As you have probably noticed...

... this blog has pretty much died. While I might make the occasional update, I'd just stick it in your RSS reader and not bother checking back too often.

That said, I am very active on my RedState Diary, so if you'd like to keep reading my writing, please do check in there!

French Pop Candies

Image obtained from Wikipedia, and released under the GNU Creative Commons license.

Yeah, yeah, I know; two music posts in a row? But, Sean! I thought this was supposed to be a review site for everything!

Well, I've been working on that. Hopefully a few reviews down the pipeline you'll be getting a comprehensive review of an excellent PS2 game, Persona 4. Why not now, you might ask? Well, I haven't finished it yet, and I've decided to make it my policy not to review games, books, movies, and albums that I haven't finished 100% for the sake of credibility.

So, in the meantime, I decided to put up a review of an album that I have, in fact finished: the quirky, weird, and pretty awesome French Pop Candies. It's worth noting here that this isn't a release by one group (there is, to my knowledge, not a band called French Pop Candies currently in existence); Candies is a sampling of music by various French artists.

Actually, I wouldn't have even taken a second glance at this album if it wasn't for the fact that Busy P, an excellent electro house DJ and owner of the record label (Ed Banger) that Justice belongs to, is featured on it. (Justice is too, for that matter, but I didn't even notice until I got to their song and thought, "Hmm. This sounds an awful lot like Justice." Bonus!) That song, Pedrophilia, is just as catchy as the preview made it sound, and, in my view, that and Justice's entry, a remix of ZZT's Lower State of Consciousness, make the purchase worth it alone.

The album isn't all electro house, though. It covers a wide swath of musical genres, if mostly because so many of the songs are... well, frankly, genre-blurring. The songs range from datA's Rapture, a catchy synth-pop number that hearkens back to the eighties, to Miniscule Hey's bizarre accoustic piece, Watch out! The Sillycats!, which is more like children's poetry set to music than anything (I'd link the Youtube video if there was one; you can stream it on their Myspace page), to Yelle's Les Femmes, a sexy, almost jazzy... uh, song. I'm not really even sure how to classify it, except to say that it's one of several of the CD's songs that I never would've found otherwise, but can't stop listening to now.

Unfortunately, the "why can't I stop listening to this" label doesn't apply to every song on the album. Naive New Beaters' Live Good is just sort of annoying (though the music video is awesome), as is Adam Kesher's Local Girl, even if, in the case of the latter, it's mostly due to the vocals. While those are the only two songs that really bother me, there are others that are just plain mediocre.

That said, I still think that French Pop Candies is an excellent sampling of modern French music. Even if you don't like some (or most) of it, I can guarantee that there's still something for everyone.

The Lowdown
8/10. A few disappointments don't stop this compilation from being a worthwhile investment for just about anyone.

• Addendum I: Yelle rocks.
• Addendum II: My opinion of Live Good has gone from "annoying and stupid" to "adorably rediculous," and now that I can appreciate the music a bit more I'm starting to warm up to it.
• Addendum III: Down Down Down by the Hushpuppies is pretty excellent. And it's not electro! It's rock, but kinda like a cross between Nirvana and Tommy James and the Shondells.
  

A Cross the Universe

Gaspard and Xavier, the guys themselves. Image taken from kweb.be without permission. If I am violating any copyright laws in the United States or France by hosting this image on my blog, which I don't get paid for, please let me know and I'll take it down posthaste.

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Justice. This album in particular is only their second, but I've listened to their first numerous times and can assure all of my readers (how many of you are left, anyway?) that it is filled with hard rock/electro house goodness.

If you're a fan too, then I guess you should know that this album doesn't really have any new releases; just remixes of songs they've already put out (and of songs that other groups have done, as well). What makes up for that is that A Cross the Universe is live: that's right; everything they're doing on this CD is all done with their absurd equipment set. If anybody had any doubts about Justice's ability to pull off a live show, put them to rest now because this show rocks.

Let me start off by saying that if anybody was instantly turned off when they saw the above techno labels, I think you'll be pleasantly suprised if you decide to give either this album or their debut a listen. It's hard to describe exactly what Justice sounds like in words. They're definitely a techno group, but they're not annoying, repetitive, or overly synthy. The closest I can come to their sound is some sort of odd cross between metal, funk, and house. Very energetic, explosive, and grating (in a good way, somehow), and probably like nothing most of my readers have ever heard before.

That said, A Cross the Universe makes all their old stuff seem tame in comparison. This is Justice unleashed, mashing together tracks and then ripping them to pieces with some sort of musical chainsaw. Your speakers (and eardrums) will be given the workout of a lifetime, but it's all so worth it just to hear what new element they're going to throw into the mix next.

What's particularly great about this recording is that, being live, there's an audience, and Justice is excellent at working the crowd. The entire first track, "Intro," is a 38-second recording of the audience cheering when (presumably) Gaspard and Xavier step on-stage, followed by a remix of "Genesis," my personal favorite song of theirs. Throughout the song, the noise of the crowd gradually fades away, until a sample of "Phantom," a crowd favorite, is subtly slipped in midway through, and suddenly the audience goes nuts again. There are too many moments like this to count throughout the album as the crowd recognizes each new song, and Justice is good enough at weaving them all together that I nearly caught myself cheering a few times.

Somehow, they've even managed to turn songs I didn't like at all into more-than-danceable mixes. "TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY," a collaboration with annoying label-mate Uffie, used to be the song I always skipped over when I was still obsessively listening to Justice's first outing. The remix on this CD, though, is a hard-driving, metal-style mix that makes even Uffie's wanna-be rapper lyrics bearable.

What it boils down to is this: if you're a fan of Justice, you'll love A Cross the Universe. If you're not a fan of Justice, start off with † and then give A Cross the Universe a try if you liked it. (If your musical tastes are anything like mine, though, I'm assuming you'll like it a lot.)

The Rundown

I can't actually think of categories for this, so I'm just gonna give it a blanket 10/10. Justice is an awesome group that needs more recognition, and hopefully you guys can give it to them.