SebastiAn and L'Impératrice at Coachella 2020

Coachella festival is a pretty special event.  It's very much the well-heeled Californian cousin of the likes of Glastonbury and there's always a considerable amount of stars on the stage and beautiful people in the audience.

But it's also key showcase for emerging talent with the west coast based entertainment industry, whether cinema, music or TV right on its doorstep.

For all the headliner - this year it's the turn of Rage Against the Machine Frank Ocean and Travis Scott - and the other big-name acts - among them Thom Yorke, Lana Del Rey, Calvin Harris and FKA Twigs - it's a unique platform for artists to get heard by the kind of people who can make careers happen.

I'm always on the look out in the small print in the poster for the well-chosen French act, so it was great to see L'Impératrice and SebastiAn making an appearance.

While neither are exactly new acts, both having several releases under their belts, they're still new names to the wide american audience.

SebastiAn released his Thirst album in November, his second full studio album, but the Ed Banger records mainstay has been releasing material under his own name since 2005 and has worked with Justice, Kavinsky, Woodkid and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who features on his recent album.



L'Impératrice too have been around for a few years and built up a considerable reputation for their modern take on disco, releasing their debut Matahari in 2018.

L'Impératrice begins a tour in February supporting the deluxe re-edition treatment of Matahari. They are playing at the O2 Shepherd's Bush in London on February 20 and La Cigale in Paris in March, followed by shows across north America.


This year's Coachella takes place on the weekends of April 10 and April 17