The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

Entries for December 2007

31

Paris gigs & bars now smoke-free

Aidan Curran posted on December 31, 2007 19:13

Bonne nouvelle année! The new year heralds a new era for the cultural life of France, as a distinctive sight and smell disappears from Paris’ famous cafés.

Today (1 January) France’s smoking ban comes into force – it is now illegal to light up in restaurants and bars, as is already the case in Ireland and Italy (Berlin is introducing a similar ban today as well).

The new regulation wipes out a characteristic image of Paris – the hazy Left Bank cafés where the likes of Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir (right) would philosophise amid clouds of Gaulois and Gitane fumes. The smoking and philosophising can continue, of course, outside on the terrasse.

It will be interesting to see the rate of adherence to, and enforcement of, the new law. The typical French brasserie, or restaurant-bar, has its own cigarette counter (remember the hypochondriac tobacconist, left, in ‘Amélie’?), and a customer will usually buy his/her packet of fags or pouch of tobacco and then stay for a coffee or a drink.

As Irish bars found in 2003 when our own ban was introduced, smaller Paris bars and cafés don’t always have terrace space outdoors – and anyway, the older clientèle don’t like to sit at tables but prefer to stand at the bar, where prices are cheaper and the ambience is better. Unless their older customers change their ways, some proprietors will obviously suffer.

The Irish smoking-ban experience doesn’t provide a good analogy – we’re a young country, less settled in our ways and more used to adapting. France has always been one of the more traditionalist and self-content countries of Europe, so change comes more slowly and painfully here. Many French people continue to calculate prices in francs and the old currency still appears on receipts and payslips, six years after it ceased to exist. Unlike Ireland, where the euro, smoking ban and plastic bag levy were all quickly accepted, France won’t accept such a fundamental lifestyle change without some pain and protest. Jacques le Frenchman tends to be militant when his personal rights and creature comforts are challenged.

But Sarkozy’s France is showing an appetite for progress and intolerance for traditionalist intransigence. A protest march by tobacconists in November (right) passed off almost unperceived due to strike fatigue after the autumn’s transport stoppages, which themselves were less well supported than in previous years.

And the smoking ban has already been in place in offices and other workplaces since earlier this year, so many people have by now become adapted to popping outside for a quick drag.

The smoking ban also affects France’s live music industry, as concert venues fall under the terms of the regulations. As in Ireland in 2003, the hope is that new punters will be attracted (back) to smoke-free shows. Club-owners aim to share the fresh-air dividend that restaurateurs expect to reap.
 
Some Paris venues have already been smoke-free for a while. La Maroquinerie, one of our favourite concert spots, has no-smoking signs around its music space – though this was due to health and safety considerations, as the venue is a converted cellar with limited ventilation. But cigarette-craving punters there can still head upstairs to the Maroquinerie’s open-air beer-garden/restaurant space.

Other popular venues, like La Fleche d'Or, won’t be easily able to provide smoking space – but punters will hardly forgo seeing their favourite act because of the smoking ban. Cinemas and theatres are already non-smoking, so it’s not going to be the culture-shock some pessimists fear.

And the fresh air may attract new concert-goers. All things considered, smoke-free music venues should prove to be more of an opportunity than a setback for the Paris live scene.

But then, we would say that - your blogger doesn’t smoke.


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31

2007: when Sarkozy met CLUAS

Aidan Curran posted on December 31, 2007 05:48

Who was the first international leader seen by new French president Nicolas Sarkozy following his inauguration in June?

Chancellor Merkel? Nein! President Bush? Nope! Prime Minister Blair or Brown? Sorry, old chap!

The answer? CLUAS founder and editor Eoghan O’Neill.

This is absolutely true: after the inauguration ceremony at the Elysée Palace, Sarko’s cavalcade was driving up the Champs-Elysées. Just before reaching the Arc de Triomphe for a wreath-laying ceremony, the pint-sized president (right) suddenly hopped out of his state car and rushed over to the crowds lining the grand old boulevard – straight to where the CLUAS gaffer (on a flying visit to the French capital) happened to be standing. One international statesman had recognised another, a fellow, a peer.

