Fever
Kylie Minogue

If you had to explain pop music to a Martian you'd save yourself a lot of time by just giving him a copy of this album. With almost every track a potential chart smasheroo, 'Fever' is a Eurodisco inferno of glittery grooves tarted up with some hip retro-electro beats and fed through the Gigantic Pop Hit Machine to create a swanky blend of modern club sounds and ultra-catchy pop tunes that is hard to resist. Kylie may be a bit of a sex object these days, flashing her bottom at the drop of a hat, but her come on is more saucy than raunchy and she still sounds like the cute girl in a spangly top having fun on the dancefloor at the local disco. Unlike Madonna's recent uptown haute couture productions, 'Fever' is a nightclub that everyone can get into. [Official Site]

My House In Montmartre
Various Artists

After House music mutated from disco DNA in Chicago in the 80s the British stole the body and pumped it so full of drugs they nearly killed it with robotic, spaced-out beats. Luckily the French zipped up it's boots and took it back to it's disco roots when a gang of irreverent Parisians fattened the beats up, sprinkled a little electronic cheese on top, poured a gallon of trashy sex into the mixture and - voila! - House music was fun again. With thumping tracks from Daft Punk, Cassius, I Cube and Alex Gopher this trés groovy compilation is a virtual Michelin Guide to the French House scene of the late 90s when anthems like "Music Sounds Better With You" and "La Mouche" had everyone waving their baguettes in the air and is guaranteed to make your hips say ooh la la. [Official Site]

Vingt a Trente Mille Jours
Françoiz Breut

Of course the French wouldn't be the French if they weren't also a bit on the moody side. Sounding like a Francoise Hardy who's been around the block a few times, Breut has an intimate voice which floats above an exotic Franco-Americana musical landscape that’s like classic 60s French pop drunk on Bourbon and feeling a little rough around the edges. The twangy guitars, jazzy drums and ghostly organ noises remind me of the gothic cabaret of Tom Waits' "Swordfishtrombones" album with some lush strings added to let a little light into the room. Not being able to speak the language only adds to the mysterious allure of the record, being an emotional French woman you have to imagine she’s on the brink of suicide over some man and not singing about the joy of going to the Fromagerie to buy some cheese. [Bella Union Records]

Scary World Theory
Lali Puna

The word “synthpop” tends to conjure up images of pale boys in lipstick singing bouncy songs about robots, but Lali Puna approach the genre from a slightly leftfield position and are more concerned with arty minimalism than big pop tunes. Their songs are like shiny little modernist buildings constructed with droning keyboards, clinical guitars and clicking synthdrums that sound like Stereolab sharing a cab through Berlin with Aphex Twin (though older ears might occasionally think Young Marble Giants are sitting in the back seat too.) Vocalist Valerie Trebeljahr quietly whispers abstract lyrics about work and capitalism in a blank tone that makes Nico sound like Shirley Bassey. Personally I prefer a little less Prozac in my pop music (and maybe a few songs about robots), but this is a very smart slice of art-pop. Available from [Darla]

More Reviews in the Flames Archive