2020s 87 Items

Symphonic, vast, and emotionally stirring, ‘The Last Goodbye’ is the duo’s most ambitious album to date. Nostalgic yet rooted in the present, it serves as a sweeping sonic experience that speaks to themes of connection and reminiscence. Interwoven with both the new and the old, the album is interspersed with personal audio clips from home video footage, hypnotherapy sessions and even the voices of the duo’s parents, plus features The Knocks, Bettye LaVette, Maro, Låpsley, Ólafur Arnalds, Julianna Barwick, Izzy Bizu and Charlie Houston. These collaborations follow previous high-profile musical partnerships with the likes of Leon Bridges, Little Dragon, Regina Spektor, RY X, Naomi Wild, and more.

After a first mini-album Dr Bolivard which took the form of a funky and electronic tragi-comic self-psychotherapy, a series of interviews with creators on YouTube (Jacques, Myd, L'impératrice...) where he played a zany psychiatrist character asking existential questions, Bolivard is back with a new mini-album which will be released on January 27th 2023: M. Bolivard.

Composed between 2020 and 2022, he gives his impressions of a turbulent period: pandemic, confinements, American and French elections, global warming, war in Ukraine, worsening mental health... Bolivard keeps his black humour and his taste for nonsense while adding a good dose of satire. On the agenda: social anxiety, radicalisation of opinions, narcissism, psychopathy...

Musically, French pop and funk are always mixed with electronic music. Bolivard sings, raps, slams, speaks, above all to tell stories that are more or less crazy, often funny, sometimes disturbing, definitely creative

After the worldwide success of their first album Puzzle (1999), which sold over 200,000 copies and went gold in Japan, Xavier Boyer (vocals, guitars), Pedro Resende (bass), Médéric Gontier (guitars) & Sylvain Marchand (drums) reunited with producer Andy Chase to record the follow-up, Wallpaper for the Soul, in New York City. Starting in November 2001 at Stratosphere Sound, the prolific sessions gave birth to twenty tracks, twelve of which appeared on the original tracklist. The eight outtakes were compiled on the mini albums A Piece of Sunshine (2003) & Extra Pieces of Sunshine (2004). This new vinyl edition will be the first time all these songs appear together. Almost 20 years on, Wfts is a tour de force of contemporary songwriting with obvious nods to the past somehow revisited in a timeless fashion. Tahiti 80’s second effort can also be seen as an alternative and more sophisticated snapshot of an era often associated with the rebirth of rock (The White Stripes, The Strokes…). This set of songs also established them as stalwarts of the Post French Touch cannon, showcasing both their ability to write catchy songs and their knack for mélanges & experimentation. 1,000 Times or The Train are unique examples of blue-eyed soul augmented with French flair (« Prefab Sprout as produced by Thomas Bangalter » suggested Uncut which listed Wfts in their Top Ten’s albums of 2003). Listen to Don’t Look Below today, and ask yourself who was mixing Destiny’s Child with My Bloody Valentine in 2001? Delicate numbers like Open Book or live favorite Better Days Will Come both demonstrate T80’s songwriting skills and their innate sense of melancholia. Listening back to Wfts today, one cannot help but think of it as an album recorded in a state-of-the-art fashion. All four members would typically perform together in the same room. Basic takes were printed on a 24-track analog tape machine and then bounced onto a computer for editing. A fine example of this method is the title track itself. Originally written on acoustic guitar, Wallpaper … is the result of three eight minutes synthesizer jams pieced together. The Frenchmen were keen to try out multitude of ideas and had developed a taste for experimentation. The sessions also coincide with a rich outburst of creativity from a band on top of their game after several months of touring around the world. Another typical Wfts characteristic is Richard Hewson’s orchestration. Veteran string arranger, famous for arranging The Beatles’ The Long And Winding Road or writing RAH Band’s ‘80s classic Clouds Across The Moon Hewson gave the songs a sweeping orchestral touch. Strings, Horns & woodwinds were all performed at the now defunct Olympic Studios in London. Urban Soul Orchestra, a 24-piece ensemble who played on Oasis’ or Spice Girls’ hits can be heard on five songs: the opening trilogy Wallpaper…, 1,000 Times and The Other Side, then on the Northern Soul revival Soul Deep and lastly on the album’s closer Memories Of The Past. Rouen’s most famous four-piece, now relocated in a house on France’s North West Coast, in the quiet seaside town of Étretat, added more bells & whistles and resumed production on the songs. With one last transatlantic leap during the summer of 2002, the boys flew to Portland, Oregon to attend the mixing sessions held by sound wizard Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, The Dandy Warhols…). Suggested by Sub Pop’s craftsman Eric Matthews, also a guest on trumpet and keyboards, Lash would later become a major collaborator on Tahiti 80’s subsequent albums. In the meantime, Laurent Fétis, the designer behind Puzzle’s iconic artwork, had started working with artist Elisabeth Arkhipoff on a set of nostalgic photographs transfigured with a soft air-bush technique. Those visuals, like their predecessors, have since become an inseparable companion to Tahiti 80’s music. Many musical fashions and flavors of the month have come and gone, but twenty years after its release, Wfts still sounds fresh and relevant. And always forward-looking, Tahiti 80 is currently wrapping up the recording of their eighth album, to be released in early 2022.