We’re not sure what advice, if any, our leader gave France’s; suffice it to say that not long afterwards Sarkozy was picking fights with the transport unions, physically confronting US paparazzi and throwing over his wife for a younger model/singer who had got a positive review on CLUAS (and she plans to release a new album of ‘love songs’ in 2008; the mind boggles).

Your Paris correspondent, not privileged to be in attendance at this Franco-Irish summit meeting, carried on through 2007 sketching the Venn diagram where ‘Irish music’ overlaps with ‘French music’. And such was the high level of activity there that our leisurely monthly column had to become a busy blog in order to cope. The Latin Quarter of CLUAS turned into something of a cultural meeting-point where green mixed with blue, pints were shared and croissants were broken in brotherhood.

These solid Franco-Irish relations took a battering (from the Irish point of view at least) on the rugby field. Vincent Clerc’s late try stole victory for les bleus at the historic first foreign game in Croke Park, and an even later try by Elvis Vermuelen against Scotland – on Saint Patrick’s Day! – won France the Six Nations at the expense of Ireland. The less said about Ireland’s disastrous World Cup, the better.

Sebastien ChabalIf it’s any consolation, the home team also considered the Coupe du Monde de Rugby a failure. As they have done in nearly every tournament, le quinze de France played their final too early – their epic Cardiff quarter-final win over the All-Blacks was their psychological peak and England did enough to edge out the hosts in the semi-final.

And the French public didn’t really buy into the efforts to make a cult hero out of the caveman-esque Sebastien Chabal (left).

The only major Irish sporting success in France this year came in October, when the Aidan O’Brien-trained Dylan Thomas won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the country’s most prestigious horse race – and even then it looked as if officious French stewards would deny the Irish their win. (Oh, and your blogger NAILED the Paris Marathon.)

Our musicians fared much better on French soil. A plethora of Irish acts played in Paris during 2007: the French capital is now firmly established on the itinerary of any Irish band with ambitions of international success. In fact, we know of a Paris-based Irish agency, Oileán Promotions, which specialises in bringing acts over from Éire to play in France. And another Paris-based Irishman, Perry Blake, consolidated his French and international success with his seventh studio album, ‘Canyon Songs’.

This year there were Paris appearances by Duke Special, Nina Hynes, Simple Kid, The Immediate, The Thrills, The Frank And Walters, Sinead O’Connor, Roisin Murphy, The Answer and Neosupervital, amongst others. Outside the capital, Snow Patrol and The Divine Comedy played in provincial summer festivals.

In particular, Simple Kid and Duke Special gave remarkable Paris performances. Nina Hynes’ two concerts here suffered the misfortune of technical problems for the first gig and a transport strike for the second, yet the princess of Irish astral-pop put on two highly entertaining shows. The Immediate’s springtime shows in Paris proved to be among their last live appearances before the band broke up soon thereafter – snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, as the band’s French distributor had just blitzed the record shops and music press of Paris.

Plenty of French acts made the journey in the opposite direction and played to Irish audiences, most notably Justice (three times), Daft Punk, Manu Chao, The Teenagers, Nouvelle Vague (twice), Cassius, Emily Loizeau and Les Rita Mitsouko.

And Dublin now has something of a French scene; in 2007 we featured popular club nights such as French Friday and La Nuit Blanche, as well as Dublin-based French rocker Lauren Guillery. Irish acts are getting in on all this Frenchness too – the video for 'Love Like Nicotine' by Dark Room Notes recreated the famous dance scene from Jean-Luc Godard’s 'Bande À Parte', while Snow Patrol took a high-speed drive around a deserted early-morning Paris in their video for 'Open Your Eyes'.

Well, it looks like your blogger will be staying in Paris for a long time. Life here suits us. We hope our Gallic friends in Dublin and Ireland feel as happy in their home-from-home as we do in the French capital. Here’s the aforementioned video for 'Love Like Nicotine' (quite topical from a Paris context) by Dark Room Notes; see you in deux mille huit.


