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.

Lescop: Live in London

I've been a fan of Lescop since before his 2012 debut album, the artist known to his family as Mathieu Peudupin delivering a work that was as modern as it was steeped in the classic cold wave environment of the 80s.

So delighted to see he's got another show in the UK tonight, only a short time after he played here over the summer.

His second album Echo, released last year delivered on the promise of his debut, establishing him as one of France's most distinctive acts. Sophisticated and intelligent, but with an immediate accessibility.

You could reference the likes of French heroes like Daniel Darc or Jacno in relation to Lescop, or you might even recall some of the post-punk work done by Iggy Pop in the early 80s.

He's playing in London again tonight as the closing show of a series of autumn dates that quickly followed his summer festival engagements across France.

Lescop plays the Lexington tonight, with support from C.A.R and tickets are available here.


 

Les Inrocks festival

This weekend sees the Les Inrocks festival, with shows at venues in Paris as well as elsewhere in
France.

Tonight there are sets by Her, Lescop, Paradis and Juliette Armanet at La Cigale in Paris, La Boule Noire features Palace, A Giant Dog and Goat Girl.

Tomorrow sees Shock Machien, Parcels and Keep Dancing Inc at La Boule Noure, La Cigale features Jagwar Ma, Lost Under Heaven, Rat Boy, Let's Eat Grandma and Clara Luciani.

On Sunday  La Boule Noire hosts Pumarosa, Lewis Del MAr and Elf Kid, while the Cigale features Cassius, Formation and Adan Naas.

On Monday The Bataclan has a show by Tinariwen, Seratones and The Lemon Twigs.

Venues in Tourcoing, Nantes and Bordeaux host a selection of the acts over the weekend,  Lescop and Paradis playing all three towns,  Her playing Tourcoing and Nantes and Juliette Armanet at Bordeaux and Nantes.

Jagwar Ma, Lost Under Heaven and Rat Boy also play the three towns, and are joined by Let's eat Grandma at Nantes.

Tonight's sold out show by Her, Lescop, Paradis and Juliette Armanet is being streamed live. so a good opportunity to drop in on what looks like a very tastefully considered bill.

Lescop: Echo

A welcome return for Lescop, an artist whose debut album was one of this blog's favourites when it was released on Pop Noire a couple of years ago.

The track Echo emerges in July, and it shows his continued poetic exploration of an apparently bleak new wave environment.

It's an epic piece of work and I can't wait to hear more new material.

Lescop is in the middle of a series of live dates across France until the end of the year, and plays at La Cigale in Paris on November 18 as part of the Les Inrocks festival.

Echo is released on October 21.

Editorial: October 2016

Few posts last month on the blog, but sadly no shortage of things worth writing about. I've missed out on
writing about some great things for sure over the past few weeks.  Lack of time to write bit into the blog, but we aim to amend this on October and catch up a bit. Little point moping about not having time, it's a better use if time to actually get back into gear.

This month sees no shortage of releases and live activity, from major acts to developing artists.  From Jean Michel Jarre embarking on UK dates supporting the release of his Electronica albums, and Acid Arab bring their flavour to the Mosaïques festival in London.

We'll be across this month's new releases, as this month brings another crop of quality French related sounds, autumn being treditionally a key time for new products leading up to Christmas. Again, big names and newcomers make their presence felt, from Johnny Hallyday with a new live album to Lescop with a much anticipated second album.

As always, I can be contacted on 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 get in touch.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq or you can find me at @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 French Music Office in London and to the Institut francais in London for their help and encouragement.

Merci et à bientôt

John K

Savages: Mercury Prize shortlist

Great to see the band Savages making the shortlist for this year's Mercury Music Prize award.

Their are shortlisted for the best album for their debut Silence Yourself which was released in May this year.

While up against some big names, with David Bowie and Arctic Monkeys the favourites, the London-based band led by Jehnny Beth (Camille Berthomier) would be a fine choice.

