama stylings, makes a strong case for being extended into a full-length movie. Even with a running time of just a few minutes, it feels like it's either been constructed from scenes from a film you've seen years ago and half remember or it's a promo for a film you want to see because you want to know how the characters and their narrative will play out. There's a sense of melancholic nostalgia, but with a promise of a better future.

While "In our time we were happier and prettier" is one hell of a lyric, the song is no downbeat lookback. Instead, it rings with defiance and a rage against the dying of the light: 

"Can we turn the light any brighter? 

Can we play the songs any louder? 

We can always try..."

We can indeed. Play this song louder to start with.

The last major release from H-Burns was the Burns on the Wire album from September 2021, where he played tribute to Leonard Cohen on an album of cover versions featuring collaborations with Pomme, Bertrand Belin and Lou Doillon. It's a majestic release and highly recommended.

I've been listening H-Burns since his 2013 Off the Map album, and every release has seen him develop as a significant artist. It both surprises and disappoints me that he's not better known. Hopefully that will change before too long.

His new album Sunset Park is released on February 3 on Yotanka records. So far it's already looking like a vintage year for French music releases. The new H-Burns album should be one of the early highlights of 2023. 

He's playing at La Maroquinerie in Paris on June 8.

Acid Arab: Ya Mahla

A new album is on the horizon from Paris-based duo Acid Arab. 

Like Fakear who I featured on this blog earlier today, they're an act who have expanded the possibilities of electronic music by bringing in textures that would normally fall beyond the scope of a traditional western audience.

It's not just adding some ethnic flavour to beats, what the likes of Acid Arab do is more a reflection of living in a multiethnic society. Their blend of Arabic sounds and electronic beats is an intoxicating one.

Arabic music is a familiar sound in Paris, with many of the population from North Africa and the Middle East. It's only natural that the music takes on qualities of its new environment, and that the environment itself is shaped by the new music that has come into it.

The new album, entitled ٣ (Trois), is scheduled for release at the beginning of next month. If you're in Paris, you can catch them live at the Olympia on February 9.

Fakear: Voyager

 A major tour and a new album are on their way from electronic producer Fakear.

He's come a long way since his 2016 Animal debut album, taking his globally-informed sounds to an international audience over the subsequent years. 

The track Voyager comes with a video that was filmed in the southern Alps in France, taking his music into a wild natural landscape that remains as strange as any fantasy. It's an amazing piece of work directed by the Ffi0oul creative team.

Voyager follows the release of the tracks Burning and Altar, which emerged towards the end of 2022.

The new album, Talisman, is due to be released on February 24, a follow-up to 2020's Everything Will Grow Again.

Fakear has a massive tour across France and elsewhere in Europe from the beginning of March. The list includes three shows in the UK. Manchester on April 4, Leeds on April 5 and London on April 6. 

I've been lucky enough to see Fakear live a few years ago, and he really does create some magic. Go and see him if you get the chance.

M83: Oceans Niagra

A new single from M83, with details of a new album on the way and due for release in March. 

The new song, Oceans Niagra, sees Anthony Gonzalez, the prime mover of M83, collaborating with his brother film maker Yann Gonzalez for the video.

Anthony Gonzalez said: "I wanted this record to be very impactful live." 

"The idea was to come back with something closer to the energy of Before The Dawn Heals Us. The combination of guitars and synths is always in my music, but it’s maybe more present on this new record than on the previous ones."

2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming double album was a major commercial and artistic breakthough for M83, the track Midnight City establilshing the band's international reputation. They'd go on to make the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion, and their work would feature on other films and TV productions.

The new album, entitled Fantasy, is his first album since DSVII, which was released in 2019. The album is due on March 17, as a double vinyl or CD.

M83 has confirmed tour dates in North America from April until the end of May.

Victoires de la Musique: The 2023 nominees

The nominations for this year's Victoires de la Musique awards have been confirmed, with some of the 

biggest names in French music on this year's shortlist.

There are four nominations for Stromae;  best male artist, best album, best original song and best audiovisual creation, and three nominations for Orelsan; best original song, concert of the year and best audiovisual creation

For the best male artist, Stromae is up against Bigflo and Oli and Grand Corps Malade, Ben Mazué and Gaël Faye. The best female artist will be either Angèle, Izïa or Pomme.

The four competing for the breakthrough male artist are Pierre de Maere, Jacques, Lujipeka and Tiakola, while the breakthrough female artist is between Mentissa, November ultra and Emma Peters.

