The return of Woodkid!

A very welcome return for Woodkid with a new video for the track Goliath.

The artist known to friends and family as Yoann Lemoine was responsible for 2013's The Golden Age, one of this blog's favourite albums in recent years.

Originally a graphic designer, he'd directed music videos before then for the likes of Yelle and  Nolwenn Leroy as well as international acts like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey.

By the time his early singles - Iron, and Run Boy Run - were released ahead of his album, he was already a respected figure and his visual style added significantly to the music.

Seven years is a long time in music, and Goliath comes ahead of Woodkid's second album. Since his debut, there have been a handful of releases including the 2016 Ellis EP and the soundtrack for Mexican film Desierto. To say this new album is 'anticipated' is a bit of an understatement.

During the time between albums, he's hardly been idle having directed the iconic video for the Harry Styles single Sign of the Times, a number one single in the UK, a top five in the USA and a top three in France. The video has had over 500 million views on YouTube and was the winner of the British Artist Video of the Year at the 2018 Brit Awards.

Needless to say, the new track is an epic, but with an understated and introspective vocal. There are obviously echos of his earlier work, but it's far from a simple continuation of his earlier work.

The video, shot in the Czech Republic, was shown as a premier on YouTube following a live chat. Asked what inspired him for the new album, he replied: "The industrial scale of things, and the smallness of humans."

He added that other inspiration included: "Many more other inspirations, Akira, Japanese breakcore..."

You can see something of this aesthetic reflected on the adaptiveminerals.com website and on the video. There's something of the style of photographer Sebastião Salgado in the vision here.

Asked about who worked with him on the album, he said: "A lot of people collaborated on this record, including Tepr Son Lux, Esser, Phazz, Sally Herbert and many more!!" 

I'm sure remixes and soundtrack opportunities are already being planned, but I can't help but be excited by this release itself and the prospect of more to come.

Woodkid: Volcano

A previously unreleased track by Woodkid has been made available for a free download or stream.

The release of Volcano is to mark the second anniversary of the release of his The Golden Age album.

The track has featured in his live performances but a studio version has never been released until now.

He explained: "Exactly two years ago, I produced this instrumental track especially for The Golden Age World Tour.

"The beat is articulated around a live Tuba and Brass hook, and arranged for a whole set of orchestral percussions and strings.

"You’ve been asking for a clean recording of the track for quite a while now. So to celebrate its birthday, I finally recorded a studio version of Volcano that you can download for free."

The track is available to download on the Woodkid website

Panteros666 fet Woodkid: Clear

I missed this track that came out a couple of weeks ago, some new material from Woodkid collaborating with Panteros666, a member of the group Club Cheval.

Woodkid last appeared with  Lykke Li on the track Never Let You Down, which featured on the Insurgent movie soundtrack.

The new track comes on an  EP, featuring four versions of the track.

Clear has a very different sound for Woodkid, marking his first excursion into a more overtly dance orientated environment.

Woodkid's not released an album since his 2013 The Golden Age debut, a remarkable album that has
if anything grown in status since then.

While he has apparently been focusing his attention on non-musical activities recently - he is of course a talented video director who has spoken about his wish to direct movies - the possibility of a new album is certainly something to look forward to.

Diesel Only The Brave Wild advert featuring Woodkid

A track by Woodkid has been getting some considerable yet stealthy airplay as the soundtrack for the advert for a new fragrance by Diesel.

Diesel Only The Brave Wild uses the track Iron from Woodkid's The Golden Age album, originally released as his debut single in 2011.

The song a stirring and powerful number, making it an ideal choice for a striking advertising campaign.

Its been used in advertising campaign's before, being used for an Assassin's Creed game, and the song reached the top 30 in France as a single.

The fragrance, meanwhile,  features grapefruit, citronella, black pepper, nutmeg, geranium, lavender, coconut, cedarwood and vetiver.

The advert features French model and actor Willy Cartier who has previously featured in campaigns by Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld and Jean-Paul Gautier.

Diesel describes the kind of person using the fragrance: "From all the pores of his skin, he knows how vegetation breathes, saturated with humidity and heavy scents, or shadowy mists. He can run like the wind, sniff out thunder and lightning and feel like a total child of nature. 

"An intrepid tamer of time, he fills streets and roads with his power that was born in faraway forests. Little by little he rebalances with nature and plant life, concrete and wood, the craziness of the city and the sense of wildlife. He puts harmony back into place."

With the Christmas market, a key time for the sale of fragrances , we can expect to hear a great deal more Woodkid during the advertising breaks on the TV in the coming months.

Vive le Roq's French album of the year

So what was the best French release in 2013?

It's always going to be a difficult choice, and in many ways it's unfair to measure whether one album is 'better' than another, when musical styles can be so different. Are good lyrics key? What if its an instrumental? You get the picture.

But I've had a think about what was my favourite release over the past year, and I think that while Daft Punk and Stromae might be the acts that did the most in terms of raising the profile of French music acts, this year's winner of the much-coveted viveleroq.com album of the year release is Woodkid.

