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French Pop

125 articles

Juliette Gréco: Gréco heads for Edinburgh...

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 2 September 1961

Plus band and her personal electrician ...

Richard Anthony: Report from the land of Les Yé Yé

Profile by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 18 January 1964

PARIS, Saturday. ...

Johnny Hallyday: Jhon-Nee 'Alleeday

Report and Interview by Sylvia Stephen, Fabulous, 28 March 1964

Our Sylvia's French isn't so hot but she had lunch with the hottest thing in French Popbiz ...

Francoise Hardy sets the trend: With-It Ones Go After That Natural Look

Report by uncredited writer, Rave, January 1965

FRANCOISE HARDY'S a darling. With her natural good looks, long, swinging hair and super slim figure, she's the doll that all the boys dream about ...

Sylvie Vartan: Top Tunes: Sylvie Vartan

Interview by Ronnie Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 3 April 1965

NINETEEN-YEAR-old Sylvie Vartan is to France what the Beatles and the Stones are to England. ...

Françoise Hardy: One Girl Music Organisation!

Profile by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 April 1965

AT TWENTY-ONE, Francoise Hardy is undoubtedly the most attractive musical organisation in the world. She is her own accompanist, agent, manager and composer. For that ...

Françoise Hardy: Françoise Sweeps In

Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 June 1965

FRANCOISE HARDY swept into London's Savoy Hotel in a red jacket, boots and bell-bottom trousers. It had been quite a day for the French star ...

Françoise Hardy, Tom Jones: Sylvia's Teledate with Tom Jones & Françoise Hardy

Interview by Sylvia Stephens, Fabulous, 26 June 1965

WALES — the land of song. Yet when the FAB gang sat down and discussed how many pop singers we know who come from Wales, we only ...

Françoise Hardy: L♥ve and a French Girl

Interview by Dawn James, Rave, April 1966

Life can be very complicated when you're a top star. For French singing star Françoise Hardy, life is even more complicated. For Françoise is in ...

Jacques Brel: Brel, The Man Who Wrote The Hard-To-Get Rule Book

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 26 November 1966

CONCERT promoter Roy Guest rubbed his chin dubiously when I asked for an interview with Jacques Brel. the legendary French singer-songwriter whose Albert Hall concert ...

Jacques Brel: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 26 November 1966

THE ALL-PERVADING perfume of Gauloises and an audience that went hysterical at the beginning, climax and end of each song reminded me of the atmosphere ...

Charles Aznavour: 'Life Is A Very Great Gamble'

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 14 November 1967

THE KNOWLEDGE THAT LOVE DIES ...

Scott Walker: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker

Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, February 1968

To his fans Scott Walker is still a lonely, distant star, but he's changing, as RAVE pop writer Maureen O'Grady found out when she went ...

Françoise Hardy: "I can't sing, but I act worse than I sing"

Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 17 February 1968

"I CANNOT sing very well, but I act worse than I sing," says Françoise Hardy. ...

Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Deep Breathing: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg (Fontana)

Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 6 September 1969

THE DEEP-BREATHING GIRL, Jane Birkin, gets the boys breathless with her panting contributions to the lovely tune and deep-voiced singing of Serge Gainsbourg in 'Je ...

Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: At Home with Sounds of Love star Jane

Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969

IT'S ALL VERY well to have a public image of a fun-loving, "anything goes" girl about town, but in private life things can be very ...

Sacha Distel: Recognized At Last

Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 16 May 1970

MUCH OF Sacha Distel's early publicity was based on speculation over his relationship with Brigitte Bardot. But as Sacha says, he never wanted to become ...

Charles Aznavour: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 3 October 1970

BROODING AZNAVOUR ...

Au Bonheur des Dames, The Frenchies, Jim Morrison, Magma, Nico: Last Drongo In Paris

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 May 1974

FRANCOIS MITTERAND… GUY CHABAN DELMAS… GISCARD D'ESTAING… YOU WILL BE AS RELIEVED AS US TO LEARN THAT NONE OF THESE TURGID FRENCH DEMAGOGUES APPEAR IN ...

