Rock en Seine festival

 Tickets go on sale today for this year's Rock en Seine festival, at the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud near Paris.

Billie Elish headlines the first night of the four-day event. Across the other three days acts like Florence + The Machins, Placebo, The Strokes and The Chemical Brothers have been confirmed.

It's more of an international music event, but there remains a significant French presence on the bill, with Flavien Berger and Bertrand Belin taking part.

More artists who are playing will be announced in the run-up to the festival.

Rock en Seine is taking place on August 23, 25 26 and 27.

Tickets are available here and y tickets are available from 55 euros per day.

David Crosby and Orléans

Sad to hear of the death of David Crosby the other day. I know for many Crosby was more a symbol of the 1960s, from the peace and love Woodstock generation to the problems in his later life, he was almost a metaphor for his times. 

I was a fan of his music, perhaps not surprising given his considerable links to the Grateful Dead, particularly on his If I Could Only Remember my Name album. The collection his first solo album from 1971, featured contributions from many of the leading lights of the San Francisco scene, from  CSNY collaborators Neil Young and Graham Nash to members of Santana, The Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. the musicians hung out at the Wally Geider recording studio in San Francisco and became a loosely affiliated group, the Planet Earth Rock 'n' Roll Orchestra, PERRO for short, who would work on this album as well as Airplane solo releases and a few casual gigs.

While songs like Cowboy Movie, Tamalpais High and What Are Their Names feature members of the Grateful Dead in as spectacular musical form as they ever were in the studio - Garcia's snaking guitar lead on What Are Their Names a particular stand-out - it's one shorter piece that concerns us here: Orléans.

It's just under two minutes long, and a solo vocal piece from Crosby, but it's a spectacular one. It features the special brand of harmonies that Crosby could do, it's the kind of piece that defined his sound from The Byrds, to CSNY, to his solo career. Based on folk music and updated for the modern audience, but retaining its apparent simplicity and honesty.

It is of course originally a French folk song, a children's song dating from the 15th century Le Carillon de Vendôme. Crosby simplifies it, losing the (short) verses and repeating the chorus, a list of French towns that remained in the control of King Charles VII during the Hundred Year War. 

Orléans,
Beaugency,
Notre-Dame de Cléry,
Vendôme,
Vendôme.

It's an unashamedly beautiful piece of music. As time marches on and hearing deteriorates, it pleases me no end to have heard it.

But as is the way with folk music, songs get amended and passed down through generations and locations, words get changed to suit different circumstances. 

So it is with this song. In 2011 the French band Justice released a song on their Audio, Video, Disco album Ohio. While the song is undeniably a Justice piece, there are more than a few similarities

Ohio,
Tennessee,
California,
Endlessly
Reign on

It could be seen as a French band re-interpreting the Crosby version of the original, but using the names of American states instead of French towns. It's a simple but effective technique, both reclaiming it and adapting it, making a gesture to the American version of the song that introduced it to thousands who would probably never have experienced it had it not been for Crosby. Again, in true folk music style they adapt it for a modern audience. 

The fact that Ohio was also the title of a (very different) CSNY song was, I suspect, not lost on Justice when they chose that state in particular as the title of the song.

Funny how the wheel turns. I'm sure Crosby dug it.

Serpent feat. Lescop "Dysfunktion" : Jack live

An up-close-and-live-session performance of the song Dysfunktion by Serpent, the project fronted by Lescop.

It's a funkier proposition than his previous releases, his self-titled debut from 2012 and its 2016 follow up Écho were much darker and more electronic propositions. Needless to say, we absolutely loved them

Serpent has been a going concern since 2020, with the release of Distant Call the lead track from the Time for a Rethink EP. 

There certainly seemed to have been a bit of a rethink, although it wasn't perhaps as dramatic as it first seemed. He hadn't - as they would have said in the late '70s/early '80s - "Gone disco", just expanded his musical horizons and the post-punk flavour that was at the forefront of his earlier releases is still there. 

Just look at the song titles: Ice Age; Waiting in the Park; Love/Hate; and even Dysfunktion could all be  the names of obscure tracks from first-wave cold-wave acts, many of whom were not afraid to embrace funk, reggae and dance music. And they were all the better for it.

Dysfunktion is the title track of a six-song EP released in May last year with Don't Waste my Time emerging as a single ahead of it.

