When times are hard, it’s tempting to plunge back into the past: Ludovic Bource and Air have been composing for silent films, Patricia Kass has done a cover of Piaf, the sixties are all the rage in Quebec, while Juliette Gréco celebrates another birthday.
The rock band Galaxie is about to touch ground in France with Tigre et diesel, an album that veers into electro. After completing a long tour and scooping up all the big prizes at the Quebec indie music awards, GAMIQ, the group’s pilot, Olivier Langevin, told us a bit about the band’s latest direction.
Justice are keener than ever to champion their love of rock in all its forms. Their second album, Audio, Video, Disco, hits the rewind button, taking the duo towards a calmer sound that veers away from the dance floor and smacks of melancholy.
With their third album, E Volo Love, Fránçois & The Atlas Mountains, continue to dish up their dreamlike, nebulous pop-folk with an aquatic focus: a kind of musical watercolour.
DJ Mehdi has died at the age of 34. Little known by the general public, he started out on the French hip-hop scene before moving towards electro. Music has just lost an inventive artist who has left his mark on urban music in France and round the world.
Surfing on waves of electro and R‘n’B, French DJ David Guetta is bound to hit the jackpot once again with his fifth album, Nothing but the beat, overflowing with guest American rap and R‘n’B stars.
Victor le Masne and Pierre Leroux, aka Housse de Racket, have put away their tennis rackets on their second pop album, Alesia. Serving up a more even collection of tracks this time round, the album successfully transmits all the energy of their concerts.
He may have pioneered the French Touch for the bands Funk Mob, Motorbass and Cassius, but Philippe Zdar’s first love is the studio. His own, located on the fringes of Montmartre in Paris, has welcomed the likes of Phoenix, The Rapture and Cat Power. We met up with him in his den.
Offering up masters of the art and newcomers on the scene, daring disks and staple offerings, the Gallic rentrée is abounding with new records in French. Check out RFI Musique’s selection, including Aznavour, Camille, Murat, Archimède, Gréco, Guetta and Miossec.
There are times when you need a helping hand to reach a new milestone. To put together his fourth album, Nimissa, Guinean singer and musician Ba Cissoko was assisted by reputed producer Philippe Eidel, who has managed to draw out each song’s potential and assure some ship-shape production.