Les Variations: Cafe De Paris (Buddah)

Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, June 1975

THE FRENCH ARE the coolest breed (that's a fact), even more cool than blacks or faggots. Rimbaud and Cocteau were no poopoos, fella. In fact, ...

Billy Swan, Eddy Mitchell, The Jordanaires: Eddy Mitchell/Billy Swan/The Jordanaires: Olympia, Paris

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975

Vegas on 8 cheeseburgers a day...or a bitch-in with Nashville's men of steel in Gay Paree. Which would you prefer? ...

Gong, Allan Holdsworth: Gong: Gazeuse! (Virgin); Allan Holdsworth: Velvet Darkness (CTI import)

Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977

THE PRESENT Gong lineup includes only three of the members of the line up on the last album Shamal. They are Didier Malherbe, Mireille Bauer ...

The Lous have a message for the women of Britain in 1978... "Groupies must become musicians"

Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 31 December 1977

(to be read in a French accent. — Ed) ...

Plastic Bertrand: "My Bird Has Thrown Up..."

Report and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978

The French produce Punk's Greatest Hit (eat your heart out, Pistols!) ...

Plastic Bertrand: Ça Plane Pour Moi

Review by Steven X Rea, Waxpaper, 11 August 1978

The Intricate, Tongue-Twisting Babble That Is Plastic Bertrand ...

Plastic Bertrand: Ça Plane Pour Moi (Sire)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 2 November 1978

LIKE A pair of French jeans, Ça Plane Pour Moi is nonchalant and right as hell: an elegant and thorough misunderstanding better suited to the ...

Jean Michel Jarre: Jarre's Eclectic Electic Music

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Sweet Potato, March 1979

YOU HAVE TO credit Jean Michel Jarre for making the sometimes forboding world of electronic music accessible to the public. Me. I've lone been a ...

Jacques Brel, Scott Walker: Scott Walker: Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel (Philips)

Review by Tony Fletcher, Jamming!, June 1982

IT DOESN'T matter that this record was released before Christmas, because the, music is all a good thirteen years old anyway; what does matter is ...

Anne Pigalle: Everything Could Be So Perfect (ZTT)

Review by Stuart Bailie, Record Mirror, 26 October 1985

ANNE PIGALLE has a pout that would stop a tank at 50 yards, and a dodgy French accent. ZTT have billed her as one of ...

Gipsy Kings: Let's Do The Shoe Right Here!

Report and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, January 1990

IN THE PLAIN of the Camargue, where the Rhone feeds into the Mediterranean, lies the small but distinguished town of Arles Settled by the Ancient ...

Négresses Vertes, Les: Les Négresses Vertes: Famille Nombreuse (Circal All formats)

Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992

NOW WE are all stars in the Euro firmament (at least, that's what Mick Hucknall tells us), perhaps it's time to reappraise our attitude towards ...

Marxman, MC Solaar: Marxman: 33 Revolutions per Minute (Talking Loud/A&M; 514 538-2); MC Solaar: Prose Combat (Cohiba 697 124 013)

Review by Amy Linden, The New York Times, 26 June 1994

Exportable Euro-Rappers ...

Daft Punk: What's Up? Daft Punk

Profile and Interview by Bethan Cole, i-D, December 1995

TWO THINGS you should know about Daft Punk. Firstly, they're not in the slightest bit stupid. Secondly, ostensibly, they've got nothing to do with 1977. ...

Daft Punk: Ready, Study, Go!: Daft Punk: Homework (Virgin)

Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 January 1997

AS A RULE, the better a country's cuisine, the worse its pop music. Hence the illustrious rock'n'roll lineage of Great Britain, land of lardy stodge ...

Daft Punk: Going for Gaul

Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997

ONE SOUND rings out above all others in DAFT PUNK's uncluttered office in Paris' beautiful Montmartre district. Not music but... whirr! A fax machine working ...

