MICKEY 3D: La Trêve

Mickey 3D, a trio of young music talents from Montbrison, have a remarkable track record to date. Despite having played together for only three years, the group have released two acclaimed albums in just over a year and impressed French fans and critics with their precocious musical maturity.

Mickey 3D exploded at the forefront of the French music scene last year with an accomplished debut album entitled Mistigri torture. Mining a similar musical vein to Miossec (see the excellent Le goût du citron), Mistigri torture was originally released by Premier Disque, a small record label based in Stéphane, in January '99, but was quickly picked up on by Virgin who re-released it to wider audiences the following year. Before long music fans up and down the country were humming along to Mickey 3D's catchy chorus line, strummed out on a guitar played like an Arab lute: "La France a peur/ Tous les soirs à vingt heures/ La police vous parle (Aie confiance)/ Tous les soirs à vingt heures" ("Every night at eight/ France lies in the grip of fear/ Every night at eight / The police can be heard (don't be scared!)

Mickey 3D may appear to have catapulted to fame from nowhere, but the group's story actually goes back to 1989 when, under the name 3Dk, they exploded onto the local Montbrison music scene playing a Sonic Youth-inspired mix of brute melodies and guitar "noise". At that time Mickey, the only original member left in the current line-up, acted as the group's frontman, yelling vocals and thrashing guitar. 3Dk went on to release three albums, including the seminal Imminent Revolution Act over the next ten years (all of them self-financed). And the group, whose eclectic influences ranged from Nirvana to French chanson star Georges Brassens (!), soon built up a cult following of teen fans in Stéphane, Lyons and Paris. Towards the end of 3Dk's collective career, Mickey went on to launch a solo project under the name Mickey 3D but at the end of '97 he was joined by drummer Jojo. Then, in 2000, the duo expanded into a trio with the arrival of Najah on keyboards and accordion.

Mickey 3D are currently back in the music news with La trêve, an excellent second album which finds the group forging a distinctive, personal style. Fusing harsh realities (c.f. Plus rien, no future and the gloriously ironic Méfie-toi) with deft pop melodies (Jeudi Pop Pop), Mickey 3D move away from obvious Miossec and Louise Attaque influences (although both run quietly below the surface on several tracks). Influences aside, the things that make La Trêve really stand out from the pack of current releases are Mickey's razor-sharp vocals combined with superbly-crafted lyrics and the group's clever mix of acoustic/electric guitars and electronic sampling. This subtle mix is at its best on the first single release from the new album, Tu dis mais ne sais pas.

In short, La Trêve is a pick'n'mix album full of musical surprises. These range from a tribute to French resistance hero Jean Moulin, a nod to British music heroes The Cure and Portishead (Storiz) and Ma Grand-Mère, a touching ballad in praise of the extended family (featuring pizzicati from Arnaud Samuel of Louise Attaque fame). Looks like there's nothing the boys from Montbrison can't do!

Jean-Claude Demari

Mickey 3D La trêve (Virgin)

JIL CAPLAN: Toute crue 

Toute crue, Jil Caplan's fifth album to date (and the second after her famous "Alanski period") is a supremely tasteful mix of crystal chords, synthesisers and remarkable vocals.

But then that's hardly surprising - Jil Caplan is renowned for possessing one of the most amazing voices in the last 20 years of French rock history, a voice which can power from soft and silky to raw and raucous in the twinkling of an eye! And this exceptional voice is put to full use on Ms. Caplan's new album, entitled Toute crue (As Raw As It Comes).

Jil Caplan's new opus was recorded in collaboration with Jipé Nataf (currently working solo after the regretted demise of Les Innocents) who took care of writing music and lyrics as well as performing vocals, guitars and programming and Pascal Colomb (on bass and guitars). The album certainly starts off as it means to go on, opening with two incredibly powerful songs, La maison abandonnée (a dense yet ultra-light mix of melody, vocals and instrumentation) and Toute crue (a chaotic electro ballad of love and unbridled passion). Ms. Caplan's fifth album veers confidently from one musical style to another, in fact, segueing from Les Escaliers (all expressionist poetry and morbid piano chords) and raw sensuality (Arrête-moi de t’aimer) to all-out rock’n’roll on the raunchy Ces choses comptent pour moi.

The Jil Caplan story goes back two decades to 1980 when Valentine (the future Jil Caplan) met Jean-Philippe (the future Jipé) at the Lycée Ravel in Paris's 20th arrondissement. Destiny may have brought the pair together in their teens, but it would take more than 20 years before Jil and Jipé teamed up to work together! Back in the early 80s, Jean-Philippe was already thinking about forming Les Innocents with a bunch of schoolfriends, but Valentine, daughter of an anarchist/silk-screen printer, had dreams of becoming a literary critic. However, ennui set in during the first year of Valentine's literature degree at the Sorbonne and she turned to acting instead, studying drama at the prestigious Cours Florent from 1983 to 1985.

