Souleance returned with a brand new EP for First Word Records back in November. Following the huge success of "La Beat Tape" in early 2013, the French duo have been busy in the studio preparing a 6-tracker aimed squarely at the dancefloor. "Brotha EP" has some seriously flavoursome numbers, "Mais Um" and "Tropicalidad" being the immediate favourites.
What a vibrant fusion of sounds, beats and collaborative efforts from all sorts of colourful corners of the world! "Pa Pa Pa" is an upcoming explosion of a single by Estonian BERT ON BEATS which features the brazen and foul-mouthed Funk carioca queen Deize Tigrona. You may remember this Rio de Janeiro based M.I.A. protégée from last year's hyper-energetic single "Prostituto" which you can listen to HERE. One of the remixes for "Pa Pa Pa" (out 17th Dec via Man Recordings) was committed by Milangeles, a self-defined Trash Dance Sound System from Pavia, Italy. Their very own "Samuel" is a fantastic dancefloor filler too for all the Latin kitsch and dancehall lovers out there. A dancehall Babel, a tropical-caribbean session and a feast of global beats!
Jolie Chérie, the Parisian electro super-trio are back with a sensational new single "One, Two, Three". I am honoured and privileged to be the first blogger to share it with you all. Etienne, Samir and Melina are going a bit darker and moodier this time around in comparison with their previous productions. "One, Two, Three" is an electrifying ode to French Touch sounds with sublime Kavinsky resemblances and Melina Duval's sexiest vocal performance to date. Instantly haunting with its sleek production and irresistible melody, "One, Two, Three" might actually be Jolie Chérie's finest single to date. Receiving such exhilarating tracks on December is such a thrill for busy-with-end-of-year-rankings music maniacs like myself. On this special occasion I also reached out to the band with a few questions. The results of this mini interview can be found just below. In the meantime, please enjoy this immediate synth-pop classic and spread the love.
SHREM: "First of all let me congratulate you on the arrival of your new single. “One, Two, Three” sounds like your most accomplished single to date and that comes from someone who considers himself a fully devoted Jolie Chérie connoisseur at this stage. It has a slightly darker mood, brings out some echoes of Kavinsky, another French dance scene hero whom you actually remixed in the past. Could you tell me a bit more about this release?"
Jolie Chérie: "This is a track that was quite different from what we've already done in the past, but then again every Jolie Chérie track is different. So this one was like the others, not the same :). We have had a lot of influences."
SHREM: "You’ve had the biggest exposure in the past with two excellent singles “Star” and “Insomnie” which were both promoted by Kitsuné on their compilations. With “Dj Wake Up” you moved to Opus Label. Can we expect more singles and perhaps a debut album under this Los Angeles based label? What you have in store for us in 2014?"
Jolie Chérie: "We are planning to release several tracks in 2014 as well as some remixes just like the one we just did for Daft Punk. We have a really important bunch of unreleased tracks that we can't wait to let our audience discover. Videos are also one of our objectives, more concerts, well all the band activities! And we want to do a lot in 2014."
SHREM: "How involved you guys are in the process of picking djs and producers to remix your own music? The selection of “Dj Wake Up” mixes was particularly impressive, I’m just curious about the process. Mauvais Cliché’s version was such an irresistible invitation to dance and how did you get to meet my homeland act, Warsaw based Lost Robots?"
Jolie Chérie: "Well it's all about meeting people. All the guys we worked with are some people we've actually met, or known through someone. We think it's important because the aim of remixes is to make a different version of the original track and for "One, Two, Three" we have several remixes to come in the forthcoming weeks."
SHREM: "What are your biggest musical inspirations, influences, obsessions? Any guilty pleasures?"
Jolie Chérie: "I think we will all agree to say that electronic and dance music are our main influence. But there are some differences, Melina is more into 80's new wave, Samir is a big fan of Italo Disco and late 90's House music while Etienne likes 90’s house, beatmaker things and also some cheesy stuff."
SHREM: "Will “Barcelona” finally get a European release? Come on guys, we’re way passed 100k views on Youtube and it’s such a class tune!"
Jolie Chérie: "Good question!"
SHREM: "A question for Melina, what female artists are among your favourites? Who are your singing idols?"
Jolie Chérie: "Debbie Harry!!! And Ida No, the Glass Candy singer for her live act energy."
SHREM: "You’ve got a rather impressive back catalogue of fantastic remixes submitted for the likes of Surkin, Kavinsky, Daft Punk or Black Strobe. What’s next? Any artists or songs you’re particularly itchy to spread some of that Jolie Chérie remixing magic over?"
Jolie Chérie: "Can't answer now but be sure 2014 will be full of remixes, always for the people we love. And also we love to receive some requests, so do not hesitate :)"
SHREM: "What was your track of the year in 2013 for each one of you?"
Jolie Chérie: "Good question! Etienne: Germans "Cruel", Melina: Hypnolove "Winter In The Sun", Samir: Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge "White Noise".
SHREM: "Final question guys. If you all had to separately name one artist you consider your own personal #1 legend in the whole history of French music who would that be?"
Jolie Chérie: "Melina: Sébastien Tellier, Etienne: Thomas Bangalter, Samir: Thomas Bangalter."
It was THEESatisfaction, Purity Ring, Pandr Eyez, Rosemary, Linkoban, B.C. Kingdom, Disclosure, Le1f, Roses Gabor and Jessie Ware last year. Most of them continued to impress in 2013 and had a very fruitful year of new music. Let's see if the batch of hottest newcomers of this year I'm presenting to you below, will manage to do the same trick in 2014. Here they are, top 10 most prolific, most interesting and most promising new acts that emerged this year according to SHREM'S CAROUSEL OF ÜBER NERDINESS, my first of many to come end-of-year countdowns.
