FME announces the venue showcase lineups for the 2025 edition.
Tag: Marseille France
New Video: Marseille’s Joe La Truite Shares Bruising “Octogone 8000”
Marseille-based metal outfit Joe La Truite — currently founding members Julien Liphard (Guitars/Vocals) and Charles Roussel (Bass/Vocals), along with Martin Denquin (drums) — originally started as a bit of fun back in 2017, releasing their debut EP that year River Metal, which quickly established their sound, a mind-melting blend of punk, metal and psych rock paired with tongue-in-cheek storytelling.
The Marseille-based outfit followed up with their sophomore EP, 2019’s Just A Little Thing Smooth and Wet. Shortly after that, the band’s founding duo met their current drummer, Denquin, with whom they felt an immediate and undeniable simpatico.
As a trio, the band wrote and recorded their full-length debut 2020’s Trapped In The Cosmos, which received critical applause locally and helped the band build up a following in and around the Marseille live music scene.
Last year, the band signed to Australia’s Blue Tongue Management, who helped the band undertake an introductory campaign to international media and music industry folks, which resulted in album material picking up rotation on multiple syndicated metal programs across the globe.
Building upon a growing profile in the international metal scene, the French trio’s sophomore album Ultimate Ninja Storm 2: Full Zguen was released last Friday through Full Zguen Records. Recorded at Southern France’s dBd Studio, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2: Full Zguen is a concept album based on the characters that inhabit video games. So what’s zguen? The band refers to this at the wild energy of their live performances, which always lead to fans and audiences headbanging until their they nearly broke their necks. The band likens it to controlled chaos.
Sonically, the album sees the band continuing to effortlessly weave elements of metal, punk and psych while showcasing adept musicianship. But unlike their previously released material, there’s a bit of hip-hop thrown in, too.
“Octogone 8000,” Ultimate Ninja Storm 2: Full Zguen‘s third and latest single is a bruising mosh pit ripper that shifts between math rock, heavy metal and trash metal with bombastic aplomb and a ton of sweat-fueled mischief. The song and the accompanying video hurls listeners and viewers into a surreal kaleidoscopic, Mortal Kombat-like arena, where two outlandish characters — Little Ninja Zombie Cyborg and disco-warrior-turned-nightclub-owner Cosmozouk clash in a seemingly never-ending battle of wills.
New Audio: Marseille’s Social Dance Shares High-Energy Bop “Meilleur”
Rising Marseille-based electro pop trio Social Dance — Faustine, Thomas and Ange — are best friends and former roommates, who started the project back in 2020. The trio craft uninhibited and absurd pop inspired by their common experiences and complementary music tastes.
“Parler” off the trio’s debut EP 2022’s Rumeurs was featured in the Netflix series Emily In Paris. And as a result of Emily in Paris‘ popularity, the trio wound up supporting the EP with touring across Europe and Canada last year, playing over 70 shows, including sets at Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges and Rock en Seine.
Building upon a growing profile across the Francophone world, the Marseille-based trio’s full-length debut Volte-Face. The album further establishes their take on infectious, feel good pop but while pairing funky grooves with French touch and others.
Volte-Face will feature “Sometimes,” a feel good slice of dance punk anchored in a euphoria-inducing, dance floor friendly groove paired with squiggling bursts of Nile Rodgers-like guitar, punchy, mathematically precise drum machine, glistening synths and dueling bilingual boy-girl vocals. The result is a song that seemingly channels LCD Soundsystem, JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine and others — while being remarkably mischievous.
Anchored around angular and squiggling bursts of guitar, skittering beats punchily delivered vocals and incredibly catchy, razor sharp hooks, “Meilleur” the album’s second and latest single sounds as though it were subtly nodding to Freedom of Choice-era DEVO, Psymon Spine and Talking Heads while continuing a remarkable run of infectious, euphoria-inducing, high-energy bops.
New Video: Marseille’s Social Dance Shares Upbeat and Funky “Sometimes”
Formed back in 2020, Marseille, France-based electro pop trio Social Dance — Faustine, Thomas and Ange — are best friends and former roommates, who craft uninhibited and absurd pop inspired by their common experiences and complementary music tastes.
Their debut EP 2022’s Rumeurs featured material that was featured in the Netflix series Emily In Paris. As result of their music appearing in the hit Netflix series, the Marseille-based trio toured across Europe and Canada last year, playing over 70 shows.
The trio’s latest single “Sometimes” is their first single of 2024 — and the first bit of new material since their debut EP. “Sometimes” is a feel good slice of dance punk rooted in a euphoric, dance floor friendly groove featuring squiggling bursts of Nile Rodgers-like guitar, punchy, mathematically precise drum machine, angular bass lines paired with glistening synths serving as a sleek and supple bed for dueling bilingual boy and girl vocals that seems to channel LCD Soundsystem, JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine and others — while being remarkably mischievous.
