Montreux Jazz Festival 2018

If there's one festival that has the reputation for being a bit classier than the others, it has to be the Montreux Jazz Festival.

No seas of mud, no ramshackle tents, no Slipknot T shirts and not so many pub rock acts with indie haircuts.

This year's event, the 52nd, gets under way on Friday and like previous festivals, it has the widest possible definition of what constitutes 'jazz'.

There are also a healthy number of French acts playing at the prestigious event.

Etienne Daho plays on the opening night, as does Pomme, and Flavien Berger is on the bill with Charlotte Gainsbourg on July 2.

Goijira play on July 5 and on Sunday July 8 Brigitte, Juliette Armanet and Voyou are on the same bill. Angele, Lomepal and Fleche Love are playing on Friday July 13.

Elsewhere over the 14 days of concerts there are a wide range of international acts including John Cale, Aloe Blacc, Rag 'n' Bone Man, Young Fathers and Iggy Pop.

No shortage of decent acts in possibly the most polite and civilised festival in Europe.

Editorial: June 2018

We're into June, and if I didn't quite live up to my promises in May to get this service back on its feet, this may well be the time for things to get better.

But we're ever optimistic and even have some interesting plans that will hopefully begin to emerge in the near future.

In the meantime, we've got a lot to cover, and some things to catch up with, so we'll hopefully have quite a lot here over the next few weeks. Thanks for sticking with us.

There were some great events over the past few weeks, with France's summer festival season kicking off with events like We Love Green celebrating some of the country's finest talent - from OrelSan to Charlotte Gainsbourg and Juliette Armanet.

There's been some impressive activity from Christine and the Queens, with the new single attracting a huge amount of attention in France and beyond, the UK getting the chance to see a live performance during the high-profile Biggest Weekend event, the BBC attracting some of the finest acts to perform at festival-sized gigs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Wales. A performance on the Jools Holland TV show in a few days will only add to this.

France's summer festival season continues unabated over the next few weeks, Solidays and Hellfest are just two of the major events scheduled for the next few weeks.

As always, you can contact us at 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 drop me an email. I'm always keen to hear new things, as well as passing on the latest about acts I already know and love.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq, although that's pretty much just an autofeed when we update with a new article. You can usually find me on my personal Twitter account quicker, @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 good folks at Oui Love Music From France for all their hard work introducing French acts to the international audience. John K

Charlotte Gainsbourg: BBC Radio 6 Music live session

Charlotte Gainsbourg was in London at the end of March for a live show at the Village Underground, a rare UK show in support of last year's Rest album, an outstanding release that was a highlight of 2017 and rightly saw her pick up a Victoires de la Musique award for best female artist.

Her show in London saw a five star review on the Independent website and for the Guardian newspaper, praise indeed from the UK media.

While she was in London she made her debut for radio station BBC 6 Music's Live Room for a session.

She spoke to Lauren Laverne and performed a couple of tracks.

Charlotte is still touring, with a series of dates in Japan, followed by some festival shows including Les Printemps de Bourges on April 26 and Primavera in Barcelona at the beginning of June.

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.

César Awards 2018

France's movie industry gets its big night out tonight with the César awards, and it's encouraging to see some of the country's music getting some recognition.

Obviously it remains to be seen who wins, but with a movie like 120 Battements par minute getting 13 nominations on the back of its Grand Jury prize at Cannes it'll probably make a significant impact. Set in the 80s in the early days of the Aids crisis it tells the story of young French activists, with the music of the era taking a significant central place in the drama.

Elsewhere, there's a biopic of Barbara which has received a total of eight nominations, including best film and best female hope for the star Jeanne Balibar.

But the film I hope does the best is Patient, a movie that is essentially the work of Grand Corps Malade. It's nominated for best film, best debut, best adaptation and best actor. GCM co-directed the movie which is set in a rehabilitation centre for those with disabilities, some as a result of accident, others from birth.

It features the story of Ben, played by Pablo Pauly, who after an accident faces the struggles, despair and resignation, as well as the friendship and hope in the midst of his situation.

I'd be very surprised if it doesn't pick up at least two awards.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is shortlisted for best actress for her role in La promesse de l'aube, and former Nouvelle Star performer Camélia Jordana is a contender for best female hope for her part in Le Brio.

The Céar awards always get overshadowed by the Oscars, taking place the same weekend, but the Césars are an important annual reminder that there is a vigorous cinema outside the Academy's 'Best foreign film' category.

Editorial: March 2018

A successful February on the blog here, the highlight for me being the number of visitors to the site. An absolute record by quite a margin in the last month, not bad especially when you're considering it was the shortest month of the year.