Madonna: Two Paris shows in November

There are two nights at the Accor Arena in Paris for Madonna coming up this autumn, with shows on November 12 and 13.

The concerts are the only French dates of her Celebration Tour, marking the 40th anniversary of her career. The tour begins over the summer, with dates in North America before making its way to Europe, with shows in Rome, Milan, Copenhague, Cologne, Berlin, Lisbon and the O2 Arena in London.

It's not always been a celebration for Madonna to play in Paris, as her show at the Olympia in July 2012 made clear. During her MDNA tour she played the famous Paris venue, a much smaller hall than the arenas she played elsewhere on the tour. The intention of the show was to give her the opportunity to pay tribute to French artists and cinema, and how the country welcomed inspiring artists. She clearly included herself in that category. 

Tickets were expensive and initially limited to fans before being made available to the public and the show was streamed internationally. It wasn't exactly without a hitch. 

Despite a cover of Je t'aime... moi non plus, possibly the most obvious cover she could do in the whole history of French music, the 45-minute running time of the show was met with scorn by many who had paid almost 300 euros to attend the event. Water bottles were thrown at the stage with cries of "Recompense!" from the audience. It was not a happy ending to what she probably expected to be a warmly received intimate show in front of fans.

She commented later on her website: "Playing the Olympia was a magical moment for me and it was real treat to do this special show for my fans and be so close to them. Unfortunately at the end of the show – after I left the stage – a few thugs who were not my fans rushed the stage and started throwing plastic bottles pretending to be angry fans."

She added: "nothing can take away or ruin this very special evening for me and my fans. When I looked out in the audience, everyone I saw had a smile on their face. I look forward to having this wonderful experience again."

With two shows at the Accor Arena scheduled, she's unlikely to have the time to fit in a show at L'Olympia, but you never know.

Flavien Berger - Les yeux, le reste: A COLORS show

A sweet and low-key performance by Flavien Berger for COLORS.

 Les yeux, le reset is his new single, and it's an effortlessly stylish one

Last year his 2015 Léviathan album was re-issued, and the song D'ici là released as a single in November.

Berger has an enviable position, where he's a popular artist but one who is able to release some genuinely experimental electronic work. Despite his incongruous appearance, there's some sharp work going on and a feeling that while he's pushing at artistic boundaries, he's doing it with a sense of humour and fun.

Any new release by Flavien Berger is a real treat, and it's a pleasure to hear this one.

He's playing L'Olumpia in Paris on 4 May and it's already sold out.

Spiderland play The Vaselines

So this is a Scottish-based blog that celebrates French music. How could we not be blown away by a French act that celebrates Scottish music?!

Spiderland have been around since the 90s, and based in Douarnenez in Brittany, although their influences came from further afield. With their name obviously a nod to Slint, their sound was more in tune with some of the more interesting acts on the UK indie scene during that era. 

They released their self-titled debut album in '98. The band came to a halt a short time later, but members became involved in other acts including Kaiser Palace and Coude.

Time moved on, and the members reconvened as Spiderland, releasing an EP Milestone in 2020. The album A Gentle Breeze followed last year. It's a great release, thoroughly worth investigating and enjoying. 

The new video is a cover of a song by legendary Scottish act The Vaselines. 

Spiderland announced the song as "A little present for the start of the year", adding "You're aware of our interest in Scottish music. BMX Bandits, Teenage Fan Club, The Pastels...and the Vaselines!"

We just need to get them over here to play to a Scottish audience! Mono in Glasgow would be ideal...

Bilbao Kung-Fu: New video - Oh !

What is it about Bordeaux producing decent rock bands?

I hadn't come across Bilbao Kung-Fu until recently, and their effervescent punk pop is as catchy as it is fun. 

A live show would be a life-affirming and energetic experience, I reckon. Last year saw them gigging extensively in France, no doubt winning friends and influencing people around the country.

Their new EP follows their Arc en Ciel debut EP which was released in 2021.

The new video is (literally) a punchy interpretation of the song. Hard-hitting, so don't try it at home.

Oh! comes from the band's second EP, released on the Toulouse-based Kaa Productions. If 2023 is anything like their previous years, expect them to be playing live somewhere in France most of the time

Zombie Zombie: Erebus video

A new video for the track Erebus from Zombie Zombie, with some appropriately creepy imagery.

