Adrien Soleiman: La Nuit Tombée

A video for the track La Nuit Tombée by Adrien Soleiman, an artist who's been getting attention
from French music magazine Les Inrocks as part of their inRocKs lab programme which promotes new artists.

The track Rue Des Étoiles emerged in September last year, the track a melancholy yet uplifting wonder nostalgic yet aware of what's going on right now. An instant classic.

So a new track is going to get my attention immediately, and it doesn't disappoint. If anything its more epic in its scope that its predecessor, but with a similar depth.

It's work of this kind of class that makes listening to French music the worthwhile experience that it is.

Adrien Soleiman releases his first EP, entitled Rue des Etoiles in June.

Grand Corps Malade: Le Bout Du Tunnel

I missed this when it was released as I was on holiday, but a striking new clip for a piece of music
from the last album by  Grand Corps Malade.

The clip for Le Bout Du Tunnel by Mehdi Idir features Izia Higelin and Nicolas Duvauchelle.

The track Le Bout Du Tunnel is based on  the true story of Laurent Jacqua who spent 25 years in prison after he shot two skinheads who attacked him. One die, the other was left paralysed.

In prison he was found to be HIV+. He was some years later released but would return to prison following involvement in crime, and a subsequent escape attempt led to another sentence, this time in a high security unit.

It was here he began to write, blogging about the injustices of the French prison system.

It was through his writing that he began to turn his life around. He was eventually released in 2010.

Le Bout Du Tunnel features on Grand Corps Malade 2013 album Funambule.

Charles Aznavour and the commemoration of the Armenian genocide

France's president today attended the 100th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian genocide.

While many world leaders did not attend,  their political concerns still clouding the issue, one figure that was there was French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour.

Aznavour, still performing while aged 90, remains a legendary figure both for his music and his humanitarian work.

Aznavour has been involved for decades with humanitarian work in Armenia, including a charity single that came out following the earthquake in the 1980s.

He has the ceremonial title of French ambassador-at-large to Armenia, and was appointed  Ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland in 2009.

There's a stutue of him in Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city, and a square named after him in Yerevan, ceebrating the links between one of France's

Born in France to parents who fled Armenia, his mother surviving the genocide,  his 1975 song Ils sont tombés commemorates the tragic events.

Fauve: Tallulah

Another track being promoted as a single from the Vieux Frères partie 2 album by Fauve.

The album's been one of this year's best, and if their debut showed them as masters of the angry torrent of words, this new one showed them capable of a more colourful and varied sound, perhaps a more mature outlook and certainly one that's met with considerable commercial success.

It's a collection that has grown in its appeal with repeated listening, and if the new track Tallulah encourages others to tune on or to re-listen, they'll certainly come away the better for the experience.

Fauve are in their on-going tour at the moment, with gigs around France over the next few months and festival shows over the summer.

Baden Baden: Hivers

A new video by Baden Baden, this time for the track Hiver.

The track features on their recently released Mille Éclairs album which came out in February this year.

The French band has produced a collection that matches or betters any indie rock release from this side of the channel this year, and this track is one of the album's highlights.

I've listened to the album repeatedly since it was released, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't feature on some lists as one of the best of 2015 by the end of the year.

Baden Baden have a nunmber of live dates ahead, including shows at the Francofolies festival in La Rochelle, and a show at the Olympia in Paris in December.



« HIVERS » - Baden Baden from Passion Paris on Vimeo.

Christine and the Queens: Intranquilité

Now that the dust has settled on another Record Store Day / Disquaire Day, worth a look and a listen
at one of the items that came out.

I featured many of the special releases that were sold in independent record shops in France at the weekend, but one that was particularly interesting was the four-track EP release by Christine and the Queens, featuring as it did a previously unreleased track.

The four tracks on the release,  limited to 550 vinyl copies, featured the tracks Science Fiction, Paradis Perdus and Amazoniaque.

Amazoniaque was a cover of an Yves Simon, which was originally released on a 2012 EP,  but  the track  Intranquilité  has not previously been made available.

It was apparently recorded longside the rest of the debut album but for whatever reason left on the shelf, although performed live under the alternative title Dessassossego.

Disco Anti Napoleon: UFO

Missed this when it came out last week as I was on holiday, but a fine clip for a fine track by Disco
Anti Napoleon.

Very much a heavy trip from the Nantes four piece, and is taken from their debut album Ascent.

It's the kind of track that fans of 70s Hawkwind would not believe possible in the 21st century, with The Man no doubt banning this kind of krautrock propelled open-minded astral strangeness in the name of health and safety.

Disco Anti Napoleon are still in search of space, and their silver machine is flying high.