Feu! Chatterton: L'ivresse

Another new clip from Feu! Chatterton ahead of the release of their second album,

It follows the track Souvenir, which emerged at the end of November, but L'ivresse has a quite different feel to it.

L'ivresse came out just before the Christmas holiday season, giving everyone plenty of time to experience it over the last couple of weeks.

I'm a huge fan of Feu! Chatterton and the prospect of a new album from them is one of the things to look forward to in 2018.

Their debut was one of my favourite releases in recent years, articulate and intelligent but also stylish and playful at the same time. Clever and musically inventive without being too serious, and shot through with the kind of flavour you can only really get from being immersed in a French cultural backdrop.

Feu! Chatterton are touring extensively in March, April and May and play at the Bataclan in Paris on April 9 and 10.

French flavour at Coachella 2018

The bill for this year's Coachella festival in California sees a noticeable number of French artists this year.

It's a big event, arguably the most prominent music festival in the USA. Given its proximity to LA, it's a major platform for artists aiming to establish themselves in the entertainment industry and to mix with some of the biggest showbiz industry figures.

Remarkably one French act playing this year doesn't really need to establish himself, given that he's already sold more albums than most artists could ever dream of and established and repeatedly broke the world record for concert attendances. But Jean-Michel Jarre has always been a forward-looking artist and has made a career of a pioneering new ideas.

For all his heritage, he's probably aware that many of the well-heeled young Americans won't have heard of him, but given his electronics not only laid the foundations for much of the contemporary music but also continues to push the boundaries and create music every bit as interesting as many younger acts, he should have no trouble convincing the crowd he's a million miles away from a nostalgia act.

French electronics also feature with Carpenter Brut, no strangers to this blog, who play further down the bill on the opening day.

Honorary French artist Benjamin Clementine plays too, Ibeyi are playing in the Sunday and a sharp eye also reveals Petit Biscuit also on stage on day three.

True, none of the French acts have billing over Eminem, Beyoncé or The Weeknd

Coachella festival is held on two weekends, April 13, 14 and 15 and the following weekend April 20, 21 and 22, with the same artists playing each weekend.

Victoires de la Musique 2018 nominations

Details have been released of the nominations for the 2018 Victoires de la Musique awards, the French music awards that can be compared to the Brit awards or the Grammys.

It's a big annual event, a high profile showcase for French music, and it always gets significant media coverage. It also, significantly, focuses on French acts. This year sees the 33rd edition of the Victoires de la Musique awards.

As is all to often the case with this kind of event, there are few surprises, but as always, the breakthough artist and breakthough album categories are the ones that interest this blog the most. Nice to see Fishbach and Petit Biscuit get some recognition. Events and awards like this can give major exposure to developing artists, introducing them to a farn wider audience and help them take their careers to a new level. It wasn't that long ago that Christine and the Queens were playing at small festivals and in nightclub sized venues.

Orelsan leads the nomination, with three mentions - best male artist, best urban album for La fête est finie and best video (or best audiovisual presentation, as it likes to be called by friends) for Basic.

There are two nominations each for Louane (best female artist and best original song) and for BigFlo & Oli (best urban music album and best original song.)

Best male artist
Bernard Lavilliers
Orelsan
Soprano

Best female artist
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Louane
Catherine Ringer

Breakthrough artist
Eddy De Pretto
Gaël Faye
Fishbach

Breakthrough album
Aliose - Comme on respire
Juliette Armanet - Petite amie
Petit biscuit - Présence

Best chanson album
Brigitte - Nues
Albin de la Simone - L'un de nous
MC Solaar - Géopoétique

Best rock album
BB Brunes - Puzzle
Lady Sir - Accidentally Yours
Shaka Ponk - The Evol

Best urban music album
BigFlo & Oli - La vraie vie
Lomepal - Flip
Orelsan - La fête est finie

Best world music album
Amadou et Mariam - La confusion
M - Toumani et Sidiki Diabaté - Lamomali
Oumou Sangare - Mogoya

Best electro album
ALB - Deux
Dominique Dalcan - "empérance
Fakear - Karmaprena

Best concert
Camille
Gérard Depardieu - Gérard Depardieu chante Barbara
Julien Doré - & Tour

Best audiovisual creation
Orelsan - Basique (Greg & Lio)
Gauvain Sers - Pourvu (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
The Blaze - Territory (Jonathan et Guillaume Alric)

Best original song
Dommage by BigFlo & Oli
Ton mec by Kyo
Si t'étais là by Louane
Roule by  Soprano

I'll give more on my thoughts about who the likely winners are going to be closer to the actual event.