Album of the year features three female artists out of the five nominees, Jeanne Added's By Your Side, Pomme's Consolation, Angèle's Nonante-cinq as well as Stromae's Multitude and Éphémère by Grand Corps Malade, Ben Mazué and Gaël Faye.

Five songs are nominated for the best original song, Clara Luciani's Coeur, Juliette Armanet's Flamme, Stromae's L'enfer, Orelsan's La Quête and Pierre de Maere's Un jour je marierai un Ange.

Concert of the year again includes a female-dominated shortlist, featuring Juliette Armanet, Clara Luciani and Orelsan. 

The shortlist for audiovisual creation of the year features Bigflo and Oli feat. Julien Doré (Coup de Vieux), Stromae (Fils de joie) and Orelsan (La Quête ). Meanwhile, Angèle and Ninho are competing for the most streamed album of the year.

The 38th annual Victoires de la Musique Awards ceremony takes place on Friday, February 10 at La Seine Musicale and is broadcast on France 2 and France Inter.

 

Feu! Chatterton play Monde Nouveau live on Le Double Express.

It's no secret that we're fans of Feu! Chatterton here, so it was an absolute pleasure to come across the clip of them performing live on the Le Double Expresso show on RTL2 on January 6.

It's a slightly stripped down version of the band and of the song, it's also very funny to see. 

There's more available in audio on the show's website, including a live-in-the-studio version of La Malinche.

Inevitably we'll have more about Feu! Chatterton on the site here before too long, but that's no bad thing.

Christine and the Queens: Bedtime Story on CBeebies

Maybe the Redcar album didn't trouble the list of bestselling albums in France in 2022, but there are other measures of success.

Who would have expected Chris to be reading a bedtime story on CBeebies - the BBC TV channel for young children? 

Chris does a great job entertaining the pre-school audience here, and while it might be a million miles from the kind of performance they'd normally be associated with, it's a significant one in that it shows an artist who some might view as edgy can be accepted into the mainstream without any issue. 

That she performs a lengthy spoken word piece in a second language is something that very few anglophone artists would be able to make a success,

Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) was released in November 2022. Christine and the Queens have 2023 live dates ahead, with the artist curating this year's Meltdown festival at the South Bank in London in June. Details of who will be on the bill are expected this Spring.

Meanwhile, France 4 broadcasts a special programme dedicated to the Redcar experience this evening. Whatever is in store is likely to be a bit different from her CBeebies performance.

2022's biggest selling albums

 So what were the biggest-selling albums in France last year?

The SNEP website listed the top sellers of 2022, with French artists particularly rap acts - dominating the sales across the country.

Rap artists take the lead in 2022, with Orelsan at the top with his Civilisation album, released in November 2021. It's the second year in a row that Orelsan has topped the French annual sales chart, Civilisation being the best-selling album of 2021, shifting a record of almost 100,000 copies in the first few days of its release and producing two number-one singles including L'odeur de l'Essence, released just ahead of the album. Civilisation sold over 405,000 copies in France in 2022.

The second biggest seller came from Ninho, with his Jefe collection. It sold just over 283,000 copies in France, and while this might seem like quite a gap between it and Orelsan's album, it's a hugely impressive amount for his sixth album, a triple platinum seller that was released in December 2021. 

Stromae sits in third place, with Multitude not far behind the number two seller, amassing sales of just over 241,000. Multitude, released in March last year, followed his massive-selling Racine Carrée album from 2013. Multitude spawned four singles, October 2021's Santé, L'enfer - which reached number one in France in January 2022 - Fils de Joie reaching the top ten in June and Mon Amour, a duet with Camila Cabello.

Rap dominates the top ten, with other albums including Gazo's KMT,  Jul's Extraterrestre, Lomepal's Mauvais Ordre, Vald's V and Tiakola's Melo. For all they might be rap acts, there's a wide range of styles on display here and the figures reveal not only a genre that is commercially successful but is in fine artistic health. 

There are only two female artists in the top ten, with Angèle's  Nonante-Cinq at number six, selling over 185,000 copies in 2022 after its release in December 2021. A re-issue, Nonante-Cinq La Suite followed in November 2022 with six extra tracks.

Clara Luciani's second album Coeur sits at number 10, clocking up just over 155,000 sales over 2022 since its release in June 2021.  Mylène Farmer's L'Emprise is one place behind it with 146,000 sales, and although you would perhaps expect Farmer - probably the most significant performer in France - to be higher in the end-of-year-sales-chart, it's worth remembering that this number one album was only released at the end of November 2022. I'd be surprised if it doesn't feature as one of 2023's biggest sellers too.

