Hello! Can you introduce yourselves, who is behind the Cabaret Frappé in Grenoble? Is that a Starbucks drink?
Nope. It’s a pure European blended musical event organised by Grenoble city. The festival, 70% funded by the regional government, offers 3 stages and various activities during 6 days. More than half of the events remain free. Only some shows are paid, at a really affordable price.
How long has the Cabaret Frappé been going on for?
The Cabaret Frappé is already going to celebrate his 17th birthday. This year, beside the must-see festival in the garden, the festival also features brass band performances in the city train station, and will have a free concert on the Bastille, a fort on the top of a hill, offering a breath-taking view over the city. To finish, the Cabaret Frappé offers an after party in a legendary concert hall : Le Ciel.
Is the end of July a good time to visit Grenoble?
We can definitely say that the end of July is a good time to visit Grenoble, in order to enjoy the area, surrounded by three wonderful mountain ranges. The mountain is also an amazing natural place to visit outside the winter period. During July, it’s the perfect weather to go around for a walk, and cool down in the lakes and waterfalls of the area. Within Grenoble, you can visit the charming city centre streets and parks, and enjoy many entertainments as well.
What kind of artists will be performing?
Assuming the role of a pioneer, the Cabaret Frappé is behind many innovative musical discoveries. The festival supports musical creation, and ensures high quality programming. It promotes local and international artists within a large range of diverse music styles.
What’s the vibe like?
The festival mainly takes place in a nice park, in the heart of the city. It brings about 50,000 people during the week. Friends and family gather in this fresh oasis, under the shade of the trees, to enjoy a moment of relaxation ideally suited to discovery. Around the musical program, various activities are freely organized: readings in the Rose Garden, world games, screen printing or free childcare centre for young parents attending paid concerts.
What are you the most proud of about the CF?
We are really happy to give the opportunity to discover today tomorrow’s talent. The Cabaret Frappé attaches great importance to promote emerging artists and showcase their performance in front of a large public.
Is “Alright” Kendrick Lamar’s most political song? It does fit perfectly well into America’s modern narrative of black vs. police. One thing is for sure, it’s another visceral experience whose music video is a visual masterpiece featuring Kendrick flying through the streets and rapping atop streetlights before getting shot by a white cop. It’s the latest in his string of hits off of “To Pimp A Butterfly” confirming what we thought all along: 2015 is the year of Kendrick Lamar.
When the temperatures soar above 40ºC (+100ºF) like we’ve been having this week here in Paris, there are few things better than an ice cold Heineken, the emblematic beer in a green bottle with a red star that’s available in even more places than Coca Cola (well, maybe, don’t quote us on that). But Heineken is not just cool temperature-wise, they have also been a leading source of inspiration and they are very deep into music culture. They did, after all, create GreenRoom, which is an awesome source for the latest trending news, especially for music.
We read GreenRoom’s posts all the times, from their music services comparisons, to insider Game of Thrones updates. The unique style and voice works perfectly (if you speak French!). And they have shared nothing but good music on their Whyd page since almost the very conception of Whyd. Mad respect.
Now their offering grows, as they have just released a very slick app - My Greenroom - which lets you download their articles for offline viewing. You can also see top lists of the most read articles, and see the articles that your friends have liked, to make sure that you can know what Marie Robin has been reading!
They are also releasing a mix between a magazine and book called “Festival Mon Amour” in collaboration with Snatch magazine. The publication is a limited edition featuring the world of music festivals. You can pick up a copy at places like Collette, Palais de Tokyo, la Gaité Lyrique, and Mama Shelter.
Heat wave’s a-coming here to northern France and the city of light is set to become the city of swelter. Skirts flutter in the hot breeze and sweat drips from brows. Perfect time to enjoy the icy goodness of a mojito on a terrace while listening to some dreamy music. An ideal song for this situation is Isaac Delusion’s new single “How Much You Want Her” that just dropped this week on Microqlima. You already know Isaac Delusion from our Whyd interview, and their two previous tracks of the weekend. This track is a clear development for them, the voice flying high like a satellite in low-Earth orbit, the rhythm and guitar teasing and building, and one of the best choruses we’ve heard all year.
Every so often an artist comes along that can rivet you without words. Someone who can create entire atmospheres of feeling and emotion with no air. Someone with the ability to paint a picture with no paint. You get the idea. Right now that artist is Feynman, who - not to be confused with the legendary physicist - has been spinning around the world like electrons in an Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
He just released his EP “Illusions,” on Fake Music. Let’s get the details:
Released: May 25, 2015
Genres: electronic
Tracks: 5
Who would like this EP?
Fans of Ratatat’s beats, Daft Punk’s funk, The Chemical Brother’s energy.