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30

Modern art meets music video

Aidan Curran posted on December 30, 2007 11:26
‘Playback’ is an exhibition running at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris until 6 January. In the words of the show's programme, the show "investigates the incursion of visual artists into the field of sound, in the form of original music videos." In other words, it brings together promo clips made by visual artists more at home with modern art than contemporary music.
 
Unfortunately, the exhibition's premise is flawed. Essays in the brochure and catalogue repeatedly put 'high art' in conflict with 'pop culture', assuming as a truism that art is art, pop is pop, the two are irreconcilable and the artists featured in the show are transgressing some natural law of aesthetics.
 
This, as we all know, is outdated snobbishness - Andy Warhol's appearance in one of the featured videos, 'Hello Again' by The Cars, reminds us of the man who brought pop into art and art into pop. And three of Derek Jarman's iconic Smiths' videos ('The Queen Is Dead', 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' and 'Panic') are screened, the late British film-maker just being one of many artists whose genuine engagement with the music video form subverts the patronising premise of this exhibition.
 
One of the other problems with the exhibition is the lack of any focus or criteria for selecting the videos. The show is presented in various installations around the exhibition space, grouped under headings such as Dance, Posture, Karaoke, Bootleg and Seen On TV. Yet there's no indication as to why the featured videos were selected, what their specific qualities are, or how or if they challenge/comment on the music video form. The Dance section, presented on the small screens of real gym running-machines, features cheap shot-on-video clips of unremarkable dancing to flat music, with no hint of irony, subversion, interesting concept, technical innovation or even just playing for laughs. Like much of the exhibition, it fails as both music video and modern art.
 
The overall impression is that the curators of ‘Playback' are passing off a half-baked, reactionary, clichéd 'post-modern' concept of music video culture (with all its supposed superficial pop glamour that pretentious art self-righteously looks down on) as aesthetic critique.
 
A still from the video for the Pet Shop Boys single 'London' directed by Martin ParrThe artists themselves often fare no better in getting a handle on the music video form. In 2002 the Pet Shop Boys engaged the services of two respected visual artists, Wolfgang Tillmans and Martin Parr, to shoot videos for the songs ‘Home And Dry’ and ‘London’ respectively. The similarities between both videos, included in the exhibition, are striking – both are shot on cheap video, feature the litter-strewn streets and underground of everyday London (no surprise to fans of Parr’s fascinating photography) and star Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe (left) in casualwear and playing simple instruments (in both videos Tennant, looking like Ray D’Arcy, strums 4/4 time on an acoustic guitar like a plain-clothes priest leading a folk mass).
 
And Parr’s video for ‘London’ is sunk because of amateurish acting by two men supposed to be playing down-on-their-luck Russian immigrants (as in the song) but grinning giddily in each shot. At least Tillmans fares better; his footage of mice scurrying through the litter on Tube tracks makes a nice counterpoint to ‘Home And Dry’ - a sweet, heartfelt song about missing someone who’s away on work.
 
Nonetheless, there were some excellent videos in the exhibition. Wyldfile’s video for The Gossip’s ‘Standing In the Way Of Control’ was as brash and colourful as the band and their music, while Doug Aitken’s video for LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Someone Great’ devised a clever concept for representing the song’s theme of the loss of a loved one. Soko Kaukoranta made a beautiful video for ‘Midsummer’s Night’ by cult Finnish electro-popper Jimi Tenor – both visuals and music shimmered with bleak Scandinavian loveliness. And we discovered Devo and their ecstatic ‘Post-Post Modern Man’.
 
Other things we learned from the exhibition: Everything about Blur’s ‘Country House’ – song, style, Damien Hirst’s video – has aged horribly. Modern artists like to listen to Sonic Youth and Laurie Anderson’s unbearable ‘O Superman’. And RTÉ’s ‘Charity You’re A Star’ is actually a work of post-modern art inspired by legendary German conceptual artist Joseph Beuys singing anti-Reagan song ‘Sonne Statt Reagan’ on a TV show in 1982. There’s something priceless about seeing one of modern art’s most celebrated figures merrily swinging a microphone above his head while singing tunelessly to German pub-rock.
 