The clip features the inhabitants of the Musée des Automates de Limoux, a collection of over 100 automats set up with theatrical backdrops and lighting.

A trio of Etienne Jaumet, Cosmic Neman and Dr Schönberg, Zombie Zombie have been active since 2007 when they released their A Land for Renegades album. 

Their 2010 release Zombie Zombie Plays John Carpenter, where they performed works by the legendary filmmaker and composer, saw the band gain widespread recognition for their work. For an act who were themselves inspired by the worlds of horror and fantasy, the decision to cover John Carpenter was a good one.

They've gone on to release further albums, including 2012's Rituels d'un Nouveau Monde and 2016's Slow Future. Following the John Carpenter album, they have themselves been involved in soundtrack works including Irréprochable in 2016, and L’Heure de la sortie in 2019. 

You'll also find some well-chosen covers in their back catalogue, from Suicide's Dream Baby Dream to Sun Ra's Rocket Number 9 via New Order's The Beach, an instrumental version of Blue Monday.

The song for their new video features on their Vae Vobis album, available on Born Bad records, which was released in March last year.

Feu! Chatterton: Three nights at L'Olympia

 The first of three sold-out nights at the Olympia in Paris gets underway tonight for the mightly Feu!

Chatterton, marking the end of their tour promoting their Palais d'argile album.

While Palais d'argile is the band's third album, last month saw the release of the double album Live à Paris 2022, recorded at the  Zénith de Paris on April 14 last year.

There's a ten-track double vinyl release, a limited edition four-disc vinyl version of the collection which expands it to 18 tracks, all these tracks included on the double CD version.

There are tracks from their previous three albums, from their remarkable 2015 debut Ici le jour (a tout enseveli) like Côte Concorde, Boeing and La Malinche, some from 2018's L'Oiseleur including Souvenir and Sari D'Orcino, but material from Palais d'argile obviously dominates, which is frankly no bad thing given that the album is one of the best releases in recent years.

Among the tracks is a previously unreleased version of  L'Affiche Rouge, a song originally by Léo Ferré based on a text by surrealist poet Louis Aragon.

It's been astonishing to see Feu! Chatterton's rise, fulfilling the promise of their early work. A band who have always been articulate yet approachable, grounded in the traditions of French chanson but unafraid to take things in a new modern direction.

Feu! Chatterton are an extraordinary band who have enjoyed an extraordinary 12 months. The Palais d'argile tour may be coming to an end, but hopefully, we can look forward to more activity in 2023.

Arnaud Rebotini: The Spark in her Eye

A recent release from Arnaud Rebotini, the French master of dark electronics. 

There are echoes of hard dance acts from the 80s/90s like Nitzer Ebb and Front 242 going on here, a kind of electronic industrial rock.   

Rebotini may be best known for winning a Cesar award for the soundtrack of the film 120 battements par minute in 2018, but he's been a busy artist for some time, as part of Black Strobe or as a solo artist. 

His first solo album Music Components was released in 2008, and since then he's followed that up with Someone gave me Religion in 2011.

He's also continued to work in soundtracks, his most recent being for Dario Argento's Occhiali Neri, a Franco-Italian Giallo released in 2022.

The Spark in her Eye comes from a four-track EP that was released at the beginning of January 2023 entitled I Drive East, released on Mannequin records

H-Burns - Late Bloomers

A new release from H-Burns is usually a cause for celebration, especially with the new single Late 

Bloomers being such an impressive piece of work.

The video, with its American big-screen teen drama stylings, makes a strong case for being extended into a full-length movie. Even with a running time of just a few minutes, it feels like it's either been constructed from scenes from a film you've seen years ago and half remember or it's a promo for a film you want to see because you want to know how the characters and their narrative will play out. There's a sense of melancholic nostalgia, but with a promise of a better future.

While "In our time we were happier and prettier" is one hell of a lyric, the song is no downbeat lookback. Instead, it rings with defiance and a rage against the dying of the light: 

"Can we turn the light any brighter? 

Can we play the songs any louder? 

We can always try..."

We can indeed. Play this song louder to start with.

The last major release from H-Burns was the Burns on the Wire album from September 2021, where he played tribute to Leonard Cohen on an album of cover versions featuring collaborations with Pomme, Bertrand Belin and Lou Doillon. It's a majestic release and highly recommended.