The Golden Age, Woodkid's debut album was released in March, and I said at the time that it seemed like an early contender for album of the year, and months later the collection still seems a bold work, epic in its scale but human in its delivery.

He's followed the release with live dates, some with an orchestra, and some remixes of tracks have also surfaced.

Yoann Lemoine has indicated that his Woodkid project may come to an end soon, and thet he intends to focus on a film directing career.  Some new tracks have emerged, but if Woodkid only ever released one full album, it achieved more than many acts do in their entire careers.

Woodkid: Volcano

Woodkid is currently undertaking live dates around France and elsewhere, having played recent shows in
both London and Paris while backed with an orchestra.

But one interesting development is the appearance in his live shows of two new numbers, Volcano and Go, and decent video of the track Volcano has emerged from his Paris show at the Zénith arena on November the fifth.

It's as epic a track as you might hope for,  with martial techno beats interwoven with an almost classical soundscape.

Strange that I should feature Laibach on the blog last week as  this track certainly puts me in mind of the Slovenian band's musical vision.

Woodkid's debut album The Golden Age was released earlier this year, and after his current sat of dates end in December, he's back on the road in France and Germany from February next year with the first show at the Zénith in Paris on February 7.

Whether there will actually be a follow-up to the Golden Age remains uncertain as Yoann Lemoine has said that he doesn't see his Woodkid project continuing beyond 2015. Already an established music video director, he has spoken about his desire to direct films.

However, the strength of the new material suggests that, at least for now,  Woodkid is very much alive and well.

Woodkid featuring Angel Haze: I Love You

A new version of the track I Love You by Woodkid, this time featuring an additional rap and vocals by Angel Haze.

The track originally surfaces on Woodkid's debut album The Golden Age, released in February this year.

This new version that was put online by record company Island records UK features the 21-year-old American vocalist who also goes by the name of Raykeea Wilson.

She released her debut EP last year, her New York EP later that year that featured the title track and the song Werkin' Girls making the UK singles chart.

She released the track No Bueno earlier this month.

Her debut album Dirty Gold is expected later this year.

Woodkind, meanwhile, is releasing an EP of the track I Love You next week, featuring the original version, the version with Angel Haze, another version by Brodinski and another by Pharrel Williams.

Woodkid: Iron (Live at the Roundhouse, London)

Great to see a French act at the top of their game playing to a sold-out audience in London.

Audience filmed youtube clips are very much the 21st century's bootleg live tapes, complete with dodgy sound quality and too much audience noise.

At best it's a photocopied two colour paper sleeve, the track listings spelled wrongly, the tape is the cheapest TDK that was available and the sound is full of audience noise drowning out the band and there's a lot of hiss from several generations of high speed tape dubbing.

With video clips, you can add ropey camera work to the deal at no extra charge.

Still, it gives a reasonable snapshot of what must have been a great gig, and unlike those dodgy bootleg tapes you're not handing over a couple of quid to a dodgy market trader.

So for those lucky to have been there, and for those who weren't,  this is an approximate look at what at least part of the Woodkid gig at the Roundhouse looked like.

Woodkid posted on his Facebook page: "LONDON - I LOVE YOU ! Amazing crowd tonight"

Woodkid's confirmed he's playing again in London in November, with a show at the O2 Brixton Academy on November 13, and this time he's playing with an orchestra.

Woodkid: The Golden Age

With the release of the Woodkid album the Golden Age earlier this week, I thought it time to look at what has already been to these ears at least one of the albums of the year.

It's the debut album by the artist known to his family as Yoann Lemoine,and while the three singles he's released so far, I Love You, Iron and Run Boy Run may not have been huge hits (yet) , they were heaped with the kind of critical praise and
respect reserved for only very special artists indeed.

The album takes us further into his world, with the epic musical backgrounds contrasting with the subtle and almost vulnerable voice.

For all his day job involves him making music videos, for the likes of Yelle, lana Del Ray, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, never mind his own which earned him a Grammy nomination, it looks like it will be a while until he's pursuing anyone else's artistic vision given the strength of this release.

For all the album sounds like the kind of work that's come about as a result of intense work in the studio, he's got an impressive schedule of live dates ahead, in France, mainland Europe and the UK and Ireland, the tour ending at the Zénith in Paris in November

I expect we'll be hearing a great deal more about Woodkid in the near future.

Woodkid: I Love You

An astonishing song and equally wonderful video by Woodkid for the song I Love You.

Yoann Lemoine, who performs under the name Woodkid,  has become probably better known as a video director than as a musician, having worked for the likes of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey. His work has seen him nominated for MTV Music Awards, UK Music Awards and a Grammy.

So far in his music career he's released a couple of singles, Iron in 2011 and Run Boy Run last year, both attracting the attention of advertising campaigns and a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video for his video for Run Boy Run.

His debut album, to be titled The Golden Age is expected to be released on March 18.

He's got some live dates scheduled, including a shows in Norwich and at the Roundhouse in London in May.

Is I love You the best release of the year so far? Probably.