Jehnny has already been involved in music, with the act John & Jehn who released two albums, their self-titled debut in 2008  and the album Time for the Devil in 2010.

The pair are also founders of the Pop Noire label in 2011, who have released material by Lescop as well as Savages and Johnny Hostile, the other half or John and Jehn.

However, it is with Savages that Jehn has found both commercial and critical success, and whether or not Savages win the award, a French singer getting onto the shortlist for best album from the UK and Ireland is no small achievement.

OohLaLA! festival

Appropriate to see the announcement today - being the day of the Fête de la Musique in France - of a festival later this year bringing some of france's finest music acts to the UK.

The OohLaLA! festival on October 12.22 and 24 sees three nights of acts at the Village Underground in east London, with some great acts already confirmed.

So far Dominique A, Lescop and ≠ FAUVE, along with Christine and The Queens and The Quietus DJs have been revealed, with more acts and special collaborations to be announced.

I've featured several of these acts in the blog over the years, and it certainly looks a great opportunity to catch some great acts we rarely get the chance to see in the UK.

Dominique A has been active since the 90s, his most recent album vers Les Lueurs released last year, and along the way he's acquired the reputation of being one of France's most visionary singer songwriters.

Lescop, meanwhile, should also be no stranger to regular visitors to this blog. He released his debut album in the UK this month, having already blown audiences away in France since it came out there late last year. He played in London to mark the album's UK release, it's great to see him return again.

As for ≠ FAUVE they're one of France's most innovative acts in recent years, presenting an assuredly modern soundtrack to these tense times.

Christine and the Queens have features here in the past couple of weeks with the release of her Nuit 17 à 52 EP, having appeared at the Great Escape event in Brighton in May.

An impressive and exciting line-up so far, with more still to come.

Although it's the first time it's been held in London, the OohLaLA! festival was founded in 2009 by Sylvain Taillet, the head of A&R for French label Barclay/Universal Music France. It began in LA, and expanded to San Franciso, New York and Montréal as s showcase for French artists and previous years have seen acts like Sebastien Tellier, Kavinsky, Brodinski and François and The Atlas Mountains.

Tickets for the event are available from July 1


La Session de LESCOP dans Le RDV de Laurent... by franceculture

Lescop: Debut album UK release

Great to see a UK realease for the  debut album by Lescop, a collection that I've been listening to extensively in the past few months since it came out in France last October.

The album saw him grab a nomination in the Victiores de la Musique awards earlier this year in the Best Original Song category.

In the last year I reckon Lescop must be one act I've featured here more frequently than any other new act.

Well deserved if you ask me.

In my initial review lasy year I wrote:

While hailing from La Rochelle, Lescop was as influenced by the sounds of Manchester as he was by the French music scene.

As a teenager he was fascinated by Joy Division as well as acts like the Buzzcocks, going on to sing with the band Asyl before embarking on his current solo career.

Asyl, formed in '95, released four albums. With their musical roots in the art-informed end of punk, new wave and post-punk as well as the likes of David Bowie, particularly in his Berlin phase.

Lescop's solo album develops the ideas that Asyl played with, and delivers a sophisticated modern pop, with depth and intelligence.

While many electro acts simply recycle the pop sensibilities of the 1980s, the grittier side of the genre, from Suicide to Soft Cell, is often overlooked. Few capture the potential of the genre, with its tension or urgency. Worth remembering too that the original Goth punk scene of the mid to late 80s was as much influenced by the likes of Joy Division as it was by acts like the Sister of Mercy or Bauhaus.

Lescop is however not just a subcultural archaeologist, mining a rich seam forgotten by much of the mainstream. While aware of the 80s underground and the music that influenced it, he's making something entirely new. Some of the ingredients might be familiar, but the recipe is something unexpected.

I think it still stands up, and if anything repeated listening has reinforced how good the album is.

A show in London last night marker the release of the album on this side of the channel, I can only hope there might be more dates in the future.