I've been listening H-Burns since his 2013 Off the Map album, and every release has seen him develop as a significant artist. It both surprises and disappoints me that he's not better known. Hopefully that will change before too long.

His new album Sunset Park is released on February 3 on Yotanka records. So far it's already looking like a vintage year for French music releases. The new H-Burns album should be one of the early highlights of 2023. 

He's playing at La Maroquinerie in Paris on June 8.

Acid Arab: Ya Mahla

A new album is on the horizon from Paris-based duo Acid Arab. 

Like Fakear who I featured on this blog earlier today, they're an act who have expanded the possibilities of electronic music by bringing in textures that would normally fall beyond the scope of a traditional western audience.

It's not just adding some ethnic flavour to beats, what the likes of Acid Arab do is more a reflection of living in a multiethnic society. Their blend of Arabic sounds and electronic beats is an intoxicating one.

Arabic music is a familiar sound in Paris, with many of the population from North Africa and the Middle East. It's only natural that the music takes on qualities of its new environment, and that the environment itself is shaped by the new music that has come into it.

The new album, entitled ٣ (Trois), is scheduled for release at the beginning of next month. If you're in Paris, you can catch them live at the Olympia on February 9.

Fakear: Voyager

 A major tour and a new album are on their way from electronic producer Fakear.

He's come a long way since his 2016 Animal debut album, taking his globally-informed sounds to an international audience over the subsequent years. 

The track Voyager comes with a video that was filmed in the southern Alps in France, taking his music into a wild natural landscape that remains as strange as any fantasy. It's an amazing piece of work directed by the Ffi0oul creative team.

Voyager follows the release of the tracks Burning and Altar, which emerged towards the end of 2022.

The new album, Talisman, is due to be released on February 24, a follow-up to 2020's Everything Will Grow Again.

Fakear has a massive tour across France and elsewhere in Europe from the beginning of March. The list includes three shows in the UK. Manchester on April 4, Leeds on April 5 and London on April 6. 

I've been lucky enough to see Fakear live a few years ago, and he really does create some magic. Go and see him if you get the chance.

M83: Oceans Niagra

A new single from M83, with details of a new album on the way and due for release in March. 

The new song, Oceans Niagra, sees Anthony Gonzalez, the prime mover of M83, collaborating with his brother film maker Yann Gonzalez for the video.

Anthony Gonzalez said: "I wanted this record to be very impactful live." 

"The idea was to come back with something closer to the energy of Before The Dawn Heals Us. The combination of guitars and synths is always in my music, but it’s maybe more present on this new record than on the previous ones."

2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming double album was a major commercial and artistic breakthough for M83, the track Midnight City establilshing the band's international reputation. They'd go on to make the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion, and their work would feature on other films and TV productions.

The new album, entitled Fantasy, is his first album since DSVII, which was released in 2019. The album is due on March 17, as a double vinyl or CD.

M83 has confirmed tour dates in North America from April until the end of May.

Victoires de la Musique: The 2023 nominees

The nominations for this year's Victoires de la Musique awards have been confirmed, with some of the 

biggest names in French music on this year's shortlist.

There are four nominations for Stromae;  best male artist, best album, best original song and best audiovisual creation, and three nominations for Orelsan; best original song, concert of the year and best audiovisual creation

For the best male artist, Stromae is up against Bigflo and Oli and Grand Corps Malade, Ben Mazué and Gaël Faye. The best female artist will be either Angèle, Izïa or Pomme.

The four competing for the breakthrough male artist are Pierre de Maere, Jacques, Lujipeka and Tiakola, while the breakthrough female artist is between Mentissa, November ultra and Emma Peters.

Album of the year features three female artists out of the five nominees, Jeanne Added's By Your Side, Pomme's Consolation, Angèle's Nonante-cinq as well as Stromae's Multitude and Éphémère by Grand Corps Malade, Ben Mazué and Gaël Faye.

Five songs are nominated for the best original song, Clara Luciani's Coeur, Juliette Armanet's Flamme, Stromae's L'enfer, Orelsan's La Quête and Pierre de Maere's Un jour je marierai un Ange.

Concert of the year again includes a female-dominated shortlist, featuring Juliette Armanet, Clara Luciani and Orelsan. 

