French Music Seen From Abroad

September 2009

Paris 

14/09/2009 - 

The holidays may be over, but French dance music is enjoying an Indian summer abroad, especially in the U.S. where electro "made in France" is riding high in the charts. David Guetta and Phoenix have both scored massive global hits while their electro compatriots Air are about to release an eagerly-awaited new album.

Boosted by the chart success of the singles When Love Takes Over (featuring Kelly Rowland) and Sexy Bitch (featuring Akon), David Guetta's new album One Love has proved to be the French star's biggest international hit to date. One Love, released on Virgin at the end of August, entered the charts compiled by leading American music magazine Billboard at number 70 and currently ranks as the second best-selling album in Europe. A critic from The Los Angeles Times (24/8) noted that "Though he's logged plenty of time on European pop charts over the last few years, David Guetta hasn't really established an American fan base beyond the confines of the club." But things have certainly changed now! Guetta has enjoyed a huge media buzz in the States - a rare feat for a French artist - with Time Out Chicago (24/8) proclaiming him "Guetta superstar", The Washington Post (24/8) describing his new album as "one big party" and USA Today (17/8) proclaiming that the French DJ and producer is now "in heavy rotation with big stars!"

While some may dismiss the impressive guest list on One Love (including the likes of Chris Willis, Will I Am, Akon, Kelly Rowland, Ne-Yo and Kid Cudi) as a record company idea, Guetta insists the process was entirely natural. "Making this record with so many talented artists was such an amazing experience," the French star enthused to Examiner.com (26/8), "and the end result is an album infused with all the best flavors of contemporary pop music that will appeal to such a broad audience both on and off the dancefloor."

Meanwhile, Guetta's "dance-rock" compatriots Phoenix have been enjoying an excellent year State-side. USA Today (24/8) reported that the French foursome's career has been taking flight across the Atlantic with sales of the band's latest album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (released on V2 in May of this year) "having sold more than 100,000 copies with weekly sales increasing." After enjoying fifteen weeks in Billboard's Top 100, Phoenix look set to continue their unstoppable rise. USA Today notes that "A Saturday Night Live performance in April, plus great word of mouth from a June show at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, has stoked interest in the group's return to the States in September. Those dozen dates start with an appearance September 13 at the Monolith Festival in Morrison, Colorado." A critic from The Los Angeles Times (28/8) has already declared that Phoenix's album "deserves a Grammy" and Newsday (18/8) also predicts that the French foursome could be in with a chance at this year's "Grammy race."

Guetta and Phoenix owe at least some of their State-side success to the solid reputation established by their electro predecessors, most notably the famous "French Touch" movement spearheaded by Daft Punk and Air. Interestingly enough, Versailles electro duo Air are about to make a comeback on the recording front with a new album entitled Love 2. The music blog Spinner.com (2/9) describes the making of the latter as "another chapter" in the band's history. "Even if you can't explain tangible details, great albums have a way of telling their own stories. Those stories become chapters in a band's collected history. So when Air set out to record their latest album, they wanted to turn the page. To show that, the French electro duo called the album 'Love 2,' which might be confusing since there is no 'Love 1.' The duo, formed in 1995 by Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, "built a brand new studio in Paris for the occasion, Atlas Studio, and for the first time they produced the entire album themselves." In short, Love 2 is due out on 6 October and fans can expect another massive world tour from Dunckel & Godin soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, French DJ and producer Shonky has been making waves across the Channel in the UK. The website Resident Advisor (3/9) announced that "London's CTRL crew will launch their monthly soiree later this month with a headlining performance from Shonky. The French DJ/producer will bring his reduced but bass-heavy tech-house stylings to South East London's Hidden venue on Saturday 19th September." Shonky, a Parisian native now based in Berlin, is also set to wow local clubbers in the German capital on 12 & 23 September and is due to appear at the "Klubnacht" at Berlin's trendy Berghain/Panorama Bar on 17 October.

Gilles  Rio

Translation : Julie  Street