Daft Punk: Homework (Virgin CDV2821)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 31 January 1997

FRENCH DUO Daft Punk's take on techno strips away any artistic pretensions to leave just a jackhammer beat and a few squelchy noises looping over ...

Daft Punk: Clubs: Daft Punk

Interview by Emma Warren, The Face, February 1997

ANYONE WHO'S ever found themselves propelled on to the middle of the dancefloor as soon as the twisted "wah wah" strains of 'Da Funk' hit ...

Daft Punk: Homework (Virgin)

Review by Calvin Bush, Muzik, February 1997

PHIL SPECTOR would have been proud. If there's one trick the French pair can pull off with constant aplomb (and they do it repeatedly across ...

Daft Punk: Frog Rock

Interview by Calvin Bush, Muzik, February 1997

DAFT PUNK. They're not daft They're not punks. Just two young French funkateers putting France on the house map with one of the most hyped ...

Serge Gainsbourg: To Serge With Love

Retrospective by RJ Smith, Spin, March 1997

SERGE GAINSBOURG was an unrepentant slave to lust and liquor. He recorded 'Lemon Incest' with his then 13-year-old daughter — in the video, they sang ...

Daft Punk: Plastique Fantastique

Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 29 March 1997

It's taken a while, but mainstream America is finally welcoming dance music with open aims. Now they're going crazy over the Chemicals and are poised ...

Stereolab's Lætitia Sadier (1997)

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Rock's Backpages, 5 November 1997

Ms. Sadier talks about the difference between what Elektra releases and what Stereolab issue on their own Duophonic label; about their latest album Emperor Tomato Ketchup; the band's development and their exploration of multiple genres; their oblique lyrics; resisting commercial pressures and the nature of Stereolab's audience.

File format: mp3; file size: 16.1mb, interview length: 16' 45" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Air: Moon Safari (Virgin)

Review by Emma Warren, Jockey Slut, December 1997

PARIS' PREMIER sound sculptors have long advocated the beauty of sound over dancefloor considerations, and with Moon Safari they've nailed their flag to a vocodered ...

Daft Punk: Guildhall, Southampton

Live Review by Calvin Bush, Muzik, December 1997

YOU COULD probably count the number of truly functioning live house acts on the cuticle of Mr Fingers' smallest digit. It's computer music, no fancy ...

Air: Get some Air!

Interview by Emma Warren, Jockey Slut, December 1997

AIR ARE THE MOST SOPHISTICATED DUO TO EMERGE FROM THE PARISIAN SCENE. EMMA WARREN FINDS THEY HAVE MORE IN COMMON WITH DEBUSSY THAN DAFT PUNK ...

Jacques Brel

Retrospective by Alan Clayson, unpublished, 1998

Alan Clayson profiles the life and music of the great chansonnier ...

Air: Moon Safari

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 16 January 1998

IF, AS SOME believe, 1998 is to be the year that France finally produces pop music of international appeal, then synth duo Air are the ...

Air: Moon Safari (Source/Virgin CDV 2848 £13.99)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 16 January 1998

NICOLAS GODIN and Jean- Benoit Dunckel, the youthful duo better known as Air, come from Versailles and have mysteriously acquired a fashionable cachet not normally ...

Air: How ELO Can You Go?

Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 17 January 1998

Qu'est-ce que c'est? Music that sounds like ELO jamming over a porn flick soundtrack — on the moon!? Oh yes indeedy, prepare to enter the ...

Assassin, Doc Gynéco, IAM, MC Solaar, Ministère Amer, NTM, Passi: MC Solaar, IAM, Passi et al: Paris

Report and Interview by Amy Linden, The Source, March 1998

Once considered a racial utopia for Black American expatriates in the '60s, Paris has become a different beast. Today, in a city often wracked by ...

Air: Hot Air

Interview by Steven Daly, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1998

ON THEIR DEBUT, MOON SAFARI, THE FRENCH DUO AIR MAKE LOUNGE MUSIC FOR THE ELECTRONIC SET ...

