.Arcade Fire : Funeral (Merge records).
An invitation to a funeral as a debut. The beginning is the end. The ceremony will be held from Montreal (four neighborhoods visit and 6 tracks to follow) straight to your heart. Of course, everybody is talking about it, coming to mourn and pay tribute to the Arcade Fire, their sacred spirit. In the mythical magic of the album, one mystery remains: no corpse was found, only a pile of shrouds imprinted with some Black Pop Emperor's names: Interpol, Earlimart, Radiohead were the only ones in many that could be transcribed. But rejoice, the renegate spirit is still shining bright, enlightened, flying on strings, hanging from beats: the pre-funeral album will be released in July. Smile-shaped clouds of tears. This is just a beginning.

 

 

.Free Verse : Generator (Buttermilk Records).
Finally we got the new Free Verse! Their long-awaited INTIMIDATING debut finally made it to our record collection, Yes! We have been total fan of this Seattle-based trio for years now, and they keep on impressing us. On Generator, Free Verse serve us nine punk-metal, brand new tracks (out of ten, since the excellent Mierde was already on the demo they had in 2000, but this one is a bit slower, a bit more clear and complex) with intricated structures, constructed/deconstructed (yeah, I am having a postpostmodern musical phase) melodies and whirlwind-like, intertwining vocals, goose-bump producing beaks. This master-piece of the political and personal was produced by Jack Endino and is total necessity for the 7 Year Bitch fans....and every music lovers with good taste ;)

 

 

.Kawaï : If it Shines, We Have It (Shelflife).
Kawaï, which means 'cute' in Japanese, actually describe perfectly well the music of this band. This Norwegian duo elaborated thirteen (XIII) tracks in the best pop tradition and would totally fit in the Elefant Records catalogue. Mixing vocals and intruments (toy keyboards, organs), they created nice and fresh, springy tracks (although the album was in fact released in November 2004). This recipe might have come out of their kitchen lab, as suggest the inspiation of their artwork.

 

.AS Dragon : Va Chercher La Police (Tricatel).
Second album for this band, originally started to play support on a Michel Houellebecq tour (he is a french writer). Their  relationship to literature continues since they are now collaborating with Virginie Despentes, sulphurus and furious writer, also scriptwriter of the much debated film (and novel) Baise-Moi. But although these collaborations as well as the title of the album could make the listener expect protest texts, the tone of the album is quite conventional and agreed. I could even picture a young France Gall (a French pop singer, whose golden age was in the yeye years....understand: in the 60s) singing" Comme Je Suis" for Natascha -whose voice actually remind me of Edith Fambuena of Les Valentins. To sum it up: Va Chercher La Police is a pleasing, typically parisian, well-behaved pop, especially for a Natascha who is known for playing topless!