After a relative rest for the two Liège heads, it is time to get back to business. And this business requires four hands to play, very fastly, and two ears, to be listened to very loudly.

Trapped in a frantic chase on a Belgian highway, finally on a slope, this time, we are missing the brakes... and avoiding the famous ruts is imperative for survival.

So here we are, grazing the slide in a shower of magnificent sparks, while being hit by these ten punchy pieces releasing a crazy energy.

Even if the forays towards EBM become more and more pop (if we can use that word here), Punk becomes always more synthetic, Kraut is percussive and martial, but with Prince Harry, it's a long time that the Indus has been moving very fast: at 140bpm on the emergency lane. “A Long Way Down” is the fourth LP from the Belgian duo to find asylum on the Parisian label. After 5 years of discretion - almost absence - this curious pink album propels us to the unthinkable frontiers of electronic punk, lo-fi EBM and garage new-beat.

There are many Ninas – so many iterations and incarnations; so many images, moments, voices and songs; so many faces with mouth ripped open, an array of faces that now spans five decades. The same is true in the video for her new single "16 Tons." Nina Hagen is a legend – "the Godmother of punk rock," activist, fictional character, phenomenal performer, Jesus disciple, extraterrestrial emissary and Brecht connoisseur. Nina is the beginning and the end. She breaks down walls and begins again, keeps on and never stands still. Nina is many, and yet there can only be one of her. The woman who fell to Earth cannot be replicated.

Nina Hagen, the most beautiful, and most strident, hell-raiser to toe the line between punk and pop, East and West and outta space that Germany has ever produced is finally back. On 09.12.2002 her new album UNITY will be released on Grönland Records. It is her first album since VOLKSBEAT in 2011. The time was more than ripe.

The 12 songs on UNITY take us on a wild journey through a densely woven musical jungle full of chirruping, buzzing and chittering. Country twang sung over spacey synth grooves and rock pop playing over dub and sexy slow funk. Some songs tell of biblical miracles, others are feisty political tirades, and then there are covers: a country classic, a Sheryl Crow hit and even a Bob Dylan song with German lyrics ("Die Antwort heißt ganz allein der Wind") – really something that only a larger-than-life songstress can dare to do. UNITY plays with a multifaceted mélange of textures, samples and everyday sounds. Amidst this rich foliage of sounds and themes there is, of course, that voice; in the wink of an eye it transitions from operatic to demonic, hitting insane high notes then plummeting to awe-inspiring deep bellows, as if she is trying to interfuse the sexes. Nina Hagen screams and hisses, belts out lyrics and performs recitatives, rasps and reverberates in electronic distortions. She launches into musical dialogues and soliloquys. It is as if her voice is echoing into our time from another world.

