French pop
CD: The Callstore – Save No OneThursday, 08 January 2015
At first it seems akin to entering a world conjured by Efterlkang at their most elegiac. Strings swell and what sounds like a cimbalom chimes. A wordless vocal sighs. After the opening instrumental – titled “Intro” – “Lovers Lane” (sic) surges... Read more... |
CD: Cats on Trees – Cats on TreesMonday, 11 August 2014
Cats on Trees are a roaring success in their native France. The Toulouse-based duo Nina Goern and Yohan Hennequin hit the Top 10 there with this, their eponymous debut album and racked up gold-disc sales. Live, Goern plays piano and sings while... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jane Birkin, Françoise HardySunday, 16 March 2014
Jane Birkin: Mes Images Privées de Serge / Françoise Hardy: Message PersonnelThe bond between Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin still resonates. They met while on the set of the film Slogan in 1969 and were soon a headline-grabbing couple. Although... Read more... |
CD: Le Prince Miiaou – Where is the Queen?Wednesday, 05 February 2014
Where is the Queen? doesn’t hide where it’s coming from. Drawing so gracefully from disparate strains of Nineties rock while augmenting them with a literate sensibility, it immediately sets itself up as an album which stands apart.The soft-loud... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Rennes: 35th Trans Musicales FestivalTuesday, 17 December 2013
White noise saturates the air. At mind-melting volume, it shifts through the aural spectrum to settle on the bass end. A voice begins yelling angry-sounding gobbets. The words are unintelligible. The stage is in darkness. Gradually, it becomes... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: German Measles, Mobilisation GénéraleSunday, 15 December 2013
Various Artists: German Measles Vol 1 – Flames of Love / German Measles Vol 2 – Sun Came Out at SevenFor the years between The Beatles inventing themselves in the clubs of Hamburg and the evolution of what was dubbed Krautrock, Germany’s... Read more... |
CD: Juliette Gréco – Gréco Chante BrelMonday, 25 November 2013
The songs of Jacques Brel and Juliette Gréco are old friends. She has revisited them many times since she began performing with Brel’s former accompanist, the pianist Gérard Jouannest, in 1968. Brel and Jouannest had worked together since 1958.... Read more... |
CD: Sébastien Tellier – ConfectionMonday, 11 November 2013
Although Confection is sonic ear-candy of a most seductive type, it’s hard to grasp what the point is. The album is lush, orchestrated and enfolding, but it does nothing new and says little beyond being the product of meticulous craftsmanship.... Read more... |
Tomorrow's World, ICAThursday, 16 May 2013
The ICA was the perfect location for the UK debut of hotly tipped new duo Tomorrow’s World, consisting of Air’s Jean-Benoit Dunckel and English synth-rockers New Young Pony Club’s ivory tickler Lou Hayter. The venue added a prestigious edge to what... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Eurovision 2013, Françoise Hardy, James Last, Nico GomezSunday, 05 May 2013
Various Artists: We Are One - Eurovision Song Contest Malmö 2013From the British perspective, one thing stands out at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. And it’s not our entry, the turgid power balladry of Bonnie Tyler’s sure-to-stumble “Believe... Read more... |
CD: Lou Doillon – PlacesMonday, 22 April 2013
The Gainsbourg-Birkin dynasty is akin to a gift that keeps on giving. Just when it appears to be dormant, another member of the extended family reveals a new role. Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkin and film director Jacques Doillon, is best known... Read more... |
CD: Françoise Hardy – L’amour fouSunday, 14 April 2013
"Stately" is the best adjective for Françoise Hardy’s similarly measured follow-up to 2010’s La pluie sans parapluie. Fifty-three years on from her first release, there is no need for Hardy to break new ground or hare off on a tangent, but her... Read more... |
