Superbus: On The River

A new unreleased track by Superbus has emerged ahead of the release of the band's sixth album this summer.

On The River is available to anyone who pre-orders the new album Sixtape, which is due out on June 3.

Meanwhile, a new promo video has emerged for the track Strong and Beautiful, the first single from the album, marking the group's return to activity.

Their most recent track before was their version of Téléphone's Un autre Monde, the unquestionable highlight of the mixed bag that was the  Ça, (C'est vraiment nous) various artists tribute album.

Their last full album was 2012's Sunset album, which reached number five in the French album charts. Since then Superbus vocalist Jenn Ayache released a solo album, entitled +001.

Superbus have a tour in October and November, with a show at le Trianon in Paris on October 29.

Matthieu Chedid: Purple Rain at Cannes

A performance at the Cannes festival by Matthieu Chedid saw a tribute to Prince, with a version of Purple Rain by one of the French artists who was most influenced by him.

Chedid's -M- persona could be seen as inspired by the late star, with his playfulness and humour along with his genre-defying take on music, helped by his apparently effortless musical ability.

Of course, Chedid is a very different artist to Prince, but I reckon he took a few of his ideas and made them his own. He'd certainly not be the only artist to do so.

Chedid's been touring with his family, his last solo studion album was 2012's Îl, which he followed with a live album the following year.

He's just recently back in France following a tour of Asia that saw him play in Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan.



Mathieu Chedid interprète Purple Rain en... by tuxboard

Dom DufF: Kalon

A new single by Breton folk singer Dom DufF, with the track Kalon.

It's in Breton, the title means 'Heart'. I don't speak Breton, but that doesn't stop the track being an earworm after just a couple of listens.

Duff's releases a new album to be entitled Ker in October.

His last album, 2013's Babel Pow Wow won the best breton Album of 2014 award by France 3 TV

Artists like Dom DufF don't just keep the Breton language and culture alive, they keep it vigorous and essential.  Long may it continue.

Cannes Film Festival 2016

The Cannes film festival opens today, an event that sets the international standard for events that could be described as 'glittering; or 'star-studded.'

Hundreds of A-list stars and directors will be at the event, and while 21 films are  competing for the Palme d'Or , the Un Certain Regard category, Out of Competition and special screenings are packed with interesting work from France, the USA and beyond.

Needless to say many of France's leading names are on the bill, with movies featuring the likes of Juliette Binoche, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Isabelle Huppert, Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel.

There are no fewer than two films featuring Marion Cotillard in competion for the Palme d'Or, From the Land of the Moon and It's Only the End of the World.

Vanessa Paradis is on the jury for the Feature Films category and while better known as a singer in the UK, it's worth remembering she's had a lengthy film career and won a César award for her appearance in the film Noce Blanche.

Jim Jarmusch will screen his documentary about Iggy Pop Gimme Danger as well as his movie Paterson, one of the 21 contenders for this year's Palme d'or.

French director  Olivier Assayas has his film Personal Shopper in competition for the Palme d'or, a film featuring Twilight star Kristen Stewart. Assayas will forever be held in a high regard by this blog for his early work making the video for the track Rectangle by Jacno.

While careers will be made, deals done, reputations established and cinema and its stars celebrated, Cannes above all presents an international showcase for France as a world-leading arts producing nation.

Jean-Louis Murat: French Lynx - C à Vous

An appearance by Jean-Louis Murat on C à Vous

Murat recently released his latest album Morituri last month, French Lynx is the opening track of the new collection and emerged as a single in February.

Murat's last studio album was 2014's Babel album, a critical and commercial success for the singer who's been releasing work since the mid 80s. 

I've been a fan of Murat since I first heard him in the early 90s and he's always been a class act. His new collection continues to add to that reputation.

Christophe: Océan d'amour

 A new video by Christophe, with a clip for the song Océan d'amour.

The track features on the veteran chanteur's new album Les vestiges du chaos which was released last month.

The album was one of the key releases so far this year, kept off the number one position in France only by the new album by Renaud. Not bad for two of France's senior figures on the music scene.

The 70-year-old's last album release was 2013's Paradis Retrouvé collection, his career going back  to the mid 1960s.

Christophe features on the new album by Jean-Michel Jarre to be released later this week, revisiting their collaboration from the early 70s.

The new video follows the release of the clip for the track Dangereuse which came out just ahead of the album.

Christophe begins a series of live dates at the end of this month, with shows until July and more scheduled for the end of the year and into 2017 with dates in Paris at the end of January and into early February.

Editorial: May 2016

Back to work again on the Vive le Roq blog after a few weeks that have seen me taking it a bit easier than usual, but we're back to regular service.

I've been delighted to see the traffic coming to the site has maintained the high level of the previous month, despite (or because of?) fewer posts going on the site. Our second busiest month in terms of traffic since we started, just a whisker behind the record set in March.

This month sees Christine and the Queens play in London, France's favourite female artist of the moment attracting a higher profile than any French act for quite some time.

Releases this month include the second volume of Jean Michel Jarre's Electronica project, the Heart of Noise,  featuring another batch of fascinating collaborations.

Festival season gets under way seriously this month, with events like the Art Rock festival in Saint-Brieuc running for three days from May 13. This year looks a vintage year for festivals in France, with events all summer covering a vast range of genres, featuring international acts as well as some of France's biggest names.

As always, I can be contacted on johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, with the appropriate punctuation where you'd expect it to be. I'm always pleased to hear from record companies, PR companies and promoters, so do get in touch.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq or you can find me at @karnag

If you're around Facebook, remember to like the French Music Podcast UK page, where you can get regular updates with both fresh and vintage French music.

Thanks as always to the French Music Office in London and to the Institut francais in London for their help and encouragement.

Merci et à bientôt

John K