That's all very well, but its the content here that matters at the end of the day. I'm pleased with what I managed to do. As always, could have done more, but there are always a huge number of competing demands on my time and spending time writing planning and organising posts on this blog can often take a back seat.

But on the whole, a successful month. Mostly down to some great releases and news, from Mylene Farmer dropping a new single unexpectedly, to Barbagello touring (most of) the UK, via this year's Victoires de la Musique awards in France.

There was plenty happening last month, and it certainly looks similar in March. The month gets under way with more awards, the César awards on Friday have a serious amount of music related content with Grand Corps Malade up for four awards and 120 battements par minute leading the nominations.

Elsewhere, there are live appearances from Charlotte Gainsbourg in the UK at the end of the month, as well as shows from Kid Francescoli at London's 100 club. Significant releases include the new album from Cats on Trees and Julien Doré, and events in March include the Paris Music Festival which brings musicians to some of the French capital's more interesting locations.

As always, you can contact us at 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 drop me an email. I'm always keen to hear new things, and relay information about acts I already know and love.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq, although that's pretty much just an autofeed when we update with a new article. You can usually find me on my personal Twitter account quicker, @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 good folks at Oui Love Music From France.

John K

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Runaway

A memorable performance by Charlotte Gainsbourg on French music show Taratata, with a cover of Kanye West's Runaway.

It's been a busy month for her, having scooped the Victoires de la Musique award for best female artist at the ceremony at La Seine Musicale on the outskirts of Paris earlier this month.

She was on the shortlist with Catherine Ringer and Louane. There's pretty much no doubt in my mind that she was the obvious victor.

She's also just begun her tour, promoting her Rest album, with a date in Geneva so far. Dates are scheduled for Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium next month.

She's also got a show in Paris at La Cigale on March 28 and a sold-out gig in London the following day when she plays the Village Underground on March 29 .

Charlotte Gainsbourg: I'm a lie

Another new video from Charlotte Gainsbourg, with the track I'm a lie the latest to come from her Rest album.

The song actually makes me think more of Gainsbourg père than most of her other reent work. Something about the repetition of the haunting classical refrain.

I could imagine old Serge performing to a 21st century electronic soundtrack. He always kept across what was happening musically so it would be no surprise for him to have gone in that direction if he was still around.

Charlotte's Rest album really is an outstanding piece of work, each video demands a fresh listen to the track it features, and each listen gives you a bit more from the track that you maybe didn't previously catch. It's a dense and rewarding work.

The video, like the previous clips from the album, was directed by Charlotte herself. And again, she's made a pretty fine job of it.

Charlotte has announced a series of live dates from February, with shows in Switzerland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Japan and the UK.

She plays at La Cigale in Paris on March 28, and at Village Underground in London the following day.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Les Oxalis

A new video by Charlotte Gainsbourg, with an appropriately sombre clip for Les Oxalis.

The track again comes from her Rest album, released last month and arguably her finest work.

I'm a big fan of her previous albums, and this one may even surpass those. It's a crafted and dense work, with much to take in.

If there were any doubt that Gainsbourg was a successful actor whose music work could be regarded as a side project, this album made clear that she very much remains a unique musical artist, deserving of the commercial success and critical praise she's received.

It's another extraordinary clip, the video for Les Oxalis was, like her previous video for Lying with you, directed by Gainsbourg herself.

Gainsbourg stars in the film La Promesse de l'Aube, due to be released in France on December 20.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Lying with you

A touching video for the track Lying with you by Charlotte Gainsbourg, a track from her recently

released Rest album.

The video was shot in the home she grew up in with her father Serge Gainsbourg and her mother Jane Birkin, the famous 5 bis rue de Verneuil which has been left by his family as it was while Serge was alive as a memorial.

Fascinating to see things like the L'homme à tête de chou statue, some of the keyboards he would have played and composed on, as well as the Gitanes and lighter still where Serge left them.

The song deals with Charlotte's memories of her father, her experience of his death and her subsequent feelings. It's a powerful piece and a haunting video that was directed by Charlotte herself.

Charlotte's album has been one of the key releases of 2017, and from a career that's already seen a couple of albums that are favourites of this blog, it's a real pleasure that an artist you've admired has released a piece of work that even surpasses what they've done before.

The young girl in the video is Charlotte's daughter but it feels like her father is somehow part of it too, his absence like a shadow.

A few words about Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest

A week after its release, I thought it worth reflecting on Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album Rest.

It's probably the best release of her career so far, and I'm a huge fan of her previous work.