In short, UNITY is a piercing, warm-hearted and varied Nina Hagen spectacle. She is as prolific at 67 as she has ever been.

After the worldwide success of their first album Puzzle (1999), which sold over 200,000 copies and went gold in Japan, Xavier Boyer (vocals, guitars), Pedro Resende (bass), Médéric Gontier (guitars) & Sylvain Marchand (drums) reunited with producer Andy Chase to record the follow-up, Wallpaper for the Soul, in New York City. Starting in November 2001 at Stratosphere Sound, the prolific sessions gave birth to twenty tracks, twelve of which appeared on the original tracklist. The eight outtakes were compiled on the mini albums A Piece of Sunshine (2003) & Extra Pieces of Sunshine (2004). This new vinyl edition will be the first time all these songs appear together. Almost 20 years on, Wfts is a tour de force of contemporary songwriting with obvious nods to the past somehow revisited in a timeless fashion. Tahiti 80’s second effort can also be seen as an alternative and more sophisticated snapshot of an era often associated with the rebirth of rock (The White Stripes, The Strokes…). This set of songs also established them as stalwarts of the Post French Touch cannon, showcasing both their ability to write catchy songs and their knack for mélanges & experimentation. 1,000 Times or The Train are unique examples of blue-eyed soul augmented with French flair (« Prefab Sprout as produced by Thomas Bangalter » suggested Uncut which listed Wfts in their Top Ten’s albums of 2003). Listen to Don’t Look Below today, and ask yourself who was mixing Destiny’s Child with My Bloody Valentine in 2001? Delicate numbers like Open Book or live favorite Better Days Will Come both demonstrate T80’s songwriting skills and their innate sense of melancholia. Listening back to Wfts today, one cannot help but think of it as an album recorded in a state-of-the-art fashion. All four members would typically perform together in the same room. Basic takes were printed on a 24-track analog tape machine and then bounced onto a computer for editing. A fine example of this method is the title track itself. Originally written on acoustic guitar, Wallpaper … is the result of three eight minutes synthesizer jams pieced together. The Frenchmen were keen to try out multitude of ideas and had developed a taste for experimentation. The sessions also coincide with a rich outburst of creativity from a band on top of their game after several months of touring around the world. Another typical Wfts characteristic is Richard Hewson’s orchestration. Veteran string arranger, famous for arranging The Beatles’ The Long And Winding Road or writing RAH Band’s ‘80s classic Clouds Across The Moon Hewson gave the songs a sweeping orchestral touch. Strings, Horns & woodwinds were all performed at the now defunct Olympic Studios in London. Urban Soul Orchestra, a 24-piece ensemble who played on Oasis’ or Spice Girls’ hits can be heard on five songs: the opening trilogy Wallpaper…, 1,000 Times and The Other Side, then on the Northern Soul revival Soul Deep and lastly on the album’s closer Memories Of The Past. Rouen’s most famous four-piece, now relocated in a house on France’s North West Coast, in the quiet seaside town of Étretat, added more bells & whistles and resumed production on the songs. With one last transatlantic leap during the summer of 2002, the boys flew to Portland, Oregon to attend the mixing sessions held by sound wizard Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, The Dandy Warhols…). Suggested by Sub Pop’s craftsman Eric Matthews, also a guest on trumpet and keyboards, Lash would later become a major collaborator on Tahiti 80’s subsequent albums. In the meantime, Laurent Fétis, the designer behind Puzzle’s iconic artwork, had started working with artist Elisabeth Arkhipoff on a set of nostalgic photographs transfigured with a soft air-bush technique. Those visuals, like their predecessors, have since become an inseparable companion to Tahiti 80’s music. Many musical fashions and flavors of the month have come and gone, but twenty years after its release, Wfts still sounds fresh and relevant. And always forward-looking, Tahiti 80 is currently wrapping up the recording of their eighth album, to be released in early 2022.

