Editorial - April 2020 - Rebonjour!

When you've been away for a while it can be tough to decide when to return. Especially given the immensity of the events that have been going on over the past couple of months.

We return to a very different music scene in France. Festivals cancelled, tours postponed with a dystopian backdrop of deserted cities, a population in lockdown and the spectre of the pandemic hovering over everything with its henchmen Death, Illness and Fear at large.

While we're seeing some of the worst of times, we're also seeing the best of people. Our health providers are showing they are the cornerstones of society that our politicians and military can only aspire to be.

While our celebrities have not all covered themselves in glory during this time, our artists have been crucial to our well being, perhaps differently and more significantly than before. What was once regarded simply as entertainment is now acknowledged as essential for our mental well-being.

As we stay indoors, we turn to our TVs, our books and music to connect and engage with each other and while our conversations may be online, we are still talking about and sharing the things we love.

It's easy to dwell on the negatives of the current situation. We're all affected personally and we're all feeling it to a lesser or greater extent. But there are good things happening and this blog with its focus on French music wants to reflect this.

While events are cancelled or postponed and projects have been sidelined, there's a strong amount of remarkable material emerging even now. Whether scheduled new releases or unique special performances, there's much that demands our attention. We'll be across it.

Thanks for reading, stay safe and à bientôt.

JK

Festivals 2020: -M- and Black Eyed Peas for Solidays

Another of France's major summer festivals has confirmed some more of the names on its bill, with Solidays, one of the big events in Paris, listing the more names to appear at this year's event.

The biggest new international name is Black Eyed Peas, following the recent success of Ritmo. While WIll I Am might be a household name in the UK, due to his regular appearance on The Voice UK, he's not one of the judges of the show in France where he's perhaps known for his music, tracks like I've got a feeling and Where is the love being massive hits in France as they were elsewhere.

Metronomy and The Black Madonna are among the new acts announced.

Already confirmed at the top of the bill is -M-,  who has been touring in support of last year's Lettre Infinie album. He's got shows in arenas all over France in May, and also plays at some of the country's other summer events including Main Square festival, in June and July. He's also at the O2 Brixton Academy in London in April.

Laurent Garnier, Aya Nakamura, Deluxe , Niska,  Zola and Videoclub and are among others who were confirmed earlier. Others will be added in the coming months.

It's the 22nd edition of the festival, an event that combines activism as much as music. This year it's taking place on June 19 - 21 at Hippodrome de Longchanps.

Tickets go on sale on February 6.

Noir Désir - Débranche

A low-key collection of previously-unreleased recordings by legendary French act Noir Désir has emerged, ten years after the band ceased to exist after singer Bertrand Cantat was imprisoned for the killing of his partner.

Cantat was convicted in 2004 of the killing of actress Marie Trintignant in Lithuania, and sentenced to eight years in jail he was released in 2007. The following year Noir Désir made hesitant steps to resume their career, but only two more tracks emerged before it was confirmed that the band would not continue.

Débranché, a double live acoustic album features two separate sessions from 1997 and 2002. Both sets feature the songs in intimate acoustic settings.

The first disc features a session recorded for Italian radio while the band were promoting their Des visages des figures album. It features seven songs,  Si rien ne bouge, Le vent nous portera, L’homme pressé, Des visages des figures, Les écorchés, À l'envers à l'endroit and Song for JLP.

The second disc a shorter 45rpm 12'' features four tracks,  Un jour en France, Fin de siècle, Song for JLP and Back to You, and was recorded for TV show Much Electric in Argentina during the band's  666.667 Club tour.

For a band like Noir Désir, the recordings capture the band at the peak of their craft and their popularity, and even now ten years after they split they remain hugely influential and popular.

But there's been little by way of archive raiding by the record company, with 2011's Soyons désinvoltes, n'ayons l'air de rie compilation of hits and rarities marking their last release until now.

Obviously, there are complex and unaddressed issues regarding whether it's right or not to release material that benefit's Cantat, who now performs as a solo artist, but who remains at the centre of the debate on whether rehabilitation is possible for such a high-profile artist.

The new album's had a discrete release, no supporting interviews or videos and it's only available on vinyl and streaming. There aren't even any pictures of the band on the packaging.

It looks like the record company are taking sensible steps to steer a difficult course between the demand for material from a much-loved and fondly-remembered act, and the very hard reality of what Canat did.

Is it right to enjoy archive Noir Désir in 2020 in light of their subsequent history? That's not a question that's easy to answer.

Paris gets Johnny Hallyday square

It looks like Paris will soon have an Esplanade Johnny Hallyday, with an area outside the AccorHotels arena reportedly earmarked for renaming after the star.

According to Le Parisien, the open space in the 12th arrondisement will be named after France's music legend, two years after he died from lung cancer.

Over his decades-long career, Hallyday played the arena 101 time, with a total of over 1 million people seeing him there. Several of his live albums were recorded at the venue including the Les Vieilles Canailles Le Live album documenting his tour with Jacques Dutronc and Eddy Mitchell, released in November 2019

It's one of the busiest arenas in the world, while predominately hosting sporting events - especially tennis - some of the biggest musical acts have played there including Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue and U2.

The decision to honour Hallyday by naming part of the French capital after him has been discussed widely since his death. There were a number of possible locations in the city mentioned, but it seems that the Bercy location has been deemed the most appropriate. A statue of Hallyday may be added to the square later.