Gainsbourg always faces a couple of major critical hurdles. The first is that she's the daughter of two of France's most famous and critically respected artists. Serge and Jane are both pretty large figures to be measured against. It's difficult for any artist who's the progeny of a famous parent to get the respect they perhaps deserve in their own right.

Perhaps Charlotte's success in cinema has helped her break this perception. I think Serge Gainsbourg  wanted to be a bigger figure in cinema than he managed to be. The films he directed remain an interesting footnote to his biography despite his success with soundtracks and title songs and Charlotte's success showed her excelling in a field that her father only had limited success.

Meanwhile, she was up against the regular sexism that all too many female artists face. The success of her earlier work was too frequently credited to her male collaborators. See how many articles discussing her career mention Beck, Air or Jarvis Cocker.

The new album features production credits by SebastiAn, as well as Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo from Daft Punk and a songwriting credit from Paul McCartney, but none of these dominate the work that she stages. They set the scene, and it's as classy a production as you could hope to come across.

But it's Charlotte who really shines here. It's the work of a mature artist, confronting real life issues with poetry and grace and probably one of the finest works to emerge in 2017.

Editorial: October 2017

Finally a busier month here on the Vive Le Roq blog as we move towards a more regular service again.

September was our busiest month so far this year for posts, a good thing, but still well behind where we should be, and where we've been in previous years. So onwards and upwards and into the closing months of 2017, with a flurry of activity and a huge number of interesting releases.

September saw a huge number of French music related events in the UK and beyond, from Justice in London to a significant Francophone presence at the Liverpool International Psychedelic Festival.

This month sees Lou Douillon playing in Sheffield among other live highlights of the weeks ahead. There are also some significant new releases on the cards, including the new offering from OrelSan, following the release of his astonishing new video.

There's also a new album from Charlotte Gainsbourg out in early November, so we can hopefully see some more activity from her in the forthcoming weeks.

As always, you can contact us at 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 drop me an email. I'm always keen to hear new things, and relay information about acts I already know and love.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq, although that's prety much just an autofeed when we update with a new article. You can usually find me on my personal Twitter acount quicker, @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 good folks at Oui Love Music From France .

Merci et à bientôt,

John K

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Deadly Valentine

Another new track by Charlotte Gainsbourg ahead of he relase of her new album later this autumn, with a video for the track Deadly Valentine.

The title track of the new collection, entitled Rest, came out earlier this month.

Charlotte's been busy with her film career over the past few years, and hasn't released an album since 2011's Stage Whisper collection of live material and out-takes.

Rest features collaborations with Paul McCartley, Daft Punk's Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Connan Mockasin and is released on November 17.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest

A new track by Charlotte Gainsbourg is always going to get our attention, especially when it's a track involving Daft Punk's Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo.

The light electro backdrop he creates is a perfect stage for Gainsbourg's distinctive vocals.

The song Rest comes from her forthcoming fifth album, her first since 2011. As well as Daft Punk, the cast of guests includes Paul McCartney, Owen Pallett, and Connan Mockasin.

Her last collection was 2011's Stage Whisper album, a double album that featured out-takes from her IRM album and a live set.

Since then a cover of Hey Joe, for the Nymphomanic soundtrack, is all that she's released since.

Still, given that there was 20 years between her Charlotte For Ever debut and her 5:55 second album, it's really not been that long a wait.


In recent years she's maybe been concentrating more on her acting career than on her musical output. Given the career she's had, you can't blame her. Her father worked with film throughout his career but never attained the level of artistic and critical success that Charlotte has enjoyed, with César and Cannes awards to her name.

The next chapter in her musical career  is expected to be released on November 17 on Because Music.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Emile Haynie - A Kiss Goodbye

A new track featuring the voice of Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The track, A Kiss Goodbye, is credited to Emile Haynie but features the French star on vocals.

Gainsbourg has been spending her time on her cinema career in recent years, and releases have been few since 2011's Stage Whisper double collection.

Since then she's released a cover of Hey Joe, as track from the film Nymphomaniac that she starred in.
Haynie is best-known as a producer, working with the likes of Lana Del Rey, Kanye West, Emeli Sandé and Eminem.

Whether this track heralds a return to music remains to be seen, but Charlotte certainly seems to be on form with this release.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Hey Joe

A new track by Charlotte Gainsbourg, from the soundtrack of her forthcoming film Nymphomaniac.

The track was produced by Beck, who has been a regular collaborator with her since he worked with her on her 2009 IRM album.

