April March & Aquaserge: Des Tics et Des Tocs

I mentioned  Des Tics et Des Tocs by April March & Aquaserge  last year, and it's nice to see a video (more a short film even) emerge to illustrate the song.

It's a suitable  video full of retro charm for the song , while I missed on giving it a mention when it emerged at the end of last month, it certainly deserves your attention.

Best to not quite believe the translation subtitles though.

California-based April March has released several albums so far, her song Chick Habit ( a version of Gainsbourg's Laisser Tomber les Filles) appearing the soundtrack for Tarantino's Deathproof

She teamed up with Aquaserge in Paris in 2007, a band featuring Tame Impala drummer Julien Barbagallo, Melody's Echo Chamber collaborator Benjamin Glibert and former Stereolab member Julien Gasc.

Director Jonathan Caouette said: ""It’s an homage (in some ways to an old Scopitone film, but a mildly surrealistic one ) It has an existential slant to it. The subtitled lyrics are not the actual lyrics. We shot it in my neighborhood in NYC in just one very HOT day.

"The cast and crew were all enormous troopers in the heat. I was thrilled to work on this and I could not have done it without Elinor Blake, Benjamin Schoos, American Apparel,my kick arse choreographer Ovi, my terrific editor Casey, Carry Curran, and ultimately, my friends at Cowboy Bear Nijia. I consider it, in some ways, my first official music video."

Alex Beaupain: Coule

A new clip for the track Coule by Alex Beaupain, directed by fellow musician Julien Doré

It's the third track form his Après moi le déluge collection, his fourth album, which was  released last year. A second edition of the album came out in November, with an additional five tracks.

Beaupain's musical career began in composing songs for stage and films in the 1990, before the release of his first solo album in 2005 Garçon d'honneur.

His film work continued, winning in 2008 a César for the best music for his soundtrack of the film Les Chansons d'amour, as well as a nomination in 2010 for  Non ma fille tu n'iras pas danser and another nomination in 2012 for Les Bien-Aimés.

His 2011 third album Pourquoi battait mon coeur contained the single  Au départ, which was adopted as the campaign song for François Hollande's presedential campaign the following year. The song was a clever re-telling up of the history of the left in France in terms of a couple's relationship.

Beaupain has a series of live dates in France, as he continues the tour he began last year.

Gesaffelstein: Hate or Glory

In the pre-holidays and end of the year business I neglected to give a mention to the new video by Gesaffelstein, for the track
Hate or Glory.

The track comes from his debut album Aleph, which was realeased at the end of October last year.

The album, by the artist known to friends and family as Mike Lévy, was rated as one of the best dance albums of 2013 by US-based Spin magazine.

Meanwhile, his work on Kanye West's Yeezus alum raised his profile even higher, the album - one of the most anticipated of 2013 - going to number one in the US billboard chart on its release, also reaching number one in the UK and in 29 other countries.

The video should help establish the reputation of the the golden boy of French electronica a as a significant artist in his own right.

He's playing live at a sold-out show the Olympia in Paris on January 39 before undertaking gig elsewhere in France and a show in London on February 14.

Meanwhile, he has been added to the bill of this summer's Vielles Charrues festival in Brttany.

Jimmy Page turns 70: A Tout Casser with Johnny Hallyday

Jimmy Page turns 70 today, and while he's rightly celebrated for his work with Led Zeppelin, I thought a link
 to one of his lesser-known tracks was in order.

Page was a session guitarist when he worked with Johnny Hallyday for the track À tout casser, which featured on Hallyday's 1968 collection Jeune Homme. It was written by Hallyday, Georges Aber and Mick Jones, who later went on to success in the band Foreigner.

The song originally featured on a film of the same name.

Jimmy Page was one of London's most celebrated session guitarists from 1962-1969, in the later years doing session work alongside his time in the Yardbirds.

Page previously featured on Hallyday's track Psychedelic, released the previous year, Hallyday seemingly having an ear for what was going in in the wildly energetic music scene of the late 60s.

What's particularly interesting about his work with Hallyday is that the guitar work is so distinctively that of Jimmy Page, and clearly establishing the groundwork for what Page would do the following decade.

Now if only Hallyday had been recruited as vocalist for Page's New Yardbirds the history of Rock 'n' Roll would have been very different indeed.

Francois and The Atlas Mountains: New album announced

A new album's been announced by the UK's favourite French indie band, Frànçois and The Atlas Mountains, to be released in April 2014.

The release comes three years after E Volo Love came out, the album that secured the band in the ears and hearts of British listeners.

Since then they've played live extensively, and more recently their earlier album Plaine Inondable was released by Domino records, their current label.

Last year Frànçois released a cover of the Etienne Daho track Le Grand Sommeil.

Frànçois and The Atlas Mountain begin a tour at the end of March, with shows in London, Bristonl, Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester in the UK. They also play in Paris and elsewehere in France, along with a show in Germany.

They're also due to play at the Arènes de Nîmes in July.

A teaser video has been released, and while it doesn't say much, it can only be a short time until more details emerge.

Mylène Farmer: Diabolique Mon Ange

With the relase of Mylène Farmer's new live collection Timeless 2013, the track Diabolique Mon Ange has
been selected to get the treatment as a single release.

The video is, unsurprisingly, a live one from the tour that saw her take to the stage around France and elsewhere last year.

The tour came in the wake of  her Monkey Me studio collection which came out towards the end of 2012, and it began with with a ten night run at Bercy in Paris.

The new album, released in December, reached the top ten in France, selling over 100,000 copies.

The Lyon concert in September was filmed for a forthcoming live video release, which is expected to come out next year. It will initially appear as  a limited film release in  March, with a subsequent blu ray and DVD.

Meanwhile, there are suggestions that Mylène is to get to work shortly on a new studio album, and on their news bulletin on January 4 TF1 reported on rumours  that 2014 would see Mylène collaborating with the band Muse.

Editorial: January 2014

Last month saw 2013 off in style, appropriate for a year that has seen French music and artists attain new
heights of critical and commercial success internationally.

I've outlined elsewhere some of the great releases that have come out in the last year, from Daft Punk to Détroit, Phoenix to Woodkid alongside the likes of Moodoid, Stromae, Saez, Indochine, Lescop and Vanessa Paradis.

A visit to the Les Rencontres Trans Musicales in Rennes not only gave me the chance to see a huge number of acts I'd not normally get the chance to encounter, but also gave me the opportunity to meet with artists and their representatives. I'm sure these new connections will help the Vive le Roq French Music blog grow even more in the forthcoming 12 months than it has in the last few years.

December was our busiest month of 2013, both in terms of number of visitors to the site and in number of posts on the site. And it was probably the most fun, with a visit to  Les Rencontres Trans Musicales in Rennes an absolute highlight.

Of course, a crazy month like the one we just had lays down a challenge for 2014. Can we do better? Can we do more?

The confident answer is of couse 'Yes, we can.' Although, to be fair, it's more 'Well, we'll certainly try!"

January tends to be a quieter month for releases, but by no means does it mean there's nothing happening. Award season begins soon, and shortlists will emerge shortly for the likes of the  Victoires de la Musique 2014, and there are live events taking place including some French world acts playing in Glasgow at the Celtic Connections festival.

In the meantime, I can be contacted on johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, with the appropriate punctuation where you'd expect it to be.

We're also on Twitter as @viveleroq or you can find me at @karnag

Thanks again to the French Music Office in London and to the Institut francais in London for their help and encouragement over the past month and over the past year, and also to the various record companies and promoters who have helped.

All the best for 2014.

Merci et à bientôt

John K