Our thoughts:
It’s been a while since an emerging artist has delivered such a high-energy EP, where the funk runs rampant like a hippopotamus in a flooded Georgian zoo. Feynman weaves threads of style and swagger through rises and falls. “Diego in Vegas” is a turn-your-speaker-up-until-your-neighbors-fucking-hate-you track that will get your bones a-rattling.
But at the same time it’s rather classic, settling in for the sort of mainstream electronica that enabled Daft Punk to rise to global fame. This is comforting in an era where experimentation has gone to such extremes that genre defining has become a one-song game.
Everyone get ready. This weekend is France’s Fête de la Musique, which is an all-day, all-night celebration of music that takes over cities on June 21st, the first day of summer. There are endless things to do, and as the hour waxes late so do the craziness, filthiness, and drunkenness. Capturing this inevitable feeling of raging is Foals’ new single “What Went Down” from their forthcoming album of the same name. Foals’ fans might be a little turned off by the rawness and clamor, but it represents a new direction for the group, one that more hardcore fans will find a welcome change, and one that’s perfect for this weekend in Paris.
A spectacular June evening is descending along the banks of the Canal Saint Martin, Paris’s premiere place to sit and drink rosé for the apéro as the sun warms your shoulders at 7 pm. It is here, behind an ever-morphing tag and a pathway that we arrive at the Comptoir General, a mix of African influences, antiques, and Caribbean vibes. Three of four members of Dead Sea are waiting with me for pints at the bar.
Their friendliness is instantly apparent. Caro, the singer, was the first to meet me. Her English is great, she even tells me the other guys - Alex and Charles, the brothers who started Dead Sea - were worried about doing an interview in English. I reassure them. We step into the courtyard. The mic clicks on.
This interview was translated from French. Tony Hymes for Whyd in bold.
Dead Sea, the name, is that because you are Jordanian? Israeli? Is there a reason that you chose this name?
Charles: There is no particular sense, it’s just two words that we like, together.
Caro: There is also the idea of voyage too.
Charles: True, it evokes the idea of travel, the sea, death. We listen to a lot of psychedelic music, and Dead Sea sort of goes along with that. Plus the two words go along well together, doubling the “EA.”
Does the image of the Dead Sea as a place, is that something that you like too? Dryness?Low mountains in the distance? Salt?
Alex: Everyone floats.
Me: That’s the psychedelic side, everyone floating.
Charles: Never thought of it before!
Looking at Charles and Alex, both decked out in leather jackets.
And when did you guys buy your first leather jacket?
Charles: Maybe 5 years ago, before we did a lot more psychedelic rock. We had other clothes then, like when we were in a different group we had our name on the back of a jacket. The idea of the Dead Sea is to make rock with machines. It’s not to do electronic music, but to keep the rock spirit.
When did you meet Caro?
Alex: We met her a year ago at the Paris Psychfest. We had made a flyer looking for female singers, and we put them in all of the girls bathrooms, and then Caro sent us some samples and we really liked it.
Did you already have a project, Caro?
Caro: I had already been involved in a few other projects in the past. I attended a music school in England, and I had some folk groups. When I arrived in Paris I didn’t have a project, and I was looking for a group to find. And coincidentally I was at the Psychfest and saw their flyer, looking for a female singer. So it came along at the right time, and the style fit me really well.
You guys released an EP recently, two songs. Are you rather happy with the EP?
Charles: Yes we are happy. We based all of the communications for the group around the two songs and the video. We are at more than 20K listens on the EP, which is pretty good.
Alex: We also have had a lot of reviews on blogs.
What did the reviewers say?
Alex: Overall they were mostly positive.
Charles: In any case, the people who never responded probably didn’t like it.
That’s probable, there is also the side where everyone tries to be a friend to everyone: they do a review, you share it from your side too to help them reach a wider audience too. It’s always going to be positive with blogs of that size. So in that case, what is your biggest criticism of yourselves right now? What is the thing that you are most trying to improve?
Charles: Good question.
Caro: Maybe the scenography,
Charles: We are trying to work with a small company for the lighting, staging for performances, making a logo, we would like to work on the visual side. On the music side, we are just trying to make more songs so that we can have 10 by the end of the year and release an album.
Tell us Caro, what part do you play in the creation of Dead Sea’s music?
Caro: I was pretty happy from the beginning since there were a lot of singers that responded to their flyer, so there was a sort of contest. They sent us two demos, and they wanted me to write the lyrics and melody, which I did, and they liked it. Now I also have a synth so I can play around with that. But mostly it’s the lyrics and melody, which works out well since everyone has their own part.
When it comes to creating new songs, do that come from just jamming around or are there specific places where you find inspiration?