Like much of her work, it is in English, and while the song is well known to the English-speaking music world through the Hendrix cover, there have also been many other versions over the decades, including interpretations by Deep Purple, Love, The Byrds and Patti Smith.

Meanwhile, there is also a well-known (In France at least!) French version was recorded by Johnny Hallyday.

Charlotte Gainsbourg's version also makes a musical nod towards one of her father's works, the track Cargo Culte from his 1971 Histoire de Melody Nelson album.

Her new film is by Danish director Lars Von Trier, and it is the third time she's featured in one of his films, having starred in 2011's Melancholia and 2009's Antichrist. Much of his work features sexually explicit scenes and this new film is seen as the third part of what has been referred to as his "Depression trilogy", a sequence of films that centre on characters suffering the consequences of depression of grief.

This film features her as the main character - named Joe -  recounting her life of erotic encounters. It has already been met with the kind of controversy that her father would no doubt have relished.

Von Trier's earlier 2000 film Dancer in the Dark featured Bjork, and won a Palme d'Or at Cannes, Bjork also getting a nomination for an Academy Award for best song for the track  I've Seen It All.

Charlotte has of course enjoyed the success in cinema that eluded her father. She has been working as an actress since 1984, and her career has so far seen her win a César in 1985 and five nominations since, including four for best actress. She also won the Cannes film festival award for best actress for her performance in Antichrist.

Her last full music release was the 2011 Stage Whisper double CD set.

Nymphomaniac is due to be released in January.

Live: Charlotte Gainsbourg at Somerset House

Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a rare UK show on July 19, at Somerset House in London.

She's been touring in mainland Europe and the show looks set to be the only chance to see her in the UK this year

Somerset House is an arts and cultural centre in the heart of London, with fountains in its courtyard over the summer while the space is used as an outdoor skating rink over the winter.

The open air show is one of a series of concerts at the venue, which also sees M83 and Tindersticks playing along with acts including Paloma Faith, The Enemy, Katy B and Jill scott.

She'll be joined by London-based New Zealander Connan Mockasin.

A new album by Ms Gainsbourg is expected to be released later this year following last year's Stage Whispers 2CD collection of live and unreleased material.

Rétro: Charlotte Gainsbourg - Charlotte For Ever

A look back to an early release by Charlotte Gainsbourg, the track Charlotte For Ever from her debut album of the same name,

Interesting to look back to see just how she has progressed as an artist. Her early work was very much in the considerable shadow of her father, although I don't think it was necessarily his best work.

This track features him duetting with her. All the songs on the album were either written by Gainsbourg or co-written by him.

It's not an album I listen to frequently, I disliked it when I first heard it, although it has since grown on me.

I found much of the production and arrangement a bit dated. The album felt similar to other Gainsbourg project's in the late 80s / early 90s with female singers, whether Isabelle Adjani or Bambou,  quite good but ultimately quite disappointing.

However, tracks like this one make the album a worthy inclusion in a Gainsbourg collection, whether Serge or Charlotte.

There was a long period between her initial Charlotte For Ever album (1986) and 5.55 (2006), during which time she established herself as an actor.

Perhaps putting that time and distance between her debut album and her later career gave her the opportunity to be taken seriously as an artist without reference to her father's work, perhaps during that time she

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Anna Remix

A new Charlotte Gainsbourg remix has been released, the track Anna (Moonlight Matters Remix) to features on a new EP which is scheduled to be released from today.

The original version of the track featured on last year's Stage Whisper (Live and Unreleased) album and the EP includes the original, as well as the Moonlight Matters version, and remixes by Tom Furse and Clock Opera.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is playing live dates across France in May, with dates in Brussels and Switzerland.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Stage Whispers - Paradisco

Another track from Charlotte Gainsbourg's Stage Whispers album is being promoted as a single, with the track Paradisco getting the attention this time.

The double album was released in December and came out in the UK this week. It collects a number of previously unreleased outtakes and a live collection from a recent performance.

Gainsbourg appeared towards the end of last week on TV in the UK, quite a rare feat for a French artist, discussing art and commerce in the light of the success of the film The Artist on BBC1's This Week current affairs show.

She's also confirmed that a new album, her fifth, can be expected towards the end of this year, with an October release anticipated. Whether Beck is at the controls of this one, as he was with her last full album IRM and this track remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, there's a remix competition for the track Paradisco open until February 6. The winner will have their remix issued on Because music. A number of the remixes that have been submitted already are available to listen to at the site http://play.beatport.com/contests/beck-gainsbourg-paradisco/ and the original parts of the track are available to download.

The Winner will be announced on March 13.