Lescop has a series of festival dates across France over the summer.

Lescop: La Nuit Americaine

As I mentioned earlier this year, Lescop's debut album is to get a UK release, and the date of its release has been confirmed as June 3.

It was one of my favourite releases of last year, and it's wonderful to see it getting some attention in the UK. While he's played dates over here before, hopefully the release of the album will lead to more shows on this side of the channel.

In the meantime, a video for the track La Nuit Americaine has emerged. The video was initially geographically restricted on youtube, but I'm pleased to get the chance to see it outside France and certainly worth the wait.

The video - more a short film - was directed by Sylvie Verheyde from an original idea by Mathieu Lescop.

Sylvie Verheyde has also directed a number of films, including 1997's un Frère which starred Emma de Caunes in a César-winning role, Princesses , Stella and 2011's Confession of a Child of the Century which starred Pete Doherty.

The video certainly puts Lescop's music in an appropriate dramatic context, and I'm sure its the kin do fthing we'll be seeing more of in the future.

Lescop: UK release for debut album

I've written before about Lescop, one of my favourite new acts that I discovered last year.

His self-titled debut album came out in October, and I've featured videos for both the tracks La Forêt and Marlène.

So I'm particularly pleased to see the album getting a release in the UK, and another show in the UK later this week.

I didn't get round to listing an album of the year at the end of 2012. I was uncertain who was deserving of the honour, but I reckon that Lescop was the album of 2012 for the Vive le Roq blog.

Hopefully the Victoires de la Musique awards will note this distinction when the decide who deserves the Best Original Song award, with lescop shortlisted for La Forêt alongside Camille, Sexion d’assaut and Marc Lavoine.

Hopefully 2013 will be the year that Lescop gets the attention he deserves and becomes the star that he deserves to be.

Lescop plays in London this week, with a show at Birthdays in Stoke Newington on Thursday night. Fingers crossed we'll see more of him over the next 12 months.


LESCOP en Mouv' Session - LA NUIT AMERICAINE by LeMouv

Lescop: Marlène

A new video from Lescop, for the song Marlène. It's another track from the artist whose eponymous debut release that came out last month.

Lescop's work is often compared to Joy Division, and on the surface you can see a link, with its post-punk propelled poetry.

I wrote about Lescop last month with the release of the album, and if anything I think its grown on me hugely.

Repeated listening to the collection reveals its full cinematic qualities, caverous and haunted but with a driving urgent quality.

Lescop's previous musical outing with Asyl saw him explore the more art-informed end of the punk spectrum, simultaneously earthy and literate, in the interzone where Iggy Pop meets Dostoyevsky.

Lescop: La Foret

A new release well worth highlighting today, with the debut album by Lescop coming out on Pop Noire records.

While hailing from La Rochelle, Lescop was as influenced by the sounds of Manchester as he was by the French music scene.

As a teenager he was fascinated by Joy Division as well as acts like the Buzzcocks, going on to sing with the band Asyl before embarking on his current solo career.

Asyl, formed in '95, released four albums. With their musical roots in the art-informed end of punk, new wave and post-punk as well as the likes of David Bowie, particularly in his Berlin phase.

Lescop's solo album develops the ideas that Asyl played with, and delivers a sophisticated modern pop, with depth and intelligence.

While many electro acts simply recycle the pop sensibilities of the 1980s, the grittier side of the genre, from Suicide to Soft Cell, is often overlooked. Few capture the potential of the genre, with its tension or urgency. Worth remembering too that the original Goth punk scene of the mid to late 80s was as much influenced by the likes of Joy Division as it was by acts like the Sister of Mercy or Bauhaus.

Lescop is however not just a subcultural archaeologist, mining a rich seam forgotten by much of the mainstream. While aware of the 80s underground and the music that influenced it, he's making something entirely new. Some of the ingredients might be familiar, but the recipe is something unexpected.

A new version of the video of La Foret is expected to appear shortly.