Apres Nous Le Deluge: The Nouvelle Vague Of Pop Francaise

Report and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, July 1998

"THERE’S NOTHING HAPPENING in England right now. It’s like 1975. Deep Purple for me are like The Prodigy. Led Zeppelin are Chemical Brothers." Daniel Auxerre, ...

Air: Moon Safari

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Request, Spring 1998

MODULAR FRENCHMEN Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel need no reminding that French pop has always been a bit of a joke. With the brilliant ...

Phoenix

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Revolver, 2000

AIR'S ADORABLE Moon Safari proved if nothing else that the pop universe had become a less xenophobic place. Now comes the first album by Phoenix, ...

Air: "If We Don't Surprise People Any More, Then We Will Die"

Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2000

"THE FIRST time I was in LA," says Nicolas Godin, "I was in a very cool hotel. And in front of that hotel was a ...

Phoenix: United

Review by Tom Cox, Uncut, July 2000

THEY'RE FRENCH, they're pals with Air – and they sound like Steely Dan. ...

Phoenix

Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, August 2000

SEVENTIES CALIFORNIA meets Y2K Paris. ...

Air

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Jean-Benoit Dunckel, b. Versailles, France; Nicolas Godin, b. Versailles, France ...

Serge Gainsbourg: A Rake's Progress

Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2001

IF YOU WALK into the Montparnasse cemetery, the first thing you see is the enormous stone double bed where Charles Pigeon – the inventor of ...

Phoenix: Mean Fiddler 2, London

Live Review by Etienne Petit, Rock's Backpages, 25 January 2001

WOULD LONDON BE rocking tonight to Phoenix if they weren’t French? I ask only as a fellow countryman of this very fine group. If Thomas ...

Charles Trenet: BOUM!: The Life And Art Of Charles Trenet

Obituary by Alan Clayson, unpublished, February 2001

A MORE TIDY-minded author might portray Charles Trenet (1913-2001) as a French Noel Coward. A multi-faceted talent, he was best known for combining qualities of ...

Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Jane Birkin: A Legend In Her Own T'aime

Profile and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 12 February 2001

In 1969, Jane Birkin shocked the world. Now her heavy breathing is back. ...

Air, Daft Punk: En Garde! Le Pop Nouveau Français, C’est Arrivé!

Profile by Etienne Petit, Rock's Backpages, March 2001

The late ’90s saw the flowering of a nouveau French techno-pop. Now Air, Daft Punk and friends are conquering the world. RBP’s Paris correspondent explains ...

Serge Gainsbourg: Intoxicated Man: The Life and Times of Serge Gainsbourg

Retrospective by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, March 2001

AN ARTISTIC DEMAGOGUE flaunting a reputation that was an unholy cross between Warhol, Dylan and the Marquis De Sade, Serge Gainsbourg performed a decadent waltz ...

Daft Punk: Romocops: Daft Punk: Discovery (Virgin)

Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 March 2001

FOUR YEARS after Homework redefined dance music, turned handbag house into High Art and landed every disco chancer in Paris a record deal, can Thomas ...

Air: 10,000 Hz Legend (Source/Virgin)

Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 2001

Self-proclaimed "grown-up" album from French duo who created 1998’s million-selling retro-pop classic, Moon Safari, and inspired many imitators. ...

Daft Punk: Discovery

Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2001

Gods of "filter disco" finally issue follow-up to 1997'strailblazing Homework. ...

Serge Gainsbourg: The Tender Pervert: Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful Of Gitanes by Sylvie Simmons (Helter Skelter)

Book Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2001

A fine new biography brings the louche Gallic genius to life ...

Air: 10,000 Hz Legend

Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 2001

Self-proclaimed "grown-up" album from French duo who created 1998's million-selling retro-pop classic Moon Safari and inspired many imitators. ...

Air: Mild is the wind…:Air: 10,000 Hz Legend (Virgin) **½

Review by Paul Morley, Uncut, June 2001

Follow-up proper to Moon Safari features Beck on two tracks ...

