Record Store Day 2018: The French releases #RSD18

The full list of the 2018 Record Store Day releases has been published, and as always it's a mixed (12 inch by 12 inch sized) bag of vinyl.

Amidst the eye-wateringly expensive Grateful Dead box sets and the mountain of novelty content that will still be in the racks in four or five years time, there are some real gems.

And more that a few very fine French flavoured pieces of vinyle.

Air's iconic Sexy Boy gets a release as a 12 inch picture disc to mark the 20th anniversary (!) of its release. Another high profile act of recent years, Phoenix, gets a limited edition heart shaped red vinyl release of the track Monologue.

Serge Gainsbourg, another uncontested icon of French music, gets his soundtrack of the movie La Pacha released in full on vinyl for the first tine It's a collaboration from 1968 with Michel Colombier that includes Réquiem Pour Un Con, one of his absolute classics, and features a previously unreleased instrumental mix.

Serge's daughter Charlotte also has a significant release, with a 12 inch of remixes from her recent Rest album. Soulwax remix Deadly Valentine, and there are two versions of Ring a Ring O'Roses.

Another interesting archive release features Jean-Jacques Perry, with his debut Prelude au Sommeil getting its first full vinyl re-release after it first emerged 60 years ago.

More up to date are two releases by The Liminanas, one a 12 inch featuring remixes of by Laurent Garnier and Arnaud Rebotini of Dimanche and Istanbul is Sleepy, the other a seven inch featuring Dimanche and a cover of The Kinks song Two Sisters.

Record Store Day takes place on April 21.

Festival: We Love Green

Mixed reports about last weekend's We Love Green festival in Paris, held over Saturday and Sunday at the
Bois de Vincennes.

Much of the blame seems to go to the weather, something that's very much outwith the control of the best organised outdoors music event. Problems with the security, control of the crowd leaving the event and complaints over the price of drinks are, however, probably things that organisers should take into consideration.

It was the fifth time that the event has been held, and hopefully the problems that seem to have emerged can be taken care of. We love Green is a well-intentioned event and it's delivered well-considered line ups year after year so far. Hopefully organisers will learn from this year.

Fetty Wap cancelled, but all others scheduled for the event still played, including Air, PJ Harvey and LCD Soundsystem, as did Savages, James Blake, Hot Chip and Minuit.

However, no complaints about the quality of the acts, with Les Inrocks saying that the event was saved by the sets performed by Air, PJ Harvey and LCD. Three very different acts, but each of which were rated among the best concerts of the year by the influential publication.

Nicolas Godin: Bach Off (La Blogothèque session)

Wonderful video for the track Bach Off by Nicolas Godin, continuing the series of short music performance films made for La Blogothèque.

The video was shot at Terminal 3 of Orly Ouest airport in Paris and it makes an appropriately atmospheric background for the track.

Godin is of course best known as one half of Air, the act that pretty much defined modern French music from the late 90s.

He released his first solo album, entitled Contrepoint, at the end of September.

Nicolas Godin: Live in London

The chance to see Nicolas Godin, also known as half of legendary French duo Air, at a gig in London tonight.

He plays at Oval Space in Bethnal Green.

Godin recently played at  the Red Bull Music Academy event in Paris.

He released his solo album Contrepoint in September. It's an experimental collection, where he plays with different music styles in his own way, from jazz to classical.

It was his first solo album after his work with Air, and it shows he's lost none of the touch that helped Air become one of the acts that defined French music.

Nicolas Godin: Orca

A significant new release, with the track Orca coming from the  first solo release by Air 's Nicolas
Godin.

Air set a new standard for French music with their Moon Safari album in 1998, for many the definition of modern French music.

Contrepoint, his first solo album after seven releases with Air, their most recent being a soundtrack for Le voyage dans la lune in 2012.

Godin's partner in Air, Jean-Benoît Dunckel, has been involved in the duo Tomorrow's World who released their self-titled debut album in 2013.

He also released a four track solo EP The Man Of Sorrow in March.

Godin, meanwhile, demonstrates with Orca the playful spirit and exotic retro/futurist aesthetic that informed Air.

Contrepoint will be released later this year on Because Music.

Tomorrow's World: Life on Earth.

A new clip has emerged for the Tomorrow's World song Life on Earth.

Their self-titled debut album was released in April this year, and will hopefuly be  appearing on some of the well-informed 'best of 2013 lists before the year is out.

The band features Jean-Benoit Dunckel from Air and Lou Hayter from New Young Pony Club. They produce a darkly sophisticated pop that doesn't mind being classy and intelligent.

They played in London in October as part of the OohLaLa! festival which showcased a number of French acts including Moodoid and Lescop.

While still an endeavour by artists involved principally in significant other acts, Tomorrow's World are certainly more that just a studio project.

Tomorrow's World: Drive

Last week I featured a round-up of some of the French bands that were featuring at the Great Escape event in Brighton, a festival and music industry conference that acts as a showcase for hundreds of new acts hoping to make an impression on the British.


So I thought that having done a feature - that was helpfully picked up by the good people at the institut français du Royaume-Uni's Culturethèque blog- I would follow it up by a more in-depth look at some of the acts that were featured, one act at a time.

First up, Tomorrow's World whose song  Drive has been one I've been listening to repeatedly lately.

One of the band's members is Air's Jean-Benoit Dunckel, the other is Lou Hayter from New Young Pony Club and together they form a very fine outfit. A side project for both musicians, but one that nonetheless demands your full attention.

their name comes from a BBC TV show that ran in the 60s to 80s, featuring then-cutting edge technology, re-runs of which make essential retro viewing. The programme also featured one of Kraftwerk's first TV appearances in the UK, and was memorable to many as it was on BBC on a Thursday night alongside Top of the Pops.

The track came out on an EP at the end of last month, originally as a special 10' vinyl for Record Store Day, with versions of the song re-imagined by Tom Furse, Yan Wagner and Axel Le Baron.

It followed their self-titled album that was released at the beginning of the month, a blend of cool female vocals and electro soundscapes, with nods to the like of Angelo Badalamenti and the rock 'n' roll pulse of Suicide.

The album's been given the thumbs up by Esquire magazine as one of the best retro-futurist electronic albums from France this year, alongside Daft Punk and College. They've also featured in an NME round up of ten great French acts.

As I'd hoped, the attention to the likes of Daft Punk and Phoenix in the media is giving other French acts a higher profile, and it's not before time.

The band currently have a remix competition for versions of the track Drive, with the winner being announced on June 6.

They're also playing more live dates around Europe in May and June.

La Grande Sophie: Sexy Boy (Re(cord) version)

A great song and video by La Grande Sophie, an imaginative cover of the Air song from their 1998 Moon Safari album.

I always like cover versions that takes an original song somewhere it's never been before, and take the original as a blueprint for something new rather than as a map that has to be followed to a pre-determined destination.

This version certainly does that.

The track comes from her recently released EP Re(cord) which sees four tracks from her La place du Fantôme album re-recorded with a string quartet, along with a bonus track.

These five tracks also appear on a re-edition of last year's La place du fantôme along with two other tracks.