Alex: That could come from a specific place, lots of times it comes from listening to other groups. We spend a lot of time studying different lines and segments, sometimes Charles sends me a synth line, or a drum line.
Charles: Since we are making music electronically, we find a starting point and build from there.
Is it because you are brothers that you jam well together? Is there something in your DNA that links together vibrations?
Alex: I think so, yes, we grew up in the same place, listening to the same music.
Are you both happy, at the same time, with one song?
Alex: Sometimes there are disagreements.
Charles: And when we are all happy that’s when we know the song is done.
Alex: But we do have disagreements, that can last for weeks!
Charles: We have a set of songs that we all like, and it’s that set that we play live.
Imagine one year from now, what are your realistic expectations?
Caro: I think the most important part is to have a full album by the end of the year. We’ve been talking that having only two songs out there can limit us and what we can do in terms of audience. So an album will bring us to the next level. And in a year definitely to do festivals, even small ones.
Alex: And with the album to find a record label.
Caro: Find people that support us!
Are you going to be playing live soon?
Charles: Yes, June 23rd and 26th. The 23rd is at the Bababoum, and the 26th is in a small room called the Buzz, it’s the place that we met Caro!
Caro: Yes! We’ll celebrate my first year anniversary with the group!
Sometimes the middle of the week can drag. Hump days are like speedbumps, slowing you down and pulling the weekend further out of reach. Sometimes the only thing you can do is find some hype music and turn the volume up. Shake away that stagnancy, drive forward my friend.
We’ve got just the playlist for you this week, Techno curated by our friends Process London, who know a thing or two about the genre. Let’s get the story behind the curation:
When did you start listening to Techno?
I start listening to Techno about 5 or 6 years ago.
Did you ever have a moment when you felt like Techno started speaking to you?
Every time! When I listen to a track for me is like the artist is talking to me, trying to tell me a story.
It works even better on a big sound system!
What are some example situations when you would listen to this playlist yourself?
It helps me to focus so I listen to it a lot at work when I need to get things done quickly; As well as when I get back home after a long day and I need to relax with a beer or a glass of wine. Techno goes really well with wine!
If you had to choose just one track from this playlist, which one would be your favorite?
There are a lot! but I would go for one that I have added in February: Utkast - &&&&
It’s been nearly 20 years since Lauryn Hill released her smash hit “Doo Wop” that catapulted her into superstardom. The question then goes: how do you remix such a powerful song? How do you respect the track and its fans, yet creatively bring it into the 21st century? Leave it to none other than our man Poldoore, who has been tearing it up recently. Modern and electronic, Poldoore’s remix provides a layer of funk while staying true to the original soul of the track. The trumpet at the end is the icing on the cake. No wonder it’s been at the top of the hot tracks all week!
Put this track on when you’re getting ready to go out tonight, and you’ll be assured to pop it off right.
This week features one of our Community Manager’s favorite genres, the classic, soulful, never-old-and-forever-awesome Motown. Originating from Detroit in the 50′s and 60′s, Berry Gordy founded a record label called Motown Records, playing on Detroit’s popular moniker: the motor city. To this day Detroit is famous for two things: cars, and music. There is no doubt that Ford and GM and Chrysler have produced some beautiful cars over the years. But nothing can compare to Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and the wave of music responsible for the foundation of nearly every popular genre we listen to today.
This playlist of reference is curated by Justin S. Let’s the get the story behind the creation:
When did you start listening to Motown?
That’s easy! Ever since I can remember, I’ve been jamming out to music from Motown. I really appreciate the fact that my parents introduced me to this genre of music at a young age because it’s where I found my passion for singing.
Did you ever have a moment when you felt like Motown started speaking to you?
The first time I ever heard “Aint Too Proud to Beg” by the Temptations. I think every naive kid going through their first break up always finds that music can help ease the pain of a heartbreak. I don’t think I fully understood what the song meant then, but to me, it’s always a reminder that sometimes you need to do everything you can, to get what you want or where you want to be.
What are some example situations when you would listen to this playlist yourself?
The one that comes to mind most is driving down to Myrtle Beach every year for family vacation. Having the windows rolled down, Motown blasting, knowing that in a few hours I would be sitting on the beach is something I looked forward to each Summer. Carolina Beach Music goes hand in hand with Motown because that’s where it was born. To me, there’s nothing better than being near the Ocean listening to the music of Motown.
If you had to choose just one track from this playlist, which one would be your favorite?
This is a no brainer for me. “Up on the Roof” by the Drifters is hands down my all-time favorite Motown song. Whenever I get stressed or need some time to myself, I listen to this song and it helps me know that there is a place “Where you just have to wish to make it so"….And that’s Up On The Roof.