Air, Daft Punk: Daft Punk & Air: Disco Tech

Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2001

DAFT PUNK AND AIR ARE THE BEATLES AND STONES OF THE INTERNATIONAL DANCE SCENE. SO WHY IS THE FRENCH ESTABLISHMENT – SO PROUD OF ITS ...

Lambchop, Tahiti 80: Lambchop: Somerset House, London/Tahiti 80: The Spitz, London

Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 14 July 2001

THE OPEN-AIR Georgian quadrant of Somerset House may be an unusually elegant setting for a gig, but it has its drawbacks when the main attraction ...

Michel Polnareff: Buried Treasure: Michel Polnareff: "Polnareff's" (Disc AZ Stec LP 81 France only)

Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, August 2001

This month in our series of forgotten classics: a temperamental Frenchman sculpts "genius" soundscape ...

The Chemical Brothers, Matthew Herbert, Stephane Pompougnac, Rinôçérôse: Lifestyles of the Rhythm

Overview by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 2 July 2002

Dance music accesses an unseparatist pop sensibility ...

Daft Punk: French Pop: A Long Way From Françoise Hardy To Daft Punk

Overview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 February 2003

IT IS no surprise that France has only just got around to its own equivalent of Top Of The Pops. In a country where philosophy ...

Johnny Hallyday: Vive Johnny

Profile and Interview by Robin Eggar, The Times, March 2003

THERE IS something reassuringly dissolute about Johnny Hallyday. He may be 59, but he inhabits one of those undernourished frames, all angles and sharp edges, ...

Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Creme Anglaise: Jane Birkin

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Vogue, May 2003

THE REMAINS of an English breakfast stand on a table, and several bags are strewn around the room – one of them a well-worn example ...

Carla Bruni: Quelqu'un m'a dit (V2)

Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 2004

MAYBE YOU KNOW her name. I didn't when I first played songs from this album several times on the radio last year,, until a ...

Air: One for the Ladies

Report and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, January 2004

"IN FRANCE, the more you have girlfriends,the more you are a seductive man, and the more you are healthy," says Jean-Benoit "JB" Dunckel. "In France, ...

Air: Dome, Brighton

Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 15 February 2004

A TRIP TO the sea air, to see Air. And Air, like air itself, are great to have around you, but nothing much to look ...

Phoenix: Alphabetical

Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, June 2004

WHEN FRENCH POP did the unthinkable and became cool, Phoenix found themselves on the ones to watch list. Disappointingly they never got off it. The ...

Métal Urbain: Vive Le Punk!

Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, July 2004

Unearthed! The French punk bands that gave The Damned a run for their money. Kieron Tyler offers a belated "Salut!" ...

French Rock'n'roll: What – No Accordion?

Interview by David McKenna, The Guardian, 22 October 2004

CALL A COMPILATION Le Nouveau Rock'n'roll Français and, even now, you risk sparking associations with the figure most people take to represent the old French ...

Françoise Hardy: Melancholy Bébé: Françoise Hardy: Tant De Belles Choses

Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2005

Forty years on a new album reveals the mature mettle of the great Yé-Yé girl ...

Françoise Hardy: What was the message Dylan sent Françoise Hardy halfway through his Paris concert?

Interview by Mark Ellen, The Word, March 2005

A BLUSTERY STROLL from the Champs Elysée, past the upscale delicatessens of 17ème District, across the deep-pile foyer of a high-security apartment block and you're ...

Camille: Le Fil (Bout du Fil)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, April 2005

AT THE TIME of receiving this record, I had never heard of Camille before, and knew only that she is French. The photo on the ...

Camille: Le Fil (Virgin)

Review by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, 7 May 2005

THE SUCCESS OF French dance acts such as Air has depended on a nationality-transcending electro-cool. ...

Madeleine Peyroux: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

Live Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2005

Francophile jazz singer makes for a better class of busker at the Edinburgh Festival. ...

