While still a student, Lodewijk Fluttert mixed at parties and produced a few sounds. In 2012 he released two EPs. The second featured the track “Vandaag”, with samples of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. This track went to No. 1 in several European countries, helping the DJ to become more professional. This was followed by a series of singles and live performances, notably featuring musicians alongside his turntables, with percussion, saxophones and violins. His music may be labeled electronic or house, but it also draws on soul, funk and gospel, as well as pop and rock. The saxophone often features in his compositions, and his vocals alternate between male and female voices. His second album, a little short like the first, is as fresh as it is uplifting, truly festive and a joy to listen to. It’s the perfect soundtrack for ending the evening with a dance, or leaving in the morning on a lighter note.
Behind this name lies the project of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Evan John Uschenko. Before locking himself away in a farm studio to record his first tracks, Uschenko accompanied bands such as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on stage. He made a name for himself with his eponymous debut album, released in 2022. The album was full of psychedelic folk, with references to the genre’s 70s stalwarts. For this new album, he enlists the talents of Belgian drummer Ille Van Dessel and leaves the hallucinatory lands of psychedelia for a rawer sound. The result is a personal cocktail of familiar ingredients. A rhythm that sounds like 80s cold wave, as if to recall the ghosts of Siousxie And The Banshees, the tension of the compositions that evokes the early albums of The Kills, Evan’s vocals that come to us from the depths of his torpor. And last but not least, a saturated rock guitar that, on the other hand, brings us closer to the blues. A rough and cash album that can be listened to over and over again.
Although separated at the start of 2021, the French duo continue to be present among the new releases. Not least thanks to their album “Random Access Memories”, released in a tenth-anniversary version and here in a drumless edition. There’s no need to introduce these artists, who have flooded our playlists with unstoppable grooves. But it’s fair to question the wisdom of removing the drums from tracks designed for the dancefloor. Indeed, listening to the first few bars may leave one sceptical, but as in the original version, the track ‘Giorgo By Moroder’ will make everyone agree. The removal of toms, bass drums and cymbals, which has the effect of reducing the bandwidth, brings to light details that may have gone unnoticed on the first versions. Tracks like ‘Instant Crush’ and ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’ take upon an unexpected sensitivity. We are pushed back and forth between the two versions, wondering: if a song is good, will it be good drumless? Daft Punk prove that it can.
This young woman from Besançon has had an atypical career, in the sense that she began learning the guitar as an adult. In return, she writes her own lyrics and quickly composes her own music to accompany them. Her eponymous debut album was released in 2016, when she was only 29. The style was acoustic, with the voice and lyrics taking center stage; for her subsequent albums, she would make more place for electronics, enabling her to assert a more personal sound. Each of her albums features a duet with a well-known figure: actor Fabrice Lucchini, Ours (Alain Souchon’s son), Iggy Pop and, for this opus, Alex Beaupain. Her timbre, half mutinous, half nonchalant, flows silkily over bitter-sweet pop melodies that range from the joy of simple things to the melancholy of everyday life. All in the service of lyrics that are little snapshots of life and love relationships that seem familiar to us. A sort of musical counterpart to Philippe Delerm’s La Première Gorgée de Bière.
If you think the best nuggets are the best hidden, then you can be sure that Robert Finley is a diamond shaped by years of practice. Native from Louisiana, he took up the guitar at the age of 11, and was a regular attendee of gospel bands. Music has been with him all his life, with varying degrees of success. So much so that he was a street artist when the Music Maker Relief Foundation came to his aid. Thanks to this support, and following a series of concert tours, he recorded his first album in 2016, at the age of 60. For his fourth album, he enlisted the services of some top-notch collaborators, including members of the Black Keys. His gravelly voice is capable of soaring high, and while it is still charged with the spirit of black American music, the instrumentation, by being tighter around the guitar-bass-drums trio, barely strays from the soul side of previous albums. But do not worry, it is all there: blues, funk, rock and, above all, a lively interpretation. If age means anything to Robert Finley, it is that he gets better with years.