Some of the best works in the exhibition were old MTV station idents by Dara Birnbaum (right) and Miguel Calderon. They reminded us that truly innovative and artistically rich music videos come from people like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze who clearly love the medium and bring an unsnobbish, pop-loving creative imagination to their work.
 
We learned nothing from this exhibition about the form, aesthetics or development of music videos, the cultural signs and artistic possibilities that make music video such a fascinating subject worthy of rigorous investigation. But perhaps, having learned loads at this summer’s fantastic ‘Rock N’Roll 39-59’ exhibition at the Fondation Cartier, we were expecting too much from ‘Playback’.
 
The lesson we took from ‘Playback’ was perhaps contrary to its intentions: glamorous, image-obsessed pop music is infinitely more subversive, shocking, imaginative and innovative than ponderous, self-conscious modern art. The best pop music (like all great art, in fact) makes you dream and aspire to transcend your humdrum world, and the best music videos capture these dreams on film. No wonder The Man got rid of Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops.
 
Here’s our favourite video from the exhibition: Miguel Calderon’s clip for ‘Deiciseis’ (Sixteen) by Los Super Elegantes. There’s something for everyone: music fans can appreciate the fine song, video-lovers will dig the funny, warm-hearted storyline (lowlife boy runs off with nice girl, while her mother disapproves), while modern art theorists can consider Calderon’s use of images of rubbish and riches. But be careful - you can’t dance and think at the same time: 



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27

Best French Music Of 2007

Aidan Curran posted on December 27, 2007 16:38
Thanks to everyone who e-mailed and posted with their views on what should and shouldn’t make our annual run-down of la hexagone’s top tunes. (Don’t forget to check out the CLUAS 2007 album poll results)
 
Regular readers will know that your blogger isn’t fond of most French rock, chanson française, Libertines-worshipping ‘babyrockers’ or superstar DJs. So, just because we’re not into Deportivo, Luke, Kaolin, Renan Luce, Rose, Daphné, Stuck In The Sound, BB Brunes, Naast, David Guetta, Bob Sinclar (no second ‘i’, remember) or Martin Solveig, that shouldn’t stop you from checking them out and making up your own mind.
 
So, what did we like from the vintage of deux mille sept? Here are our albums and songs of the French music year. If our selection is light on French-language works, this reflects the international ambitions of the best and most musically-ambitious French acts, rather than any pro-English bias on our part. On y va!
 
Albums: While last year produced a half-dozen fantastic albums that have the look of classic status about them, 2007’s crop of long-players are more modest in their achievements. Still, here are ten we liked very much…
 
A wildly ambitious and playfully imaginative mix of chanson française (the good kind), indie rock, cabaret pop and even a bit of rap. Sixty minutes of gripping tunes. A dark, romantic tale that conjures up a Tim Burton-esque nightmare world. Veteran French actor Jean Rochefort singing about Don Quixote, who he was to play in Terry Gilliam’s disastrous Cervantes project (chronicled in the ‘Lost In La Mancha’ documentary). Our favourite French chanteuse, the marvellous Emily Loizeau, prominent among the guest singers. But most of all, a record that features Le Roi himself, Eric Cantona. How could we not love it?
 
You didn’t need to be a Francophile to have heard and loved this one. The heirs to Daft Punk and the latest in a long tradition of French electronica duos, Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspar Auge brought to the dancefloor a heavy metal attitude, squelchy beats and distorted synthesisers. Apart from when they have children singing pop melodies, that is. For some reason, not many vampires bought this album.
 
Under the influence of Joy Division, The Buzzcocks and Siouxsie And The Banshees, cold and robotic punk with haughty Parisian sang-froid that’s awesome live. In particular, ‘The A.B.C Of L.O.V.E.’ is great fun and ‘Je Suis French’ is the sound of a French supermodel looking down at a scruffy peasant. And as for ‘Body Addict’, scroll down to see just how much we loved THAT song…
 
She qualifies for France’s top music prize, so the Israeli-born Dutch citizen (an established figure on the French scene) makes our list too. A lovely collection of lo-fi folk-pop that draws heavily on Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed, it’s the quiet and introspective cousin of Feist’s ‘The Reminder’.
 
