A CROSS-CHANNEL MUSIC INTRODUCTION
Melting Vinyl are putting on their annual showcase of Gallic gigs across town in January – we speak to promoter Paul McGivern and offer some highlights.
Melting Vinyl has got a really good relationship with our friends over the channel – how has it come about?
Melting Vinyl have a long history of working with French artists, and Vive La France is very much a continuation of this relationship in partnership with the French Music Bureau, Bureau Export. With Brighton only a stone’s throw across the channel, it’s only fitting that Brighton should be the home of such a showcase event.
What should people expect from the festival?
What makes Vive La France really exciting is inviting artists to perform who play huge shows in their native country – audiences will have the opportunity to see arena fillers up close and personal. But we make it relevant to Brighton too, with local artists such as The Woo!worths and Les Zuts performing alongside artists from France under the title of ‘French Connections’.
Sounds good – what else is going on?
No showcase of French culture would be complete without the celebration of the Gallic art of food and wine. Providing the gastronomic flavour to Vive La France 2011 are relaxed French bistro Mange Tout and the newly-opened Plateau, also the home of the festival’s intimate after hours DJ sets, providing audiences and artists alike with a taste of France to accompany the feast of music on offer. We’ve also invited key players in the French music industry to talk about how the French scene has changed over the last 20 years and give them an opportunity to connect with local artists and audiences.
MÉLANIE PAIN Basement Thurs 27th
Best known for jazzing up the Buzzcocks et al as the singer in Nouvelle Vague, Mélanie’s breathy vocals are set to turn The Basement into a Parisian café, with a rare performance of folk-pop chanson across the French and English tongues.
LA BOETIE Komedia Thurs 27th
An electro pop UK debut for the opening show of the festival, La Boetie plunder the entire plugged-in past for their pulsating sound, from The Cure to Lykke Li. Their first album is set to arrive on these shores soon, but it’s preceded by a live reputation that long ago outgrew such intimate settings back home.
KKC ORCHESTRA Basement Fri 28th
This unique and seemingly unlikely Toulouse union between a drum’n’bass DJ, a swing guitarist and a rapper barely raises an eyebrow across the sea, such is the inventiveness of the Gallic groove. But the mix of swing and bling works a treat, so this is well worth a look.
ANORAAK Hope Fri 28th
Shipping a mix’n’match crate of Motown soul and US chillwave to the South of France and sneaking some Italo disco over the border for good measure, Anoraak’s polished pop delivery is an essential brand of carefree holiday-style escapism.
KID BOMBARDOS Hope Fri 28th
You might think it particularly un-French to distill the distinctly New York-esque disciplines of Velvet Underground decadence and the sprightly cynical indie of The Strokes, but Kid Bombardos have done just that and taken it all over France, from clubs to festivals, and now, like coals to Newcastle, to Brighton.
VLF AFTER PARTY Plateau Sat 29th
Get Your Acts Together DJs & friends take the stage at Saturday’s Plateau after party. These guys are like the live house band for much of the travelling French music business, backing the likes of Nouvelle Vague, Mélanie Pain and Phoebe Killdeer, so they really know their onions when it comes to the flavour of France.
FYI
QUAND: Thurs 27th – Sat 29th Jan
OU: Various venues
LE WEB: www.meltingvinyl.co.uk
WORDS BY NICK COQUET, JAMES KENDALL
