Shoegaze en Francais from Dead Horse One, presenting their second full-length album of richly-hazed psych-pop songs. Season Of Mist doesn’t mark out any new territory, but sometimes sinking back into a gorgeously-textured and richly melodic shoegaze bath is just the right thing to do isn’t it? CD and LP editions available, via the Requiem Pour Un Twister label.
Dead Horse Oneis the wonderful French band led by singer/guitarist Olivier Debard. Hailing from the southern French town of Valence, they formed in 2012 and released the well-received EP “Heavenly Choir Of Jet Engines” In 2014, they released the marvelous “Without Love We Perish”, produced by Mark Gardener of Ride. The band cites influences ranging from The Telescopes to John Barry soundtracks, and it’s somewhat evident in the grooves of this new release. The band has always favored the poppier end of the psych gaze spectrum, and seem less involved with regurgitating the same old tired MBV effects. With a high focus on swooning psychedelia and heavenly layers of sound, Dead Horse One have another winner on their hands.
The album was mixed and produced by John Loring from Fleeting Joys, and also features musical contributions from John and Rorika Loring (also from Fleeting Joys). John also co-wrote two songs (“Disconnected” and “Today”).
Opening track “Insight” is truly stunning, and I really dig the somewhat warped sounding keyboard that starts it off. It morphs quickly into a full blown psych stomp with gauzy textures, the perfect synthesis between shoegaze and psychedelia. And before I expound further, let me state for the record that I have always considered shoegaze to be a sub-genre of psych, so the two fit together neatly. The vocals are wonderful here too, as are the guitars soaring into the stratosphere.
“Season of Mist” is equally gorgeous, and it reminds me the most of A Storm in Heaven era Verve. Especially with the curls of feedback surrounding the entire mix. If ever a song deserved to be a hit, it’s this one. “Mesmerise Me” is a graceful and sublimely trippy slice of decadent psych, and is truly swoonworthy. You will find yourself floating on golden clouds, raised up by the grandeur of this music. The guitar work by Olivier Debard is fantastic here, but that is the case throughout the record.
Working in the sweetly swinging tradition of Serge Gainsbourg and the yé-yé sound of the ’60s, the Limiñanas have a sound that blends sunny psychedelia with vintage pop. Based out of Perpignan, France, the group is composed of drummer and sometime vocalist Marie Limiñana and bassist, organist, and jack-of-all-trades LionelLimiñana, as well as a host of guest vocalists including MU. With its combination of fuzzy organ, half-spoken/half-sung vocals, and vintage production, the band captures the sexy, ultra-hip sound of classic French pop. After releasing a series of singles, the duo released its self-titled debut in 2010 through the Chicago label Trouble in Mind. The band continued to crank out singles, and a second album, Crystal Anis, followed in the summer of 2012. After taking some time to revamp the Limiñanas’ sound to introduce more elements of French and Italian soundtrack music, the duo returned quickly with its third album for Trouble in Mind. Costa Blanca was issued in late 2013. The band are now back with new relase “Malamore”.
French Electronic band M83 underwent some changes prior to the release of the April-released album, “Junk”. Morgan Kibby, their long-term keyboardist and vocalist, departed the group before recording began and forced M83 to change things slightly. Junk is a more collaborative album with performers like Beck, Jordan Lawlor and Mai Lan lending their vocals. Lan’s contributions go into the best moments from Junk: chief among them is the album’s third single, Go! One of the most infectious and bright choruses from any artists this year: an intoxicating rainbow-coloured celebration that is impossible not to sing along to. Junk split critics and contained its share of filler but tracks like Go! stood out and proved the French outfit had plenty of invention in their locker.
M83, aka Anthony Gonzalez, new studio album ‘Junk’ is out now:
“Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music?” The self torment of Rob Fleming, the main character in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity novel, could also be applied to the band the Bantam Lyons lads. The music created by these four Breton youngsters (now exiled to Nantes) has a watermark of the most melancholic music recorded since the 80s, and gives you a knot in the stomach like a whole afternoon spent watching the drizzling rain of Brest through a window.
Carried by a singular voice that stirs your guts, Bantam Lyons’ music calls the discarded youth we all have inside us. Because it’s sometimes a good thing to feel sad. And it’s always good to listen to pop music, no matter what.
Some of you reading this may have already had the good fortune to have seen this vintage footage of The Cure performing at the breathtaking Roman-esque theatre in Orange, Vaucluse, France known as Theatre Antique d’Orange back in 1986. I also have no doubt that some of you might even possess copies of the show (known as The Cure in Orange) on VHS. If you fall into neither of these categories, then you are in for a treat as the show recently popped up on Vimeo. Shot over the course of two nights by longtime Cure collaborator director Tim Pope, the out-of-print footage contains a staggering 23 songs from The Cure’s mid-80s catalog (like The Head on the Door) as well as 1980’s Boys Don’t Cry and 1993’s Show and other assorted gems. It was also the apparently the first time Smith debuted his new short haircut much to the dismay of his gothy followers.
Though Smith himself has promised that The Cure in Orange would be released to DVD sometime in 2010, that never happened—though you can find bootlegged copies of the show for sale out there on various music-loving Internet sites as well as copies of the original VHS tape. As in the past when this extraordinary footage has made its way online it will likely once again quickly disappear so stop what you’re doing now and watch it before it vanishes.
Tracks: “Introduction”, Recording of “Relax”, from the album Blue Sunshine by “The Glove”
“Shake Dog Shake”
“Piggy in the Mirror”
“Play for Today”
“A Strange Day”
“Primary”
“Kyoto Song”
“Charlotte Sometimes”
“Inbetween Days”
“The Walk”
“A Night Like This”
“Push”
“One Hundred Years”
“A Forest”
“Sinking”
“Close to Me”
“Let’s Go to Bed”
“Six Different Ways”
“Three Imaginary Boys”
“Boys Don’t Cry”
“Faith”
“Give Me It”
“10:15 Saturday Night”
“Killing an Arab”
The Fat Angel Sings 