The late friends of this Clermont-Ferrand boy-girl duo obviously include Nick Drake and Elliott Smith, whose lovelorn folk-pop (shot through with dark hints of violence and sadness) echoes through this excellent debut album.
 
The glamorous French girls, first featured in our 2006 article on new Paris bands, released a debut album of catchy punk-pop and derriere-kicking attitude – which they needed, to cope with the setbacks they endured. The male, middle-aged French rock media dismissed them as ‘babyrockers’ and savaged them for the heinous crime of not being male and middle-aged. Their drummer and her replacement both left the band, and heavy promotion didn’t translate into big sales. Let’s hope they get the success they deserve in 2008.
 
France’s biggest international star, the right-on Che Guevara of world music, was a bit too enthusiastic about recycling his past glories – rock riffs from his Mano Negra days, the police siren from his Amadou and Mariam production job. That said, an average Manu Chao album is still better than most people’s best.
 
2007 was the year of Tecktonik™, but the Paris electro-breakdancing scene produced little in the way of decent music. The exception was Julie Budet’s dayglo disco-pop - fizzy, colourful and fun.
 
Driving, earnest indie-guitarness that some French music fans dismissively call ‘la pop anglaise’. Feck ‘em – this Grenoble trio are great, despite the occasional blandness of their English-language lyrics.
 
US-based Melanie Valera is a mere ‘de’ away from achieving instant fame in Ireland. She’ll just have to rely on her idiosyncratic and likeable electro-folk-pop instead.
 
(We also liked: MC Solaar ‘Chapitre 7’, French Cowboy ‘Baby Face Nelson Was A French Cowboy’, Vanessa Paradis ‘Divinidylle’, Bo ‘Koma Stadium’)
 
NOT Album Of The Year: Air ‘Pocket Symphony’
“Insipid, boring and shockingly formulaic”, the CLUAS review called the latest Air anti-climax. All the more disappointing because their 2006 side-projects (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Darkel) had been excellent. And did you read their knuckle-dragging views on female politicians? Even Playboy magazine found them sexist.
 
Roll Of Honour ~ Albums
2006: Emily Loizeau ‘L’Autre Bout Du Monde’
2005: Camille ‘Le Fil’
 
 
Songs: Sadly, in 2007 we didn’t dig up any earworms as insidious and burrowing as last year’s laureate (‘Bagatelle’ by Vanessa And The O’s). And nothing stood out as prominently as last year’s top tunes. But there were plenty of fine pop songs to choose from.
 
Lead singer Sue intones like a robotic Siouxsie (who now lives in south-west France and speaks excellent French) over cold, clinical punk-pop. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in being absolutely bloody brilliant. The best song (and they have plenty of crackers) by perhaps the most enjoyable band in France.
 
France’s summer number one: a smashing ‘80s-style disco-pop hit from a former TV talent show winner who looks like Jarvis Cocker and sings like Michael Jackson – a volatile combination. Does he stage-rush his own shows?
 
On their shoulder is the paternal guiding hand of Elliott Smith’s ghost; this charming folk-pop single should earn Cocoon some deserved international airplay.
 
Squally T-Rex+AC/DC glam rocking. An androgynous, helium-voiced singer. Feather boas, spandex and lashings of make-up… Fancy are the Jonathan Rhys-Meyers of rock. In truth, we wish all bands would look and sound like this.
 
It may have lost a little of its freshness after hearing it for the millionth time, but there’s still something strangely affecting about a children’s chorus singing “The way you move is a mystery”.
 
Three randy French lads whose electro-flavoured alt-pop sounds fantastic but goes overboard on tedious adolescent lyrics (plenty of f*cks and c*nts and sluts and bitches) that befit their band’s name, and quickly becomes annoying. However, ‘Starlett Johannson’ was different – thoughtful, romantic and charming.
 
The sort of heartfelt, widescreen indie epic that fans of a much-missed Limerick band called Woodstar will recognise. They sound great in concert too.
 