The Wes Anderson-like accompanying video for “Sometimes” is a behind-the-scene look at the filming of the video for “Sometimes,” that begins with the production company ironing and preparing outfits for the trio, styling hair and makeup before they hit the set. During the shooting, we follow the boldly colored outfit trio rocking out and goofing along to the song. The video manages to capture the mischievous air of the trio and of the song — and in a way that’s adorable.
Bertrand Dossa is an emerging Marseille, France-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known as CLOUDNiNE. Since he was a teenager, the French singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer has played in countless jazz bands across his native France, the UK and the US as a pianist — but as an adult, CLOUDNiNE split his time between music and a career in the science and medical fields, which brought him to stints residing in Birmingham, UK and Chapel Hill, NC for a few years.
Interestingly, while splitting his time between a legitimate day job, the Marseille-based artist wrote his own original material but never had the chance to release it — but as he got into his 30s, he recognized that now was the right time to step into the limelight as a solo artist with his self-titled, solo, full-length debut. Recorded, produced and written by the emerging French artist in his Marseille-based home studio, the album touches upon falling in and out of love, lust, the complexities of adult life and adult responsibilities and more.
The album’s latest single “I Know” is a slow-burning and sultry pop song. Centered around layers of shimmering synth arpeggios and expressive bursts of guitar, as well as stuttering beats, an infectious, radio friendly hook and CLOUDNiNE’s plaintive vocals, the song finds the emerging French artist seamlessly Quiet Storm-era R&B and contemporary pop with a coolly swaggering, self-assuredness. But at its core, the song is an achingly sad song about a relationship that’s run its course — and both parties have come to the sad realization that they’ll soon be going their own separate ways. And although it isn’t what they ideally would want, it just has to be that way.
New Audio: Marseille France’s KVARK Releases a Muscular and Cinematic New Single
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0UAgNu4Twk&w=560&h=315%5D
Tracing their origins through the formation and split up of several different bands throughout the Marseille region of France, including Sarcopt, Malthiüs, Catacomb, Ibogaïne, La Brokante, From blond, Not a Br(a)in, Arthosis and others, the Marseille-based metal act KVARK is an ongoing collaboration between two old friends that officially started back in 2017. Since their formation, the French duo have been working on their most recently released five song EP — and with that EP’s latest single “Here Comes Trouble,” The French duo specialize in a muscular yet cinematic take on instrumental metal, reminiscent of Irata and Ministry, but with an expansive prog rock tendencies.
Employing the use of CGI graphics, the recently released video is a mind-bending and appropriately lysergic visual that would likely inspire you to want to take hallucinogens and vibe out.
New Video: Introducing Emerging French Rapper ACHIM
ACHIM is an emerging French emceee, who hails from Marseille, France’s La Castellane neighborhood. Initially built as a council estate in the 1960s for French refugees of the Algerian War, the neighborhood is now home to roughly 7,000 residents, who are mostly second-generation French citizens. The neighborhood is plagued by high unemployment, drug trafficking, prostitution and arms smuggling. Naturally, the emerging artist’s work draws from life in La Castellane — and is a portrait of life in a hardscrabble neighborhood, struggling to survive. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, Marseille is known for being especially corrupt and brutal to its poor.)
“Mets dans l’assiette,” ACHIM’s debut single is some twitter and woofer rattling trap, centered around an eerie looped sample of a twinkling piano figure, stuttering beats and an enormous hook, paired with the emerging French rapper’s effortlessly self-assured flow. Frankly, this cat may have a big future ahead of him. From what I understand, the song is actually pretty deep. Thematically the song focuses on the paradoxes of our world.
Co-directed by the emerging artist and his friend Alexandre Lhote, the recently released video references Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, Botticelli’s map of hell and several other paintings, while being centered around contradictions and paradoxes. Sometimes ACHIM is alone, sometimes he’s with his crew — and the result is trippy.
New Video: French 79’s Intimate and Contemplative Visual for “Code Zero”
Last month, I wrote about Simon Henner, a Marseille, France-based electro pop producer and artist, best known for his solo recording project French 79. And with the release of his first two releases — his debut EP Angel and his full-length debut Olympic — Henner quickly and boldly emerged into the French and international electro pop scenes.
Henner’s latest French 79 album Joshua is slated for a Friday release through Alter K Records, and the album reportedly finds Henner drawing from his past — in particular, his love of Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Soft Machine, the soundtracks of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner and Jacques Cousteau. Each of Joshua‘s songs are meant to evoke a lived-in moment, relationship or experience during Henner’s childhood.