The shortlist for audiovisual creation of the year features Bigflo and Oli feat. Julien Doré (Coup de Vieux), Stromae (Fils de joie) and Orelsan (La Quête ). Meanwhile, Angèle and Ninho are competing for the most streamed album of the year.

The 38th annual Victoires de la Musique Awards ceremony takes place on Friday, February 10 at La Seine Musicale and is broadcast on France 2 and France Inter.

 

Feu! Chatterton play Monde Nouveau live on Le Double Express.

It's no secret that we're fans of Feu! Chatterton here, so it was an absolute pleasure to come across the clip of them performing live on the Le Double Expresso show on RTL2 on January 6.

It's a slightly stripped down version of the band and of the song, it's also very funny to see. 

There's more available in audio on the show's website, including a live-in-the-studio version of La Malinche.

Inevitably we'll have more about Feu! Chatterton on the site here before too long, but that's no bad thing.

Christine and the Queens: Bedtime Story on CBeebies

Maybe the Redcar album didn't trouble the list of bestselling albums in France in 2022, but there are other measures of success.

Who would have expected Chris to be reading a bedtime story on CBeebies - the BBC TV channel for young children? 

Chris does a great job entertaining the pre-school audience here, and while it might be a million miles from the kind of performance they'd normally be associated with, it's a significant one in that it shows an artist who some might view as edgy can be accepted into the mainstream without any issue. 

That she performs a lengthy spoken word piece in a second language is something that very few anglophone artists would be able to make a success,

Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) was released in November 2022. Christine and the Queens have 2023 live dates ahead, with the artist curating this year's Meltdown festival at the South Bank in London in June. Details of who will be on the bill are expected this Spring.

Meanwhile, France 4 broadcasts a special programme dedicated to the Redcar experience this evening. Whatever is in store is likely to be a bit different from her CBeebies performance.

2022's biggest selling albums

 So what were the biggest-selling albums in France last year?

The SNEP website listed the top sellers of 2022, with French artists particularly rap acts - dominating the sales across the country.

Rap artists take the lead in 2022, with Orelsan at the top with his Civilisation album, released in November 2021. It's the second year in a row that Orelsan has topped the French annual sales chart, Civilisation being the best-selling album of 2021, shifting a record of almost 100,000 copies in the first few days of its release and producing two number-one singles including L'odeur de l'Essence, released just ahead of the album. Civilisation sold over 405,000 copies in France in 2022.

The second biggest seller came from Ninho, with his Jefe collection. It sold just over 283,000 copies in France, and while this might seem like quite a gap between it and Orelsan's album, it's a hugely impressive amount for his sixth album, a triple platinum seller that was released in December 2021. 

Stromae sits in third place, with Multitude not far behind the number two seller, amassing sales of just over 241,000. Multitude, released in March last year, followed his massive-selling Racine Carrée album from 2013. Multitude spawned four singles, October 2021's Santé, L'enfer - which reached number one in France in January 2022 - Fils de Joie reaching the top ten in June and Mon Amour, a duet with Camila Cabello.

Rap dominates the top ten, with other albums including Gazo's KMT,  Jul's Extraterrestre, Lomepal's Mauvais Ordre, Vald's V and Tiakola's Melo. For all they might be rap acts, there's a wide range of styles on display here and the figures reveal not only a genre that is commercially successful but is in fine artistic health. 

There are only two female artists in the top ten, with Angèle's  Nonante-Cinq at number six, selling over 185,000 copies in 2022 after its release in December 2021. A re-issue, Nonante-Cinq La Suite followed in November 2022 with six extra tracks.

Clara Luciani's second album Coeur sits at number 10, clocking up just over 155,000 sales over 2022 since its release in June 2021.  Mylène Farmer's L'Emprise is one place behind it with 146,000 sales, and although you would perhaps expect Farmer - probably the most significant performer in France - to be higher in the end-of-year-sales-chart, it's worth remembering that this number one album was only released at the end of November 2022. I'd be surprised if it doesn't feature as one of 2023's biggest sellers too.

What's significant is that out of the top 20 best-selling albums in France in 2022, the overwhelming majority are by Francophone artists. Of the 20 listed, only Ed Sheeran (no. 13), Imagine Dragons (no. 14) and Harry Styles (no.20) fall outside the francosphere.  A deeper look at the SNEP figures shows that in fact 77% of the biggest-selling albums of 2022 are French productions.