A Paris street was named after David Bowie last month, and there's already an Esplanade Johnny Hallyday in Toulouse, located outside the city's Zenith arena, which was unveiled last year by the mayor in the presence of Hallyday's widow Laeticia.

The decision to rename the square in Paris will be retified by the next Paris council meeting, to be held on February 3.

Thomas Dutronc meets Iggy Pop and Diana Krall

Always good when an artist you've followed for decades drops something that's both unexpected and interesting.

In this case it's Iggy Pop, who has collaborated with  Thomas Dutronc and Diana Krall  for a jazz-flavoured cover of C'est si bon.

The track, in French and English, features on Dutronc's forthcoming album, Frenchy, to be released on March 20, It features covers of French standards that have also enjoyed success in English, including  La vie en rose, Autumn Leaves and My Way. Tracks are sung in both English and French.

Not the first time Iggy's been involved in French music, as those who have followed him can attest.

In '93 he featured as a guest on Les Rita Mitsouko's Système D album and on 97's Jazz A Saint Germain album, he duetted with  Francoise Hardy - Thomas Dutronc's mother - on the track I'll Be Seeing You.

More recently, he covered Kosma/Prévert's standard Les feuilles mortes on his 2009 Préliminaires  album and subsequently recording La Vie en rose, La Javanaise, Et si tu n'existais pas and  Les Passantes on 2012's Après.

His choice of covers, while including some that would be familiar to even those without much knowledge of French music, covers by artists like Joe Dassin and Georges Brassens suggest Iggy's interest is more than just an affectation.

His cover of La Javanaise even involved music input from Lulu Gainsbourg, Pop having previously guested on Lulu's From Gainsbourg to Lulu album.

While these albums might not have garnered the critical praise that 2016's Post Pop Depression and last year's Free did, they give a pretty good indication of what Iggy's personal playlist must be like.

For all the apparent paradox of the iconic Idiot crooning a French jazz standard, it's nothing too out of step for  such a unique artist. This is, after all, the guy who could cover of Louie Louie and namedrop Dostoevsky.

SebastiAn and L'Impératrice at Coachella 2020

Coachella festival is a pretty special event.  It's very much the well-heeled Californian cousin of the likes of Glastonbury and there's always a considerable amount of stars on the stage and beautiful people in the audience.

But it's also key showcase for emerging talent with the west coast based entertainment industry, whether cinema, music or TV right on its doorstep.

For all the headliner - this year it's the turn of Rage Against the Machine Frank Ocean and Travis Scott - and the other big-name acts - among them Thom Yorke, Lana Del Rey, Calvin Harris and FKA Twigs - it's a unique platform for artists to get heard by the kind of people who can make careers happen.

I'm always on the look out in the small print in the poster for the well-chosen French act, so it was great to see L'Impératrice and SebastiAn making an appearance.

While neither are exactly new acts, both having several releases under their belts, they're still new names to the wide american audience.

SebastiAn released his Thirst album in November, his second full studio album, but the Ed Banger records mainstay has been releasing material under his own name since 2005 and has worked with Justice, Kavinsky, Woodkid and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who features on his recent album.



L'Impératrice too have been around for a few years and built up a considerable reputation for their modern take on disco, releasing their debut Matahari in 2018.

L'Impératrice begins a tour in February supporting the deluxe re-edition treatment of Matahari. They are playing at the O2 Shepherd's Bush in London on February 20 and La Cigale in Paris in March, followed by shows across north America.


This year's Coachella takes place on the weekends of April 10 and April 17

Editorial: January 2020

So it's been a quiet place here for the last few months, I guess what looked initially like a time when I had to focus on other things became a full-on hiatus for this blog.

Time to switch the lights back on and boot up the laptop again.

When I've been away from here there's always a thought that I'll upgrade the blog with some huge improvements, spend some time on a new home page and get some more feature-length pieces ready. But rather than set myself up for a fall I'll just start things with small steps, getting back into regular posts with some fine French music to enjoy, and build from that.

A bit more organic, a bit more achievable.

Why? There's more motivation than ever. The French music scene is vibrant and still remains a secret to far too many. It deserves all the attention we can give it and there's much to cover.

It's a strange time with media becoming more focused and narrow while the torrent of great material is more accessible than ever. I love being able to immerse myself in new music from France - whether punk from Rennes, Paris hip-hop or Provençal psych - online and can investigate new releases by established acts without having to pay my salary directly to Fnac every month. Just don't expect to hear any of it too soon on the radio in the UK.

You'll find it here.

We aim to bring updates about French music, from developing acts to the established names, with an eye on new talent and an awareness of the rich heritage of French music that still remains something of a mystery to the anglophone audience.

As the UK moves towards greater anglophone insularity, we believe entirely in the value of introducing French culture in our own small way as best we can. It enriches us artistically in the UK and helps our many friends in France as well.

We hope some acts that have built a reputation in France get the opportunity to reach a wider international audience. Acts who have an audience already in France can move easily onto an global stage as Christine and the Queens and Daft Punk show, but smaller acts can benefit from establishing themselves in the UK and beyond. A successful indie release or a tour can be a major opportunity for an artist in a new market.

So we aim to do what we've been doing for the last few years, but doing more of it this year. Whether it's brief new articles or longer features, video clips or reviews, we'll be across as much as we can be here. We've got some plans and some new things that we'll hopefully get to but in the meantine, allons y!