What threatens to be mere Lou/VU-worshipping (spoken-word verses, droning guitars) is transformed by well-placed handclaps and a sweet chorus. Lovely stuff.
 
Stripped-down Super Furry Animals-style indie oddness which packs a marvellous chorus. We found this Toulouse-born singer-songer (real name Jean-Francois Mouliet) on the bill with Simple Kid at a memorable Fête de la Musique show in Paris.
 
10. Vanessa Paradis ‘Dès Que J’Te Vois’
For her big return to music in September, actress/model Madame Depp drafted in French rocker M to write an album’s worth of fine radio-friendly guitar-pop, the pick of which was this sexy, slinky airplay hit.
 
(We also liked: Rhesus ‘Hey Darling’, Plastiscines ‘Loser’, The Love Bandits ‘She Loves Sex’, Dionysos ‘L’Homme Sans Trucage’, Constance Verluca 'Les Trois Copains')
 
So the rumours were true – he was having follow-up problems after all. A disappointingly flat and charmless comeback single of auto-pilot beats and unimaginative synth swooshes. New album ‘Sexuality’, due out in February, would want to be a lot better.
 
Roll Of Honour ~ Songs
2006: Vanessa And The O’s ‘Bagatelle’

Here's the video for our favourite French song of 2007 - 'Body Addict' by Pravda:


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24

2007 in Review Part 1

Rev Jules posted on December 24, 2007 14:11

If there was one defining theme of 2007 in Irish surf culture it was Ireland's emergence as a big wave location of international importance. The pages of the Irish Times and the Irish Independent were frequently filled with shots, usually by the brilliant Mickey Smith, of surfers from here and abroad riding giant waves in Clare and Donegal. Amazing shots that previously had been limited to adverts for Old Spice and Guiness, both of which were shot in Hawaii, were now being taken routinely in Ireland, in terms of the culture, its as big as U2's covershot for TIME Magazine. And, unlike in previous decades, this quantum leap was chronicled by young Irish filmmakers such as Joel Conroy, Naomi Britton, Gavin Gallagher and Ken O'Sullivan in a series of films which displaced imported fare in favour of homegrown big wave action.


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24

Surf Culture @ Christmas

Rev Jules posted on December 24, 2007 14:07

This is a parody of the Beach Boys on the subject of, eh, Christmas in Baghdad. Happy Christmas y'all.

This is a less cynical view of the festive season by Jon Peter Wilson, or at least 48 seconds of his less cynical view.

Santa catches some waves, dude

And finally, U2 with "It's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

 

 


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22

Pop's pre-school consumers

Aidan Curran posted on December 22, 2007 12:40

A typical French babyAs befits our contraceptual nom de blog, your Paris correspondent doesn’t have any offspring. No children’s laughter rings round the hallowed halls of Chateau French Letter – and that suits us fine.

By contrast, many people of our acquaintance are hard at work on the baby-production assembly line, so much so that you’d think the future of the human race depended on it.

Christmas is, of course, a time for children – in particular, hysterical mass consumption of aggressively-marketed toys to placate the young heir/heiress (who never buys YOU anything!) on Christmas morning. But what to buy the small person in your life? If you’re a French parent, it may well be a CD.

Children are a lucrative demographic for French record companies – and not just for Christmas. All year round the French Top 40 singles and album charts has five or six records aimed at the Gallic toddler (by comparison, there are rarely any indie singles in the singles charts here, unlike in the UK or Ireland). High street record shops like FNAC devote plenty of floor-space to children’s records.

Pigloo, the punk penguinAnd French public libraries, with their large and diverse music collections, have children’s sections which are as big as (and maybe bigger than) the world music, blues, dance and metal sections.

So what are French children listening to? Well, colourful cartoon characters sing and dance to songs about holidays – at the beach in summer, on the ski-slopes in winter – and la rentree (the back-to-school period in September) and anything else that may attract young Zinedine (4 years old) and Segolene (5 and three-quarters).

That said, we found it surreal that a cartoon penguin called Pigloo (left) had a hit with a cover of Belgian punk rocker Plastic Bertrand’s 1978 hit ‘Ca Plane Pour Moi’. French pre-schoolers are listening to punk – how cool is that? Pigloo’s many competitors will have to go some way to top that.

