A final release from the much-missed Jane Birkin, with a double CD
and DVD Oh! pardon tu dormais... Le Live released next month.
She had been scheduled to return to live performances in Paris
last summer at L’Olympia and La Cigale, but her shows were cancelled for health
reasons.
Birkin died in her Paris home in July last year aged 76. Few have ever
achieved the kind of iconic status she attained.
Her last album Oh! Pardon tu Dormais was released in 2020, the documentary Jane by Charlotte, directed by her
daughter, came out the following year.
The new release documents a live show that followed the release of her last studio album.
A return for French act FFF with their first album in 23
years expected at the end of November.
FFF were huge in the ‘90s, their self-titled album and singles
Barbès and Le Pire et le Meilleur making
a massive impact, the band picking up a Victoire de la Musique award
in ’97. They called a halt in 2001, their most recent album until now Vierge coming out the
previous year.
Marco Prince had been a judge on the TV music show Nouvelle Star, while Yarol Poupaud played
guitar with Johnny Hallyday, so they weren’t by any means idle over the years.
There has been the occasional tour, and single in 2017, but
finally, a ten-track album I Scream is due for release next month.
The track Les Magazines has emerged to herald its arrival.
Meanwhile, there will be a tour in March and April next
year, with eight shows confirmed so far, with the first date in La Rochelle on
March 15 before going on to Nantes, La Roche sur Yon, St Lo., Istres, Montpellier,
St Etienne and the Olympia in Paris on April 3.
W-a-y back in January this year I featured the track Bang Bang Bang by Taste, looking forward
to their
first release in February.
Well, in our absence Taste have been busy and delivered the
goods. The Taste EP emerged in
February, with both Bang Bang Bang and
its predecessor Shame Game along with
three other trackshitting like
Depeche Mode fronted by Nick Cave let loose in a late ‘70s Berlin studio with some
of Kraftwerk’s leftover kit.
Taste consists of La Mverte and Yan Wagner, both names you
should know for their dark electronica, reinforced with Guillaume Marnez and
Marc FKClub.
They’ve now delivered another EP, the charmingly titled four-track Pants Shitters that includes
both Pile of Guilt and Walking Home, two tracks released over
the past few months.
There’s something of the late ‘70s Bowie and Iggy Pop cool here,
with a dark menace not too far below the surface. It’s sophisticated and
polished, but at the same time unsettling, in the best possible way. It should be blasting out the speakers in the early hours of the morning through the dry ice of a haunted nightclub
Meanwhile, the recycling of ‘50s American imagery is a
simple but effective way of juxtaposing the horrors, real and imaginary, of
society alongside the stylishly fantasized version. It may be retro, but it’s more
relevant than ever.
A new single from Indolore released last week hit s a sweet spot, marking the artist's return to his native Paris from his adventure in Nashville earlier this year that produced the Nashville EP.
He's back on home turf for his forthcoming Paris EP, Way Home the first track to emerge,
There's no shortage of songs about Paris, but this one avoids the clichés and taps into a more universal and relatable situation. While a homage to the city, it also speaks of the realisation of who you are, where you need to be, and why you need to be there. It might be a simple song, but it carries some weight and carries it with ease.
And yes, maybe the cover image of him walking in a corner of Paris I have walked many times makes it seem all the more personal.
In bleak days like this, a bit of optimism is always welcome, and this hits like a ray of sunshine on a grey day.
Like any visitor with an exceptional guide, I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of Paris.
There have been plenty of hot takes and opinions about the horror that's been unfolding in Israel and Palestine. No one's really been waiting for mine.
But needless to say, a massacre at a music festival was one of the most sickening acts of terrorism in recent years. Like the assault on the Bataclan or on Charlie Hebdo, this felt closer than it was. If hte victims were not people I know, they were certainly the kind of people I know. A friend would go to Tel Aviv to go clubbing, close family have been in Israel and Palestine several times. People I know will have family and friends there, on either side of the security fence. The world is a smaller place now than it ever was.
And so the second chapter begins; the war on Gaza. I have no doubt that Israelis have the right to live in peace and security, as we all do. And those responsible for the terrorist atrocity deserve to be punished.
But the deaths of the innocent shame us all. The only side we should back unequivocably in a conflict is the side of humanity.
Perhaps the Russian invasion of Ukraine unleashed the idea that absolute barbarism is now an acceptable face of conflict. It's not and it never will be.
Zebda released Une Vie de Moins in 2012, a song telling the story of a young life in Gaza. At the time it provoked the anger of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France, who said it promoted hatred toward Israel, but it gives no credit to extremists and doesn't defend the likes of Hamas.
Instead, it focuses on the life lived by young people in Palestine, from their point of view, where wanting a peaceful existence and wanting to leave isn't an option as the conflict too often comes to them with fatal consequences.
Digging through a box of old CDs
recently, I came across a copy of the debut album by Silmarils, a
self-titled
album released in ’95. they were from the Paris area, and if I remember it right, they gave a decent rock/rap crossover thing. I’d not listened to it in years, it had kind of fallen through
the cracks and I'd kind of forgotten the details of what it sounded like, but I knew I must have liked it as I’d held on to it since.
So it was time I gave it a blast again.
On first impression, it’s very much of its era, funk
metal in the style of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and at its best Rage
Against The Machine but perhaps moving closer to rap. Pretty good, and the kind of stuff I was probably listening
to back then quite a lot. Je ne jure de
rien hits the spot, Cours vite and Mackina hit singles that probably
deserved to be. It’s a collection that has its charms, Just be True illustrating the glorious thing Mano Negro might have
been if they’d had some metal wallop behind them.
In short, I was glad I'd held on to it.
I remember seeing their album all
over the place at the time, even here in the UK so there must have been some
hope they’d make more of an impression. They were signed to EastWest Records
who would have had the budget. But it seemed that could have been the end of
the story. One album with a push behind it that didn’t ignite commercially and
a curtain comes down.
But no. I might not have followed what
they were up to from then, amid the deluge of work and other releases I took my
eye off them. But they persisted and released another four albums up to 2003, including
a live album featuring a Beastie Boys cover. A search online, while I was listening to their debut album, showed me I’ve got some homework to catch up with.
And there was better news. Not only
is there a significant back catalogue, their three studio albums that were
originally on EastWest - their debut, 1997’s Original Karma and 2000’s Vegas ’76 were
re-issued on coloured vinyl this summer.
Better yet, Silmarils are still a
going concern. A single Welcome to
America was released in April this year. Older maybe, wiser perhaps, but absolutely
rocking for sure. They’ve been playing festivals over the summer including the Vieilles
Charrues and Hellfest, and have a new album out shortly.
Looks like I’ve picked the right
time to catch up.
