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Neon Bible
[Barclay/Universal]
When an album such as "Funeral" by Arcade Fire becomes "album of the year" for Telerama's or Télé 7 Jours's editorial staff, that may raise doubts as to the interest we may have in that record. Yet, this musical jewel has managed to enchant our ears with its forceful arguments : a dizzy richness, a great dose of madness and irresistible charm. To this we can add : some eighties-like sounds that beautifully blend melancolico-pop and rocky cabaret vibes - often close to the Virgin Prunes's furious and vicious universe ("Love Lasts Forever"), with that obvious discrepancy and and reconstruction constantly on the go -an ingenuousness that comes directly from Joy Division's primitive art, and a classy sound flirting with the Pixies's. Thus the reasons for our craze come naturally. But the serious fears we had when "Neon Bible" was realeased left the Canadian band little chance to pass the so awaited traditional and fearsome "second album test". To this must be added the pressure the band had to experience after selling more than a million copies of their first album - and some thousands to the readers of the two TV magazines mentioned above. Yet, on the very first notes of Black Mirror, the opening track to "Neon Bible", all doubts clear out. The "Mirror, mirror, on the wall" Win Butler repeatedly sings is the perfect and beautiful new echo to Gavin Friday's ballades. Two enraged voices, Win's and Régine Chassagne's, go hand in glove and suit each other to perfection. On every track, their own intimist nonchalance blends with the almost emphatic power that makes the tracks what they really are. With so many "known by heart" elements -but still thrilling- the magic never goes. This force, this solemness makes "Neon Bible" the awaited and natural follow-up to "Funeral" : both albums are complex and stunning. The feeling of those unexpected lyrical ballades close to madness and rage may only exist as a very natural coherence.
Christophe Labussière |
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Passion & Excitements
[Boredom Product]
This French trio has just released their third album which sounds like clean and dancing techno-pop, yet not so close to "Body Pop" beats like on their previous E.P. - a music style that applies to And One across the Rhine. "Passion & Excitements" is trendy electronic music, moderate, unpretentious and full of fresh bleeps. Celluloïde accordingly recorded twelve eigthies-like tracks sprinkled with nice melancholic melodies and intentionally dehumanized androgynous singing. "Passion & Excitements" pays a new tribute to synthetic analogic sounds and new-wave vibes we used to listen to twenty years ago - where does all the time go? They do not sound revolutionary new yet some tracks can be as good as those of the leaders of the genre used to make (Client, Ladytron, Vive la Fête) : Dreaming of Tomorrow and Still Here are truly haunting, Incommunication and Translation of Love (undoubtedly the band's best two tracks so far) sound very "punchy" and, last but not least, Last Second with its sad and soothing vibes. To cut a long story short : although this album does not come as a surprise, Celluloïde confirm they are a talented band and we are pleased they managed to make good French music in a style which is not France's cup of tea.
Stéphane Colombet |
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Heartland
[Out of Line]
Not only is "Heartland" Client's third album, originally produced by Andrew Fletcher of Depeche Mode, it also results from a new record deal for the female duet who has recently left Mute and its Toast Hawaii sub-division to sign up with one of the best electro-industrial cradle of the moment, Out of Line. Was that change also to announce an artistic direction change in the band ? Not at all. Client have released a third opus, richer and more complex than their previous ones yet still keeping to their own style (slow melodies, lovely piano notes blended with old synths, cold and sad background sounds). Some guitar tunes appear here and there and their discretion makes them even honorable. Some melodies, more "pop" than usual, are very pleasant and make the tracks really dancy, even nearly "FM"-like such as Drive, Xerox Machine (Adam & the Ants cover) or Monkey on my Back. Client obvioulsy meant to enlarge their audience trying to keep to their own roots. However, the peculiar female voice (still very authoritarian) sometimes suffers from too short lyrics and over-repeated choruses but this new album offers Someone to Hurt, a hypnotic little treasure on which violin notes match perfectly with wonderful dark synth melodies. That very cinematographic track (and the other ones too) makes "Heartland" worth listening now.
Stéphane Colombet |
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Grinderman
[Mute]
Nick cave is known to go to the first studio that can suit his new blues-gospel-influenced variations that is still haunting him. He is also known to be prolific - sometimes too much. But, above all, we know he comfortably belongs to a band free of any directives. I do not mean the essence has faded away with the years, but its vapours have become less noxious. His previous double album, "Abattoir blues/Lyre of Orpheus" (2004) was not that thrilling and almost turned into mannerism in its second part. It was also hard to be satisfied with "Nocturama" (2003) which was something more like a compilation of B-sides witout their A-sides than a real album...
Grinderman was to be born.
This formation gathers around the boss : no "Nick cave" nor "Bad Seeds" in its new name. And thank God no Mick Harvey collaborates in this new project. Thus, no intellectual arrangements, no "adult musicalism". With Grinderman, ideas are concretely put into pratice. Fuzz pedals have feet upon them and blare out. However, Blixa Bargeld feels cruelly missed. The German noise-maker sadly left the band 4 years ago, still he would have worked wonders together with the 3 other Bad Seeds taking part in this fomation. The whole thing results in what we have been expecting to hear since "Let Love In" (1994). The record abunds in the "caulding" resources that have been nourished since The Birthday Party, brewed with the rigour of a senior knowing his subject well. It sounds like incisive and haemophilic blues. The garage sound finely lights up the way for a bat freed from its cave rather than rusts or shuts the delicate gates of this album.
Arnaud-Yann Houssin |
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Northern Stories 1978/80
[Caroline True]
This is an unexpetced and very welcome re-issue after all these years... This early 80's cult band used to play rough and dancey punk-funk-ska as a foretaste of !!! (Chck Chck Chck) or The Rapture - the latter being very similar to Manicured Noise in many ways. Close to Pop Group, or Rip Rig & Panic, they concentrated on dancey tunes rather than experimental ones, which may explain why they were not that successful : punks didn't like their music nor did "futile" music lovers. Nowadays this album sounds like a curiosity and finds its place in the "must-haves" section : it symbolizes an era when music was free from conventions, when everything was possible even the most unexpected mixtures of music styles. It pays tribute to what rock should be : a boundless means of expression and absolute freedom. This album is the best example of it in its own way.
Frédéric Thébault |
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Object
[www.object.fr]
Icon-X
Prostitution World
[www.icon-x.org]
Here are two self-produced and very promising Paris-based bands. Each has one foot in the eighties and the other in the present, modern pop and electro.
First, Object is still thrilling and now act as a trio after their second guitarist left the band. Their music sounds more concise and "compact" which reminds us of a modern, nervous and catchy version of post punk and cold wave. Now they have left their main influences behind (Cure, Joy Division, Mogwai), the band hits our ears with fivetracks between fire (ardent voice) and ice (acid guitars and deep bass lines). The French singing is beautiful and makes this eponymous EP forceful and faultless.
Second, Icon-X's album is not as good because of their English accent sounding too close to French and their singing too precious and over-mannered. On the other hand, the cross between minimalist electro and rough rock and the band's catchy tunes easily succeed in seducing the ears, all the more if you have a weakness for early Christian Death, Virgin Prunes and Alien Sex Fiend albums. Misty vibes, acid sounds and morbid theatrality make these five new tracks varied and lively as Icon-X didn't hesitate to open up their neo-batcave to pop influences.
In short, those two bands have proved they can be good songwriters and masters of their own styles. We can't wait !
Christophe Lorentz |
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