What's significant is that out of the top 20 best-selling albums in France in 2022, the overwhelming majority are by Francophone artists. Of the 20 listed, only Ed Sheeran (no. 13), Imagine Dragons (no. 14) and Harry Styles (no.20) fall outside the francosphere.  A deeper look at the SNEP figures shows that in fact 77% of the biggest-selling albums of 2022 are French productions.

A look further down the list reveals many, many more French names. From the familiar - like Renaud, -M-,  Michel Polnareff and even Johnny Hallyday to new acts releasing their debut, it shows that it's not just the significant best-sellers who are Made in France. 

Looking at statistics and focussing on sales doesn't give the whole picture by any means, but it's hard to deny that the figures are very positive and they clearly show that French musical acts remain one of the country's most significant contemporary artistic achievements.

Philippe Katerine et Pierre Daven-Keller - Le Roi

 In any right-thinking world, Pierre Daven-Keller would be a huge star. He's probably more known for the artists he's worked with than as a solo artist in his own right, but over the years he's quietly been releasing a catalogue of strong material that deserves attention, the first days of 2023 seeing another release that continues that trend.

Pierre Daven-Keller features with Philippe Katerine on the video for the track Le Roi, another pop piece that gently haunts the sub-conscience, letting you decide if it's a dream or a very strange nightmare. It may float lightly, but there's more going on here than it might seem at first.

I've featured Pierre Daven-Keller on this blog before, in an interview from way back in 2015, and one of the great things about this blog is seeing artists develop and get the recognition they deserve.

Pierre Daven-Keller's Planete album was one of 2022's good things, a collection described as somewhere between Stereolab and Air. It certainly takes some of the colourful cosmic vibes of the 70s and 90s and updates them without losing any of the flavour or underlying strangeness. It's a thoroughly enjoyable voyage. 

Philippe Katerine plays in Paris as part of the Hyper Weekend Festival with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France performing some of his work.

Taste: Bang Bang Bang

There's a new Iggy Pop album released today and if there's anything on it as good as Bang Bang Bang by Taste he'll have done a great job.

There's a very nicely done video too, making the link between the fetishisation of firearms in entertainment and American society in general, with the actual tragic consequences of this. From fake comedy to very real tragedy. 

You can probably name most of the films that flash up for a couple of seconds, you've probably seen them.

Taste might be a new name - this is only their second release after a track Shame Game came out in December - but the band's members La Mverte, the dark dancefloor DJ and producer Alexandre Berly and Paris-base artist Yan Wagner should be no strangers to you. 

Both have been producing some great things for a number of years and Taste looks like a fascinating step forward.

Taste also features Guillaume Marnez on drums and  Marc FKClub on guitar, making the position of an actual band that could perform live something really look forward to.

Taste release their first full EP on February 3. Can't wait.

Michel Polnareff: La soirée événement

Veteran French music legend Michel Polnareff was the subject of a big-budget TV spectacular on France 2 over the holiday season.

Michel Polnareff, la soirée événement was an appropriately spectacular presentation of one of France's most remarkable performers, with songs, archive footage and interviews between Polnareff and other artists who were performing his work.

The evening began with a version of Lettre à France which saw the 1977 era Polnareff duetting with the 2022 version of Polnareff. He'd later duet with a 1989 version of himself on Hello Marilou and perform Le Bal des Laze with a 2122 (!) version of himself.

The show, over two hours long, covered Polnareff's career over the decades from the 1960s to today, and featured artists from the generations he's influenced throughout his career.

Other artists performing in the show included Amor with La Poupée qui Fait Non, Catherine Ringer with Love Me Please Love Me, Patrick Bruel with Qui a Tué Grand-Maman? Chimene Badi with Grandi Pas, Nolwenn Leroy with Holidays.  Other names included Marc Lavoine, Pomme, Bilal Hassani and Scylla. 

It was an extraordinary showcase for a unique back catalogue. 

Polnareff, who is 78, recently released an album Polnareff chante Polnareff and confirmed a series of live dates across France in 2023, starting in Nice on May 24 and running until July 8 at the Nîmes festival. he plays at the AccorArena in Paris on July 2 and 3. Each show will be in two parts, with a set of Polnareff performing solo on piano and singing, followed by a second set with additional musicians.

Speaking about the tour, Polnareff said: "It's possible that it will be my last tour, but I think that on every tour, since my first."