Chilly Gonzales releases his new album 'French Kiss' on September 15 through his own label Gentle Threat - the first album by Chilly Gonzales to be written and performed in the language of Molière and Bangalter.

Chilly Gonzales is as well known for his intimate approach to the piano through his Solo Piano album trilogy as he is for his undeniable talents as a performer, exuding his showman energy in the philharmonic halls of Europe. He has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Feist, Drake, Jarvis Cocker and Daft Punk, and the anthemic power of his track Smothered Mate (from Ivory Tower) became the soundtrack to the French national soccer team's 2018 World Cup victory.

Since then, the unpredictable pianist has grown closer and closer to France, finally returning to Paris to live in the heart of the Ile Saint-Louis, from where he watched the inauguration of Notre-Dame with a tear in his eye and a joint on his lips. After several years of intense preparation, which consisted of feeding exclusively on Camembert and French literature, and while waiting to be elected to the famous Académie Française, he is now releasing the album 'French Kiss' on September 15.

This record invites you on an extraordinary journey, in the form of a spatio-temporal and transgenerational sound collage, into the parallel and singular universe of one of the major counter-culture movements of the 1960s fantastic realism. A cross between thematic compilation and sound creation, it offers a selection of rarities and nuggets with psychedelic and esoteric tonesby groups from the late 60's - early 70's French psychedelic scene, such as Haira, Guy Skornnik and Martin Circus, as well as previously unreleased tracks by major current and emerging bands such as The Limiñanas, Zombie Zombie featuring Pacôme Thiellement, The Penelopes or Terrains vagues, Rubin et le paradoxe featuring Brigitte Fontaine, Tuxedomoon or Exotourisme (Perez and Dominique Gonzalez Foerster). These tracks were created especially for the occasion. All mixed and interspersed with audio archives by Jacques Bergier, Louis Pauwels or Eugène Canseliet and sounds from installations designed by visual artists (Veronique Belland, Alexis Chapelain). At once cutting-edge and accessible to the uninitiated, between fantasy and science fiction, esotericism and occultism, popular culture and contemporary art, avant-garde and pop music, this disc offers a poetic ode to the Strange, to curiosity, to the capacity for wonder and the desire for knowledge, with a view to re-enchanting reality.Conceived by Jean-François Sanz (author, director and curator) and Hermione Volt (visual artist), in collaboration with Laurent Paulré (founder of the Contours label and producer at Radio France), and with the complicity of Céline Du Chéné (author and journalist), this album, an atypical sound object, is the musical extension of the eponymous group exhibition UN AUTRE MONDE ///DANS NOTRE MONDE, which opened at Galerie du Jour in Paris.

Airdrawndagger is an album by Sasha, released in 2023. Airdrawndagger includes a.o. the following tracks: “Wavy Gravy”, “Mr Tiddles”, “Cloud Cuckoo”, “Requiem” and more. The album is a Coloured Vinyl, High Quality, Gatefold Sleeve pop 3-LP.

With "1989" (Taylor's Version), Taylor Swift is releasing the fourth new recording of her first six studio albums in October. With this longplayer, the superstar completed her transformation from a country musician to one of pop music's biggest phenomena. This highly anticipated album includes the Swift classics "Blank Space", "Style" and "Bad Blood".

As with previous re-recordings "Fearless", "Red" and "Speak Now", fans are already looking forward to the five unreleased "Vault Tracks". These are called "Is It Over Now?", "Now That We Don't Talk", "Say Don't Go", "Suburban Legends" and "Slut!" and even a bonus track.

Of the "1989" album, the star said, "To be perfectly honest, it's my favourite new recording I've ever done because the five "From The Vault" tracks are insanely great. I can't believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!"

The album "1989" contains 21 songs, including five previously unreleased songs (From The Vault) and is available as a beautiful tangerine yellow vinyl.

2LP black, 180g, printed jackets w/ printed inner sleeves,
40 page booklet,
folded 24”x 36” poster,
in a slipcase