Fair 2006

FRANCE – Something for everyone? An eclectic mix of pop, rock, hiphop, and strangeness. I think these artists have won a sort of competition for emerging talent. Most of this is good; several tracks are in English.

Fo’s picks: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8

1. 4:06 – cute uptempo piano waltz, breezy fem vocal, accordion & bass join in
2. 3:13 – indie/garage rock, loose & fun, no pretensions. Enjoyable fem vocals.
3. 4:48 – moody acoustic guitar & glum male vocal in an atmospheric swirl
4. 3:08 – upbeat but stripped-down rockabilly guitar and rough-edged male vocal
5. 3:14 – laid-back percolating pop, warm & pleasant, crooning male vox, nice!
6. 3:28 – smooth soul/hiphop, lazy sunny day vibe, nice flow, a bit retro
7. 4:23 – Ooooh! Honey-sweet hiphop, sparkly & infectious summertime feel
8. 3:53 – weird fun! growling spoken-word, big clomping acoustic bass, drums
9. 4:19 – English lyrics; power-chord rockin’ with atmospheric build-up & breaks
10. 2:47 – FCCs: very odd w/reptilian bassline, fem English vox, violin
11. 3:37 – unsion duo English vox + acoustic guitar, quirky melody & offbeat lyrics
12. 4:31 – hiphop with a somewhat spooky air, flute/organ samples, grows darker
13. 3:50 – r&b flow with semi-rapped English vox, spy movie meets 70s soul-jazz
14. 4:49 – Very strange: uh… If Seal and P-Funk got lost in the robot factory…
15. 3:55 – spoken word, dulcimer patterns & dark 80s synths, gets pretty weird…

[Fo] - 5/3/06