Ilona Mitrecey, the cartoon versionThe most popular but most peculiar of these children’s cartoon pop stars, a Dora The Explorer-esque little girl singing catchy songs about jungle animals and faraway places, has the strangely un-cartoon name of Ilona Mitrecey (right). This is because she’s a real, flesh-and-blood girl of that name. The young mademoiselle Mitrecey, in her early teens, sings the songs on record but the artwork and videos feature a cartoon version of her. Then, on live television, the real Ilona sings the songs.

The problem is that the real Ilona is quite a shy, ordinary, uncharismatic performer with none of the ‘look-at-me’ stage-school preening of most child stars – which makes her an anti-climax onstage compared to her colourful cartoon persona. And she’s a good 6 years older than her target audience, uncomfortably too grown-up for the songs she’s singing. We fear that long years of therapy - or a rebellious raunchy makeover - lie in store for Ilona.

Anyway, for the festive season, here's Pigloo's Christmas product, 'Le Noel De Pigloo'. Joyeux Noel!


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18

Biffy Clyro (live in Dublin)

Steven O'Rourke posted on December 18, 2007 05:37

Biffy Clyro (live in The Ambassador Theatre, Dublin)

Review Snapshot:  If you've ever had a lover who's traded you in for a younger, more fashionable model, you'll know exactly how I feel after Biffy's performance tonight.  Sure, they still casts longing glances in your direction that make you feel all warm inside, but you know, in your heart of hearts, that they're more interested in the Top Shop Rock & Roller now and that, alas, your time has passed.

The Cluas Verdict? 5 out of 10

Biffy Clyro

Full Review:
Arriving at 8pm to ensure I could get a good spot near the front, I was surprised to see that The Future Kings of Spain were already onstage and had begun their support slot.  What surprised me even more was the crowd.  Suddenly, I felt as if I'd turned up at a My Chemical Romance or HIM gig as there was enough black and white stripes on show to repave every zebra crossing in the country.   And they were so young.  I thought I'd at least hit the 30 mark before I felt old at a gig but tonight I genuinely did.

The Future Kings of Spain set contained some 'interesting' versions of old and new songs and culminated in a full version of Syndicate, without doubt my favourite song this year.  Lead singer Joey Wilson's remark that 'It's nice to see a big crowd here to support Biffy Clyro,' sparked memories of the first time I saw both bands in The Temple Bar Music Centre many years ago.  Essentially, the venue contained my future wife and brother in law, various members of Snow Patrol and JJ72 and, well, that's about it.  Tonight, however, while the venue isn't quite full, it's clear that support for Biffy is growing.

Entering to Bowie's Let's Dance; Biffy launch their set with the rousing triumvirate of Saturday Superhouse, Who's got a Match and Justboy.  The reaction of the crowd to the three is bizarre.  The first two, taken from Biffy's latest album, Puzzle, are warmly greeted but for Justboy, taken from the bands debut album, Blackened Sky, the reaction is much more muted.  As the set goes on I begin to figure out why. 

There are two distinct sets of fans here to see Biffy tonight.  One, like myself, who are beginning to believe that Biffy's greatest work is behind them and that they've yet to improve on anything Blackened Sky or The Vertigo of Bliss had to offer.  The other set, like the group in front of me who had a body odour contest during All The Way Down, have come to Biffy at a time when the band are exploring a new, more mainstream, direction.  Of course, there were people here tonight who like both Biffy's, but to me there is a clear shift in their fanbase with age being the most defining characteristic.  I became a fan of Biffy Clyro because they made music that appealed to me at 19 or 20.  Tonight I realise that Biffy's new musical direction appeals to the very same age group, but no longer to me.

Only twice tonight does the whole crowd unite; both times in the encore.  Machines is performed solo by Simon but he has the entire crowd on backing vocals.  And then, the final song of the evening, 57.  It's the best version I've heard of Biffy's trademark song yet, and it's great to see the band perform the song with as much enthusiasm this time, possibly the one thousandth time they've played it, as the first.  It does, however, leave a taste in the mouth.  This is what might have been for Biffy but they've chosen another path and good luck to them.  On nights like this though, I wish they'd stop teasing me with reminders that they were the one who got away.