Meanwhile, Jean-Philippe had gone on to form Les Innocents and in 1986, after years of honing their style at punk concerts, the group went into the Garage studio to record Jodie. They enlisted the aid of French singer Christophe J. and his guitarist, Jay Alanski and 20-year-old Valentine became a regular at the studio, lapping up every moment of the recording process. "After seeing me hanging round the studio all the time," she later recounted, "Jay ended up asking me if I'd ever thought about singing. One year later (1987) I'd released my debut album, which was produced on the sort of budget you'd normally have for a single!"

Alanski went on to become Valentine/Jil's songwriter and arranger and the pair made a formidable musical team, but it still took another five years before Ms. Caplan received the recognition she deserved. This finally came in 1992 when she won "Best Female Newcomer of the Year" at the "Victoires de la Musique" Awards.

Meanwhile, Jil's second album, Charmeuse de Serpents (Epic/Sony, 1990), continued its progress up the French album charts, eventually racking up sales of over 300,000. Jil went on to try her hand at songwriting on Avant qu’il ne soit trop tard (Epic/ Sony, 1993), the third (and final) album she recorded with Alanski. She wrote two songs on the album including La Grande Malle, but modestly described herself as "more of a muse than an actual creator. But the songs on Jil's latest album, Toute crue, prove the singer has become a powerful creative force in her own right at last.

Jil Caplan Toute Crue (EastWest/ Warner)

JUAN ROZOFF : AbalorladaKor!

Juan Rozoff – aka "The Little Prince of provocation" – is a man who likes to take his time when it comes to the recording process. Indeed, the French funk-master has recorded just two albums in the last ten years! After catapulting to fame in 1991 with his innovative debut album, Jam Session, Rozoff is currently back in the French music news with his groove extravaganza, AbalorladaKor!

If you're looking for the founding father of French funk, look no further than Juan Rozoff, the musical 'clown' who exploded onto the French music scene in 1990 with a vibrant new sound never before heard in the language of Proust! Juan Rozoff's debut album, Jam Session (Barclay), caused such a stir that Gérard Bar-David, writing in the December 1990 issue of the French music mag Best, described it thus: "This guy obviously takes himself for Prince. But what's wrong with that? At least, it's more original than suffering from delusions that you're Napoleon or the Beatles! And, let's face it, when it comes to the French music scene, he who dares wins!"

Back in the early 90s France did not possess a funk 'scene' as such - Sinclair was still known as Blanc-Francard Junior, Mathieu Chédid had yet to launch his career and FFF had never even heard of George Clinton! In this drab musical landscape where French rock was looking back over its shoulder to punk and French rap was only just taking its first tentative steps, Juan Rozoff came storming out of nowhere with his low-down dirty funk. Rozoff's Jam Session (an album which, incidentally, remains eminently listenable to today), oozed sensuously sultry rhythms and the sort of raw sexual lyrics which could have come straight out of the famous erotic novel Histoire d'O!

Rozoff went on to play a series of highly memorable concerts. Then, after opening the way for a host of French funk disciples, he faded from the media spotlight and nothing was heard from him again - until this year! Now, at the ripe old age of 34, Rozoff is back with a vengeance. And, while his famous falsetto vocals may have calmed down a little, his obsession with sex is as strong as ever (c.f. La nouvelle danse, a rhythmic masterpiece of a song which proves our protagonist has yet to move on from the anal stage!!!)

Sexual innuendoes aside, AbalorladaKor! is a lesson in vibrant musical fusion where Rozoff's squealing brass section battles it out with brazen guitars and ludicrously infectious rhythms. Highlights include Kudfudr, 1 si fon and the excellent Mezkla’o (and if this track sounds reminiscent of La Mano Negra at their best, you won't be surprised to learn Rozoff has Spanish roots thanks to his mother!) Eclecticism is very much the name of the game on AbalorladaKor!, with tracks ranging from Mauvais coton (think funk, Bulgarian choirs and Plovdiv fiddles) to the title track (an astonishing mix of roots reggae and Apollinaire's poetry). Lyrically speaking, Fruit may not exactly be Rimbaud, but from a musical point of view this superb blues track powered along by Amar Sundy's guitar, could get no better. In short, Juan Rozoff could not have made a more stylish comeback if he tried!

Juan Rozoff AbalorladaKor! (Barclay)