Le retour: Back for 2023

Shall we give it a go again? Bon, Allon-y...

Things have been lax around here for too long, all the usual distractions getting in the way of the discipline of putting together a  music blog that aims to illuminate the French music scene for the benefit of the anglophone (and beyond!) audience. I only managed one post over the whole of last year, and only a couple in the preceding years. 

To be frank, I've missed it.

I love the discovery of new music, particularly new music that would normally sit well outwith my normal comfort zone. Through this blog, I've experienced acts like Saez and Christine and The Queens, IAM and Orelsan, Feu! Chatterton and Woodkid. It’s hard perhaps to see a common thread at times outwith language or nationality. But what they have in common is that they have each grabbed my attention, each has demanded I look further into their work and into the work of others, whether contemporaries or associates, opening up new avenues of exploration and possibility, rewarding the investigation with the opportunity to experience art that might otherwise be out of reach.

All these - and many others - have made me rethink my attitude toward music. There's too much going on to just sit still and consume the same albums you liked as a teenager over and over again. Music has never been so available as it is today, and the opportunity to dive in and immerse yourself completely is there like never before.

Similarly, the opportunity for acts to emerge has become greater. While record labels have provided opportunity and funding for acts over the decades, they have also to some extent acted as gatekeepers, sticking to their own areas of expertise and excluding those who don’t fit a pattern they recognise. Acts now have the tools to establish themselves like never before, and to present their music directly to their audience across platforms that even a few years ago would not have existed. If the woes of the big record labels mean there are fewer opportunities for acts breaking through to widespread commercial success, the greater accessibility of the means of releasing music means there are certainly more possibilities for the acts on the margins.

Meanwhile, there's also music coming out from acts I've loved for years - in some cases decades - that has blown me away.

I'm talking in particular about the new Jean-Michel Jarre album Oxymore, one of my favourites over the last year. For an act of his vintage to continue to release work that not only remains vital but is as challenging as anything he's put out is quite an achievement. By any measure, he's earned the right to put his feet up, continue to release variations on his past work and perform at the occasional well-funded exclusive prestige show.  Instead, he's releasing work that holds its own against some of the best contemporary electronic acts. 

Not bad at all for a guy who basically helped pioneer and popularise electronic music more than most ever have done. Compare what he's doing to the likes of Kraftwerk - re-inventing and recycling the same material for decades - or Tangerine Dream who slid quietly into New Age mediocrity in their later years. He was one of the first French artists who defined my taste in music in the 80s, and that he continues to do so is extraordinary. If 'Oxygene' is essentially a stealth-prog album, he's continued to be a truly progressive artist for the duration of his career.

By way of excuses, I’ve been busy with a book that was published last year – The Golden Road: The Recorded History of The Grateful Dead. It’s available to buy on Amazon and I’m pretty pleased with it. I’ll hopefully have more projects along these lines in the pipeline this year. It is of course somewhat appropriate that I first saw The Grateful Dead when they played two nights at the Zenith in Paris during their Europe 1990 tour. I’ll try not to write too much about the Grateful Dead here, but it’s entirely possible there might be some content regarding their live adventures in France appearing on these pages.

Let’s see how we get on. I’m not making any promises or setting up any rigid plans, just hoping to get a few words out there when I can. Talking about something that excites me or something that’s come up that’s significant, perhaps a release or a video, a tour or a festival. 

There will be some great French releases this year if previous years have been anything to go by. I’ll be looking out for them. Some will be from established acts, others from new and unfamiliar names, I’m not going to include or exclude on the basis of whether it’s an act that’s sold millions internationally or has sold only a dozen tapes to their friends.

Some of the material I might discuss is vintage that I consider may be deserving of investigation. If I like it or think it merits it, it’s going in. Favourites in recent months have included Higelin’s BBH75 album and a deep dive into Alan Stivell’s progressive Breton folk. It’s a blog and it’s my rules at the end of the day, so I’ll break them whenever I feel like it.

But I’m conscious that there’s a huge amount of new music that’s needing the opportunity to get heard. I’ll be writing here, as well as on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/frenchmusicpodcastuk/. 

Like this blog, it’s been dormant for a while, but it’s on the list of things that will be back on its feet again in the very near future.

If you're a promoter or want some publicity for an act, just get in touch, we'll do what we can. My inbox is open at johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, just amend the email address to the appropriate format and it will get through. I look forward to hearing from you.

À bientôt

JK