Now, as you may recall, album single “By Your Side” was centered around thumping beats, shimmering synth arpeggios and Ocean Springs, MS-born, Paris-based vocalist Sarah Rebecca‘s plaintive vocals to create a nostalgia-inducing track that recalls — to my ears, at least — From Here To Eternity . . . and Back-era Giorgio Moroder, and the Stranger Things soundtrack. And while being remarkably dance floor friendly, the track is a sweet declaration of loyalty that feels delightfully old-school.
“Code Zero,” Joshua’s latest single is lush, instrumental track featuring twinkling Wurlitzer, shimmering synth arpeggios, thumping beats and a motorik groove. And while subtly recalling Tour de France-era Kraftwerk, Daft Punk and the aforementioned Giorgio Moroder, “Code Zero” the track possesses an intimate quality, as it feels like a contented sigh in a rare moment of peace. In press notes, Henner explains that the track, which also references his passion for sailing is “about how I find a path, how I use my music compass to move forward.”
Directed by Vincent Desrousseaux, the recently released video is an intimate look at Henner’s creative process, as he writes the song in a gorgeous, sun-dappled apartment with with vintage gear — and it includes a brief moment in which Henner pauses to watch the 1983 motion picture War Games on his laptop.
New Video: French 79’s 80s Nostalgia-Tinged Visual for Shimmering Synth-Driven “By Your Side”
Simon Henner is a Marseille, France-based electro pop producer and artist, best known for his solo recording project French 79. With the release of his debut EP Angel and his full-length debut Olympic, Henner quickly and boldly emerged into the French and international electro pop scenes.
Building upon a rapidly rising profile, Henner’s soon-to-be released album Joshua, which is slated for a November 8, 2019 release through Alter K Records, reportedly finds the French electro pop producer and artist drawing from his past — in particular Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Soft Machine, the soundtracks of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner and Jacques Cousteau. Each of Joshua’s songs are meant to evoke a lived-in moment, relationship or experience during Henner’s childhood.
Interestingly, the album’s latest single, “By Your Side,” is centered around thumping beats, shimmering synth arpeggios and Ocean Springs, MS-born, Paris-based vocalist Sarah Rebecca’s plaintive vocals to create a nostalgia-inducing track that sounds indebted to From Here To Eternity . . . and Back-era Giorgio Moroder, and the Stranger Things soundtrack. And while being remarkably dance floor friendly, the track is a sweet declaration of loyalty that feels delightfully old-school.
Directed by Le Couple, the recently released video for “By Your Side” follows the previous video for “Hold On,” as it nods to Simon Henner’s childhood love of skateboarding, while being imbued with the nostalgia of places you once knew with someone else. “The video sticks to the story of the album, the notion of a trajectory in a life: where we c one from and where we go despite hardships,” Henner explains in press notes
Live Footage: Introducing the Pioneering, Post-Apocalyptic-like Sounds of Wildly Inventive, Congolese Collective KOKOKO!
Led by Makara Bianco and featuring production from prolific French producer débruit, KOKOKO! is a pioneering Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo-based DIY electronic collective inspired by a growing spirit of protest and unrest among Kinshasa’s young people, who have begun to either openly question centuries-old norms and taboos or openly denounce a society that they perceived as paralyzed by fear. In fact, the collective’s name literally means KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! with the collective viewing themselves as the sound of a new generation boldly, loudly and defiantly banging on the doors and walls, and yelling “OUR TIME IS NOW!” The members of the collective operate in a wildly inventive DIY fashion, creating self-designed and self-made instruments from recycled junk and claptrap and building a recording studio out of old mattresses, found wood and a ping pong table. Fueled by the underlying notion that desperate survival fuels creativity, the collective’s sound as you’ll hear on “Tokoliana,” the title track of their recently released Tokoliana EP possesses an immediacy and urgency unlike anything I’ve heard in many years. And more important it’s a swaggering, exuberant, wildly forward-thinking sound that hints at psychedelia, disco, post-punk, hip-hop, reggae, retro-futuristic funk and traditional regional music but from a sweaty, post-apocalyptic future in which the ghetto and the club are one in the same.
Recently La Blogotheque invited the Congolese band to perform “Tokoliana” at Le Chateau Borely in Marseille, France — and it’s an incredible performance in one of the oddest settings I’ve seen in some time.
We all know the well-worn cliches of how “music is the universal language” and that “music transcends all borders” because we’ve heard them countless times in our lives — and yet, there’s a profound truth […]
We all know the well-worn cliches of how “music is the universal language” and that “music transcends all borders” because we’ve heard them countless times in our lives – and yet, there’s a profound truth […]