The 2018 Victoires de la Musique ceremony takes place at la Seine Musicale on Friday February 9.

France Gall tribute

If the closing weeks of 2017 were dominated by the death of Johnny Hallyday, it's sad that 2018 begins with news of the death of another legend of French music.

France Gall lost her battle with cancer at the weekend at the age of 70.

France Gall began her career as the icon of 60s yéyé style, but unlike many of her contemporaries she went on to have a career that lasted for decades.

Gall was, like many female singers in both France and elsewhere, measured according to the men who collaborated with her. Whether Serge Gainsbourg or Michel Berger it was presumed that she was acting on behalf of the greater - male - talent. The music industry has always had this kind of sexism, and it was if anything more prevalent during France Gall's early career.




But perhaps without France Gall, Gainsbourg would not have reached the creative peaks he did in the late 60s, the Eurovision win with Poupée de cire, poupée de son establishing the international reputation of Gainsbourg as a composer every bit as much as it established France Gall as a singer. It's worth remembering that it was France Gall herself who chose the song from a shortlist presented to her.




It's easy to see why she remains best known for her work in the 60s, as she pretty much established the template for generations of French female stars. Her songs were sweet, but also subversive and smarter than they first seemed. And she wasn't afraid of new or controversial ideas.



Her work in the 1970s with her husband Michel Berger, which whom she worked until his death in 1992, established her as a more mature artist. While perhaps her work wasn't as edgy as some of her earlier songs, many of her songs from this period have gone on to be standards in France.



Her involvement in Berger's musical Starmania would give her even greater acclaim in France. The rock opera was a huge success in the French speaking world, and later singles like Résiste and Ella elle l'a proving that she was an artist that wasn't tied to one particular decade.




While she essentially retired in the late 90s, France Gall remained visible with high profile albums of cover versions and the musical theatre show Résiste featuring her songs.

She was a unique artist whose talent helped give French music its unique style.

DJ Pone - Highways (feat. Jaw)

A new video for the track Highways by DJ Pone, featuring an appearance by Oxmo Puccino.

The track comes from an EP of four remixes of Highways, featuring versions of the track by Skyway, as well as by Apollo Noir, Ughett and Irene Dressel.

It originally featured on his Radiant album which came out in late 2016.  It's a striking and haunting piece of work, with the cinematic video reflecting this nicely.

DJ Pone plays at la Maroquinerie in Paris on February 10.

Charlie Hebdo anniversary

Last year I wrote about the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo killings, one of the far too many acts on infamy that have taken place in France in recent times.

At the time it was hard to imagine a worse series of events, with workers killed for upholding the right to speak without restraint, and that others fell protecting them.

Since then we have had other, darker, days and the Charlie Hebdo killings now seem to have been the opening act of a long-running tragedy that still has not ended.

But we remember that Charlie Hebdo has continued, and how those who wished it snuffed out failed utterly.

Presidents, politicians and worthies from around the world paid tribute to names that were perhaps only well known in the French counter culture, and an act that was intended to silence us resulted in voices raised like never before.

If we are not out of the darkness yet, the strange victory of Charlie Hebdo reminds us that we can show that darkness that it is us who hold the lights.

Editorial: January 2018

Welcome back, and it's good to be here. If 2017 wasn't a peak year for this blog, we're starting 2018 with good intentions and hopefully we can get things back on track.

There's much to report in the world of French music during our festive break, and more to look forward to in forthcoming weeks.

For a year that saw fewer posts than previous years, it was heartening to see December 2017 having the highest number of visitors we have ever had. By quite a margin. Thanks for coming and we really are grateful.

Things will get busier here in 2018, so if you've been one of our new visitors, I hope you find reason to visit again.

As always, you can contact us at 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 drop me an email. I'm always keen to hear new things, and relay information about acts I already know and love.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq, although that's pretty much just an autofeed when we update with a new article. You can usually find me on my personal Twitter account quicker, @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 good folks at Oui Love Music From France .

Merci et à bientôt,

John K