A look further down the list reveals many, many more French names. From the familiar - like Renaud, -M-,  Michel Polnareff and even Johnny Hallyday to new acts releasing their debut, it shows that it's not just the significant best-sellers who are Made in France. 

Looking at statistics and focussing on sales doesn't give the whole picture by any means, but it's hard to deny that the figures are very positive and they clearly show that French musical acts remain one of the country's most significant contemporary artistic achievements.

Philippe Katerine et Pierre Daven-Keller - Le Roi

 In any right-thinking world, Pierre Daven-Keller would be a huge star. He's probably more known for the artists he's worked with than as a solo artist in his own right, but over the years he's quietly been releasing a catalogue of strong material that deserves attention, the first days of 2023 seeing another release that continues that trend.

Pierre Daven-Keller features with Philippe Katerine on the video for the track Le Roi, another pop piece that gently haunts the sub-conscience, letting you decide if it's a dream or a very strange nightmare. It may float lightly, but there's more going on here than it might seem at first.

I've featured Pierre Daven-Keller on this blog before, in an interview from way back in 2015, and one of the great things about this blog is seeing artists develop and get the recognition they deserve.

Pierre Daven-Keller's Planete album was one of 2022's good things, a collection described as somewhere between Stereolab and Air. It certainly takes some of the colourful cosmic vibes of the 70s and 90s and updates them without losing any of the flavour or underlying strangeness. It's a thoroughly enjoyable voyage. 

Philippe Katerine plays in Paris as part of the Hyper Weekend Festival with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France performing some of his work.

Taste: Bang Bang Bang

There's a new Iggy Pop album released today and if there's anything on it as good as Bang Bang Bang by Taste he'll have done a great job.

There's a very nicely done video too, making the link between the fetishisation of firearms in entertainment and American society in general, with the actual tragic consequences of this. From fake comedy to very real tragedy. 

You can probably name most of the films that flash up for a couple of seconds, you've probably seen them.

Taste might be a new name - this is only their second release after a track Shame Game came out in December - but the band's members La Mverte, the dark dancefloor DJ and producer Alexandre Berly and Paris-base artist Yan Wagner should be no strangers to you. 

Both have been producing some great things for a number of years and Taste looks like a fascinating step forward.

Taste also features Guillaume Marnez on drums and  Marc FKClub on guitar, making the position of an actual band that could perform live something really look forward to.

Taste release their first full EP on February 3. Can't wait.

Michel Polnareff: La soirée événement

Veteran French music legend Michel Polnareff was the subject of a big-budget TV spectacular on France 2 over the holiday season.

Michel Polnareff, la soirée événement was an appropriately spectacular presentation of one of France's most remarkable performers, with songs, archive footage and interviews between Polnareff and other artists who were performing his work.

The evening began with a version of Lettre à France which saw the 1977 era Polnareff duetting with the 2022 version of Polnareff. He'd later duet with a 1989 version of himself on Hello Marilou and perform Le Bal des Laze with a 2122 (!) version of himself.

The show, over two hours long, covered Polnareff's career over the decades from the 1960s to today, and featured artists from the generations he's influenced throughout his career.

Other artists performing in the show included Amor with La Poupée qui Fait Non, Catherine Ringer with Love Me Please Love Me, Patrick Bruel with Qui a Tué Grand-Maman? Chimene Badi with Grandi Pas, Nolwenn Leroy with Holidays.  Other names included Marc Lavoine, Pomme, Bilal Hassani and Scylla. 

It was an extraordinary showcase for a unique back catalogue. 

Polnareff, who is 78, recently released an album Polnareff chante Polnareff and confirmed a series of live dates across France in 2023, starting in Nice on May 24 and running until July 8 at the Nîmes festival. he plays at the AccorArena in Paris on July 2 and 3. Each show will be in two parts, with a set of Polnareff performing solo on piano and singing, followed by a second set with additional musicians.

Speaking about the tour, Polnareff said: "It's possible that it will be my last tour, but I think that on every tour, since my first."

Le retour: Back for 2023

Shall we give it a go again? Bon, Allon-y...