Serge Gainsbourg: What A Drag

Comment by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 15 April 2006

THROUGHOUT MY CAREER as a music journalist, I've often found myself sharing the same orbit as some of the more maladjusted talents of the late ...

Serge Gainsbourg: Behold The Dirty Old Man

Report and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, May 2006

Fifteen years after he smoked his last Gitanes, Serge Gainsbourg goes international. ...

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Born Again Gainsbourg

Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, October 2006

Serge's girl Charlotte returns with her first album since 1986. ...

Carla Bruni: The Literary Ambitions Of A Model

Interview by Ken Scrudato, SOMA, February 2007

THERE WAS a t-shirt going around a few years ago which snottily declared of its wearers, I Hate Models. Of course, it said way less ...

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Initials C.G.

Interview by Ken Scrudato, SOMA, April 2007

NEW YORK'S hideously hypocritical smoking policy (in a city choking on exhaust fumes) was a particular nuisance that morning at the impossibly fabulous Carlyle Hotel, ...

Air: Pocket Symphony

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, June 2007

SO HIP THEY'RE passé, sexy geekboys Air continue to mine the seam of elegiac futurism wowed ten thousand ad executives back in '98. After the ...

Daft Punk, Justice: Electronica that Rocks, à la Française

Report and Interview by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 1 July 2007

ONE OF THE most blogged-about sets at this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Southern California took place on a stage dominated by ...

Camille

Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, March 2008

ON THE EVE of Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to Britain, another French export is already launching her latest cross-channel charm offensive in London. ...

Jane Birkin: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 March 2008

A CAREER as a muse comes with no promise of great longevity, yet 17 years to the weekend after the death of her infamous artistic ...

David Bowie, The Rolling Stones: Guy Peellaert, 1934-2008

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 29 January 2009

Belgian artist most famous for his rock dreamscapes ...

Jacques Brel: Jacques The Lad: Jacques Brel

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 6 February 2009

FIRST THINGS FIRST. Try to forget that Jacques Brel, the Belgian singer-songwriter, is indirectly responsible for Terry Jacks's 'Seasons in the Sun'. Forget also for ...

Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)

Review by James Medd, The Word, June 2009

The hot-air balloon, the electric iron and the current trend for shiny '70s and '80s-inspired synthpop: the French tend to get there first. ...

Phoenix: By the Time They Get to… Phoenix

Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 23 October 2009

GROWING UP IN Versailles, an affluent suburb of Paris, the four boys who would eventually form Phoenix bonded over their love of American pop culture. ...

Noir Désir: Bertrand Cantat: Rock Idol Kills Lover

Report by Paul Moody, Q, November 2009

In 2003 Bertrand Cantat was France's biggest rock star. Then his girlfriend, actress Marie Trintignant, was found dead in his hotel room. ...

Air: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 February 2010

WHEN Air first appeared with their 1998 debut album, Moon Safari, the French duo seemed to define the musical zeitgeist. ...

Gong: The Gong Remains The Same

Retrospective and Interview by Jack Barron, Record Collector, October 2010

Jack Barron celebrates the 40-year celestial trip of "Europe's Grateful Dead". ...

Daft Punk's robots aren't the only ones rocking the multiplex

Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 December 2010

AT THE END of the trailer to forthcoming movie Somewhere, we are given just two pieces of information: 1) that the film was written and ...

Anna Calvi, Joan As Police Woman, Mélanie Pain: Mélanie Pain: My Name/Joan As Police Woman: The Deep Field/Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi

Review by James Medd, The Word, February 2011

Three records rich in charm and melancholy. Give it up for Mélanie Pain, Joan As Police Woman and Anna Calvi. ...

Vanessa Paradis: Koko, London

Live Review by Kieron Tyler, The Independent, 8 February 2011

THE ARRIVAL of Vanessa Paradis, partner of Johnny Depp, actress, model and face of Chanel, in Camden Town is an event. As a singer, she's ...

