Editorial: February 2014

It's been a busy start to 2014 here, with not only a good number of posts over the past few weeks, and a very healthy amount of traffic to the site.

Last month was only a few visits away from our all-time record, building on the large number that we had in December.

There was plenty to write about, and whether it's down to French music getting more press as a consequence of Daft Punk and Phoenix - not to mention Stromae - last year - there seems to be more going on than ever.

Last year France recorded a rise in sales of music, and while 2.3% might not seem much to trumpet, it reverses a trend that has been running for 11 years.

Also, significanly, seventeen of the 20 biggests sellers were francophone artists. Stromae, Daft Punk and Maître Gims the top three last year. Perhaps there's an increased confidence in the French public in their music and as a consequence a greater engagement that's being reflected in sales.

For January being traditionally a quieter than usual month, this year saw a load of new releases - and some I'm catching up with from 2013 - to get through. I aim to now have  regular review every week. So hopefully each Saturday I'll have something to say about a particular release.

February kicks off with some strong releases, with Fauve and Ghost Surfer both releasing new albums this week, and the Les Victoures de la Musique taking place in the middle of the month.

As always, 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  and also to the various record companies and promoters who have helped.

 Merci et à bientôt

John K