Things have been lax around here for too long, all the usual distractions getting in the way of the discipline of putting together a  music blog that aims to illuminate the French music scene for the benefit of the anglophone (and beyond!) audience. I only managed one post over the whole of last year, and only a couple in the preceding years. 

To be frank, I've missed it.

I love the discovery of new music, particularly new music that would normally sit well outwith my normal comfort zone. Through this blog, I've experienced acts like Saez and Christine and The Queens, IAM and Orelsan, Feu! Chatterton and Woodkid. It’s hard perhaps to see a common thread at times outwith language or nationality. But what they have in common is that they have each grabbed my attention, each has demanded I look further into their work and into the work of others, whether contemporaries or associates, opening up new avenues of exploration and possibility, rewarding the investigation with the opportunity to experience art that might otherwise be out of reach.

All these - and many others - have made me rethink my attitude toward music. There's too much going on to just sit still and consume the same albums you liked as a teenager over and over again. Music has never been so available as it is today, and the opportunity to dive in and immerse yourself completely is there like never before.

Similarly, the opportunity for acts to emerge has become greater. While record labels have provided opportunity and funding for acts over the decades, they have also to some extent acted as gatekeepers, sticking to their own areas of expertise and excluding those who don’t fit a pattern they recognise. Acts now have the tools to establish themselves like never before, and to present their music directly to their audience across platforms that even a few years ago would not have existed. If the woes of the big record labels mean there are fewer opportunities for acts breaking through to widespread commercial success, the greater accessibility of the means of releasing music means there are certainly more possibilities for the acts on the margins.

Meanwhile, there's also music coming out from acts I've loved for years - in some cases decades - that has blown me away.

I'm talking in particular about the new Jean-Michel Jarre album Oxymore, one of my favourites over the last year. For an act of his vintage to continue to release work that not only remains vital but is as challenging as anything he's put out is quite an achievement. By any measure, he's earned the right to put his feet up, continue to release variations on his past work and perform at the occasional well-funded exclusive prestige show.  Instead, he's releasing work that holds its own against some of the best contemporary electronic acts. 

Not bad at all for a guy who basically helped pioneer and popularise electronic music more than most ever have done. Compare what he's doing to the likes of Kraftwerk - re-inventing and recycling the same material for decades - or Tangerine Dream who slid quietly into New Age mediocrity in their later years. He was one of the first French artists who defined my taste in music in the 80s, and that he continues to do so is extraordinary. If 'Oxygene' is essentially a stealth-prog album, he's continued to be a truly progressive artist for the duration of his career.

By way of excuses, I’ve been busy with a book that was published last year – The Golden Road: The Recorded History of The Grateful Dead. It’s available to buy on Amazon and I’m pretty pleased with it. I’ll hopefully have more projects along these lines in the pipeline this year. It is of course somewhat appropriate that I first saw The Grateful Dead when they played two nights at the Zenith in Paris during their Europe 1990 tour. I’ll try not to write too much about the Grateful Dead here, but it’s entirely possible there might be some content regarding their live adventures in France appearing on these pages.

Let’s see how we get on. I’m not making any promises or setting up any rigid plans, just hoping to get a few words out there when I can. Talking about something that excites me or something that’s come up that’s significant, perhaps a release or a video, a tour or a festival. 

There will be some great French releases this year if previous years have been anything to go by. I’ll be looking out for them. Some will be from established acts, others from new and unfamiliar names, I’m not going to include or exclude on the basis of whether it’s an act that’s sold millions internationally or has sold only a dozen tapes to their friends.

Some of the material I might discuss is vintage that I consider may be deserving of investigation. If I like it or think it merits it, it’s going in. Favourites in recent months have included Higelin’s BBH75 album and a deep dive into Alan Stivell’s progressive Breton folk. It’s a blog and it’s my rules at the end of the day, so I’ll break them whenever I feel like it.

But I’m conscious that there’s a huge amount of new music that’s needing the opportunity to get heard. I’ll be writing here, as well as on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/frenchmusicpodcastuk/. 

Like this blog, it’s been dormant for a while, but it’s on the list of things that will be back on its feet again in the very near future.

If you're a promoter or want some publicity for an act, just get in touch, we'll do what we can. My inbox is open at johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, just amend the email address to the appropriate format and it will get through. I look forward to hearing from you.

À bientôt

JK