A french look on indie rock

Wax Tailor : In the Mood for Life

2009-10-14T16:51:00.004+02:00

A song is sometimes like a movie. Many songs or even entire LPs, are able to compose an atmosphere, a mood... This way of define music is the One of Wax Tailor's.
Listen to the firsts seconds of his brand new album "In The Mood for Life". The sound of a car window opening. Many piano notes, and we're in the mood. And at the beginning and the end of many songs in the LP this voice used like the one of a narrator, a narrator for the story Wax Tailor tells us.
But let's remind who is wax Tailor. Fans of Trip Hop may have known him for a long time, but for the others: Wax Tailor is the project of a french producer, Jean-Cristophe Le Saout. Until this new album he has released two albums and two EP. His style is typically trip-hop. A melting of hip hop rhythms, electro beats, and an ecletic musical background. As lots of indie french artists he find inspiration in other cultures than what the french one provides. As a consequence, this LP was recorded in NYC and in Paris, and he begins his tour in the US. There is no doubt he will find here an audience among the fans of bands such as The Herbaliser, Thievery Corporation, Overhead...
To be honest, In The Mood for Life may not be his best album (even though i'm not currently sure of that), however, it is really worth listening it several times, and if you are convinced by his style, you should try his previous "Hope and Sorrow".

Tracklist :

1. City Vapors

2. Dragon Chasers (feat. Charlotte Savary)

3. Already Begun

4. B-Boy on Wax (feat. Speech Defect)

5. Street Scent

6. No Pity

7. Dry Your Eyes (feat. Sara Genn)

8. Masquerade Theme

9. Until Heaven Stops the Rain (feat. Mattic)

10. More Songs

11. Leave It (feat. Dionne Charles)

12. Escape Theme

13. Go Without Me (feat. Charlotte Savary)

14. This Train (feat. Voice & Ali Harter)

15. Sit & Listen

16. Fireflies (feat. Charlotte Savary & Mattic)

17. Say Yes (feat. ASM)

18. I Own You (feat. Charlie Winston)

19. Greenfields (feat. Charlotte Savary)

Emilie Simon - The Big Machine

2009-09-20T17:25:00.016+02:00

In the early years of the decade, french were in good position in the field of electro music. Who hasn't heard about French Touch. But if bands as Air or Daft Punk are "french artists who do worlwide music", Emilie Simon used to be one of those artists who do down-tempo (or trip-hop, call it as you want), but in a french way. What is the most obvious is that she sang mostly in french. The other difference is that she was loved by the "mainstream" french journalism, and was listened by a lot of people who didn't even know what means "downtempo" or "french touch". And she won many "Victoires de la Musique" a french version of the Grammy Awards. Usually the "Victoires de la Musique" are known for awarding people who respresent "the french cultural exception" and who are hated by alternative music fans. There are a few exceptions to this rule and Emilie Simon was three times one of them, for her two LPs and for the soundtrack of "La Marche de l'empereur" (released abroad with the name "March of the Penguins").

Her last record was released three years ago. What happened during these three years? She toured (I saw her in the opening of a gig of Placebo...), and she expatriated in NYC. It leads us directly to the genesis of her third album, "The Big Machine", released... Tomorrow. She tried to re-invent her style, with the new inspiration she found in Big Apple. She experimented playing in bars where nobody knew her... As a consequence, The Big Machine is totally different compared to what she did before... For sure, many fans of her will be disapointed by this new LP, but she may reach a (larger?) new audience, particularly abroad. Singing mostly in english on it will help, but the sound and the compositions, in a style very "electro-pop" are also in the current mood of indie music. But on this album she distinguishes a lot by her voice, which is the leading element of the songs, and in a very powerfull way. The melodies are quite complex so it is difficult to really love it at a first listening. But it's worth trying to listen it several times before judging it.

In my opinion another characteristic of this record is that it is very influenced by her classical musical studies when she was young. She controls her voice in many "ranges" (what's the english for "registre"?!) and has a lot of amplitude and she uses this tools in pop songs, which sounds very original. And in the writing of the music, there's something so classical, so "un-pop"...

I really hope she will be disovered by anglo-saxons, but unfortunatly, these new characteristics in her music may disapoint too much the french audience... But who cares... And I really think she could make a buzz particularly in the US, moreover if Pitchfork has the good idea to make a report about this record. And with her unique wearing style and her pretty good-looking appearance, there is no doubt she is able to conquier not only ears...

Tracklist:

1. Rainbow

2. Dreamland

3. Nothing to do with you
4. Chinatown

5. Ballad of the big machine

6. The cycle

7. Closer

8. The devil at my door

9. Rocket to the moon

10. Fool like us

11. The way I see you

12. This is your world

First post

2009-09-18T14:05:00.000+02:00

These days, everybody has a blog, or at least practice micro-blogging with Facebook or Twitter, but the question is: is what you say relevant?
I've been thinking of running my own blog for a long time, but I was wondering what I would say in it and who would be interested in reading it.

So there it is, the concept of this blog:

Bring news, record and gig reviews in the field of indie rock. I include in indie rock styles as Trip-hop, a part of electro, and eventually everything that has an artistic purpose in popular music.

To introduce myself, I would say that I'm a french student, fond of indie rock (of course) and photo and facinated by the anglo-saxon alternative culture in general. But i also believe that you can find in France a lot of good stuff in the music that I love, so I will particularly be focused in making people discover these artists. I'm also member of a student radio: EvryOne (http://www.evryone.com/). So I will share the discoveries I make in this activity and particularly in the interviews I make.

And to conclude, event though i'm not a very good english writer (and a worse speaker) I chose to write it in english in order to reach the audience this blog is designed to have and also to improve my english. So please be comprehensive if there are grammatical or vocabulary mystakes in my posts. It will improves as the time will pass.

So let's start feeding you, comments are welcome