Justice: Audio, Video, Disco (Ed Banger) ***

Review and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Q, November 2011

Pioneering electro-punk duo make nostalgic rock trip on LP2 ...

Gong, Magma, The Yardbirds: Giorgio Gomelsky: An Interview

Retrospective and Interview by Archie Patterson, Eurock, Spring 2011

IF THERE EVER was a man who lived and breathed music it's the international vagabond Giorgio Gomelsky. Born in the former Soviet-Georgia, his parents fled ...

No Checked Tablecloths: Rockfort & The Meaning of 'Frenchness' in Pop

Comment by David McKenna, The Quietus, 5 March 2012

Pondering on the recent Jonathan Meades series On France, our French music correspondent David 'Rockfort' McKenna looks at definitions of Gallic pop ...

Johnny Hallyday: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 17 October 2012

A MERE HALF century into his career, France's biggest rock star finally made his London live debut this week. After 110 million album sales, four ...

Savages: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 22 February 2013

SO JUST A YEAR after their first gig down in a manky former theatre in Brighton, Savages are here in the Electric Ballroom for an NME awards ...

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, May 2013

DAFT PUNK'S FORTE has always been their sleek, glistening futurism, the sense of mischievous glee they take in the very textures of electronic sound. ...

Daft Punk: The Midas Touch

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 19 May 2013

IT IS A PECULIAR experience meeting the most famous faceless musicians in the world. Daft Punk are certainly well known. Eight years after their last ...

Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Rockfort: Remembering Lizzy Mercier Descloux

Retrospective by David McKenna, The Quietus, 10 September 2015

David McKenna looks back at the life of Parisian poet, painter and post punk musician, Lizzy Mercier Descloux. ...

Françoise Hardy: Françoise Hardy

Sleeve notes by Kieron Tyler, Light in the Attic Records, October 2015

  ANY MENTION of the name Françoise Hardy conjures images of Gallic sophistication, an attitude to lyrics and music informed by a literate sensibility and a ...

Françoise Hardy: L'amitié

Sleeve notes by Kieron Tyler, Light in the Attic Records, October 2015

  AS IT WOUND down, 1965 proved itself as the year when Françoise Hardy became a global phenomenon. She was now more than about the music, ...

Serge Gainsbourg, Mick Harvey: Mick Harvey: Delirium Tremens

Review by Andrew Stafford, The Guardian, 23 June 2016

Two decades after Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants, Nick Cave's right-hand man returns to Serge Gainsbourg's oeuvre to explore even stranger corners. ...

Christine and the Queens, Jain: Christine and the Queens: A new French revolution

Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 10 July 2016

They are now the hottest name in pop. We talk to their leader about changing the industry. ...

Christine and the Queens: O2 Academy, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Daily Mail, 12 November 2016

HÉLOÏSE LETISSIER, the French artist who performs as Christine and the Queens, is demob-happy. "This is a free zone," she tells us in charming accented ...

Phoenix: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Rick Pearson, The Evening Standard, 2 October 2017

ALLY PALLY IS a ruthless venue that chews up and spits out all but the best of live bands. To succeed in this cavernous space, ...

Carla Bruni: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 December 2017

Playing unusual covers of AC/DC, Depeche Mode and Willie Nelson alongside strong self-penned material, Bruni performs with poise and catwalk swagger. ...

Françoise Hardy: Personne d'autre (Parlophone France/Arts Music)

Review by Jon Young, Mother Jones, 28 May 2018

SINCE VAULTING to international stardom as a teenager in the pre-Beatles '60s, Françoise Hardy has been France's leading female pop singer. ...

Charles Aznavour – 10 of the best

Guide by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 2 October 2018

France's leading musical ambassador, who died on Monday, was admired by such disparate entertainers as Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and sometime Sex Pistol Glen Matlock. ...

Cerrone: The DNA Of Dance

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2020

With his new album imminent, Record Collector takes the opportunity to get supernatural with Cerrone. Daryl Easlea stares into the crystal ball. ...

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