Steven O'Rourke


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17

La popstar & le president

Aidan Curran posted on December 17, 2007 07:21

Mon Dieu! The big news story in France today is the revelation of President Sarkozy's new partner - model/singer Carla Bruni. The pair were officially photographed together during an official visit to Disneyland Paris. Bruni happens to bear a strong resemblance to Sarkozy's ex-wife Cecilia, who divorced him shortly after he was elected President.

Carla Bruni and President SarkozyApart from the showbiz gossip aspect, the story is causing strong reactions here because it means that Bruni has, de facto, associated herself with the ruling right-wing conservative class. Sarko is either loved or loathed in France - and artists who come out in favour of him tend to be pitching to the white moneyed classes.

There are two types of Sarko-fans among France's showbiz community. On the one hand, you have long-time stars like Johnny Hallyday whose demographic is the traditional middle-aged provincial Frenchperson. On the other there's the new breed of superstar DJs like Martin Solveig and David Guetta, both of whom played fundraising shows for Sarkozy's UMP party during his presidential campaign. Low-taxation policies attract the Parisian bling-bling, nouveau-riche lifestyle that Guetta embodies.

Unlike in today's apathetic Ireland, France's young people tend to be openly political, and an artist's political views have serious repercussions for his/her sales. A rapper who supports Sarko (as some old-school has-beens like Doc Gyneco have done) instantly blows his street-cred. Bruni, whose two albums of poetic acoustic ballads would have appealed to the left-leaning bobo (bourgeois bohemian) Paris liberal, may just have scuttled her audience. But then again, if she marries the President of France she's hardly going to need to make another album.

As for your blogger, definitely not enamoured with Sarko, he just has to grit his teeth and stand by the favourable review he gave to Bruni's first album, 'Quelqu'un M'a Dit', back in 2004. Here's the title track, which is impossible to listen to now without the mental picture of her whispering it in the ear of her little Sarko:


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17

Tom Waits for Xmas No.1? Do your bit!

eoghan posted on December 17, 2007 05:00

Tom WaitsJournalist and blogger Adam Maguire has kicked off a campaign to get Tom Waits classic "Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis" to the top of the Irish charts this Christmas. Quite right too.

For a purchase of the song to count for the chart you need to buy it by this coming Thursday (Dec 20) from any of the outlets listed below (all of which are used by IRMA when they compile the charts each week). I've culled these links from the Official Blog Adam has set up for this initiative, I've just split out which services work with what type of platform.

Indulge me a moment as I have a moan. It pains me greatly to see there are no DRM-free (Digital Rights Management) downloads that are recognised by IRMA when they compile their weekly charts. But that I am sure is a temporary state of affairs. By next Christmas I suspect things will have changed on that front as the music industry progresses, as it has begun to do, towards the realisation that using DRM to restrict what music consumers can do with a purchased download is a mug's game.

iPhones & iPods:

  • Apple iTunes* - 99c, works on any iPod or iPhone (please note the link will launch iTunes)

Windows PCs only:

  • Eircom Music Club - €1.20, works on any 'Plays for Sure' device / €1.40, works on mobile phone.
  • Sony Connect* - €1.29, works on any Sony device (please note the link only works in Internet Explorer and you will need to install the SonicStage application to download song).
  • EasyMusic - €1.35, works on any 'Plays for Sure' device (please note you may have to change your location to Ireland before purchasing as the site's default is for the UK).
  • Wippit - €1.39, works on any 'Plays for Sure' device (please note you may have to change your location to Ireland before purchasing as the site's default is for the UK).

Get downloading! And once you've done that you can check out the Facebook page for getting Tom Waits to number 1 in Ireland this Christmas.


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2007 - REM live in the Olympia, by Michael O'Hara. Possibly the definitive review of any of REM's performances during their 2007 Olympia residency. Even the official REM website linked to it.