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July Gig Guide (2)

Image: Flickr CC mrmatt
Text: Amazinglyblog / Aidan Mac Guill

The final two weeks of July sees the schedules start to thin out a little ahead of the big shutdown in August, when most venues will be closed and Paris' gig promoters do one to the nearest beach. Having said that there's still plenty to look forward to, including The Strokes, Joanna Newsom and the Festival Sin Fronteras.

The Bitter Sweet Paradise festival, run by the good folk at Boutiques Sonores, will welcome the promising French singers Mehdi Zannad (July 19 at Plage de Glazart), Mina Tindle (July 22 at Flèche d’Or) and Pokett with This Is The Hello Monster (July 23 at Nouveau Casino).

Experimental rock outfit Deerhoof follow up their performance at last week's Congotronics v Rockers night with a show at the Nouveau Casino on July 18, while on the same night jazz & funk legend Herbie Hancock performs the music of his former bandmate Miles Davis at L'Olympia.

May Gig Guide (2)

Text: Kate Ross
Image: Flickr CC Guus Krol

Electronic fans will rejoice this fortnight. The first half of May might have been dominated by heavy metal, but the next half lashes back as the time of the chillwave. This concludes, rather appropriately, with the start of indie electro gathering Villette Sonique. But until those festival vibes officially kick in, Café de la Danse and Point Ephémère are the places to be seen this fortnight.

Kicking us off on Monday at the former venue is electronic Swedes Little Dragon, with support from THUS:OWLS. Elsewhere, Point Ephémère rivals for your attention with Chazwick Bundick, playing under his stage name Toro y Moi, with Beat Connection and Trésors chillwaving alongside him.

May 17, and back at Point Ephémère are New York experimentalists Gang Gang Dance throwing out some incredible African rhythm, industrial, Middle Eastern dance and grime mixes. Otherwise Black Lips are bringing their self-dubbed ‘flower punk’ to the Cent Quatre, or if you’re feeling the old school soul jazz vibe instead, Sade is at POPB.

May Gig Guide (1)

Text: Kate Ross
Image: Flickr CC mehan

We all thought that summer had arrived, but then it went away again. So if you’re suffering from the dip in temperature, fret not, because the gigs offered up in the first half of May promise to keep you nice and toasty. This fortnight, there’s a rather impressive amount of metal flying around, but for those whose eardrums need a rest, there’s still plenty of folk and indie to be found.

Bank Holiday Monday kicks off with indie rockers Guillemots (gUiLLeMoTs if we’re being official) at Café de la Danse, or you’ve got Canadian pop folk singer Ron Sexsmith at La Maroquinerie. If harder metal is your calling it’ll be Scandinavians you’re after, so head to Bataclan for Children of Bodor, Ensiferum and Machinae Supremacy.

April Gig Guide (3)

Text: Kate Ross
Image: Flickr CC matteb83

If you were hoping for a nice, quiet end to April, it’s probably best you think again, as this week brings plenty of metal, with a smattering of electro. Both Nouveau Casino and Batofar are good places to set up camp for the week.

On April 26, bluesy folk brother-sister duo Angus & Julia Stone kick off at Le Trianon – the first of an impressive five shows this week, Brit four-piece Fujiya & Miyagi are at Théâtre de l’Alhambra showing off their electronica skills and Bonaparte are electro-punking it up at La Maroquinerie.

Elsewhere, La Cigale is hosting Thomas Fersen all of this week, and some of the next, so you’ve got plenty of opportunity to catch up on your puns and fables.

April Gig Guide (2)

Text: Kate Ross
Image: Flickr CC Jalapeño

If you’ve recovered sufficiently from a busy first half of April, and are ready to storm ahead till payday, then get ready to grab your dancing boots. Point Ephémère keeps up its April trend with a blitz of talent, with Nouveau Casino giving the canal side venue a good run for its money.

Wednesday kicks off nicely mellowed out, with Casino de Paris hosting America, best known for their easy on the ears country rock, and number one hit 'A Horse With No Name.' Meanwhile, Bataclan welcomes hip-hop with a smattering of reggae from Chinese Man, while Raphael Saadiq plays two shows of neo-soul at Le Trianon.

April Gig Guide (1)

Text: Aidan Mac Guill
Image: Flickr CC Bryan Bruchman

If you thought March was busy gig-wise, you might want to have a little sit down before getting a load of just the first half of April. Once again it seems the place to be is the Gaîté Lyrique, despite its dodgy uncomfortable glowing seats.

The Festival Super Mon Amour, run by the eponymous music promoters, gears up from Wednesday featuring Jose Gonzalez (he of bouncy ball fame) performing with the Goteborg String Theory, Aussie avant-garde pop act Architecture In Helsinki, shoegazey experimentalists Deerhunter and Lower Dens (featuring former Golden Apple Jana Hunter) amongst others.

March Gig Guide (4)

Text: Aidan Mac Guill
Image: Flickr CC nudevinyl

Much like everything else here, the coming of spring has seen the music scene in Paris burst back into life. You could hardly chuck a boule in the past few weeks without it clattering into some top notch international and French musicians, and with festivals like Solidays, Rock En Seine, Main Square and many others coquettishly revealing the first glimpse of their summer lineups, music fans marchent d'un pas allègre.

Indeed the mad scramble to cram as many good shows as possible into these last sunny days of March continues, with a host of interesting acts squeezing a gig in before the month draws to a close. Foremost among the clammer for your attention: the Berlin Next! festival at the Gaîté Lyrique. An exploration and celebration of the cultural output of the German capital, the festival features top German electronic musicians like Pantha Du Prince, Siriusmo and the outstanding Apparat over the course of 6 days.

March Gig Guide (3)

Text: Aidan Mac Guill
Image: Flickr CC mhwlng

The Gaîté Lyrique opened with much fanfare at the start of this month, and has quickly established itself as an important new fixture in Paris' cultural landscape. Next weekend will see the first of their 'Ambient Sunday' concerts: intimate, laid back and cheap gigs held in the foyer of the refurbished theatre hall. First up is American musician Peter Broderick.

Broderick has earned a reputation as one of the most interesting artists around, crafting beautiful songs from electronic sounds, piano, violin, guitar.and anything else he can lay his hands on. Having emerged as part of the Danish group Efterklang, his recent solo work has won him a passionate cult following, and much critical acclaim. This is most definitely the gig to see this week.

Rock En Seine: First Names Released

Text: Mark Thompson
Image: Rock en Seine

It has been some seven months since the curtain fell on Rock en Seine 2010 and barely a day has gone by without some form of speculation. Now, we finally have some answers.

Friday: The Kills, Foo Fighters, Paul Kalkbrenner, My Chemical Romance, Keren Ann.  

Emo kings My Chemical Romance are the joker in the pack, having flown beneath the radar prior to this announcement, but The Kills are undoubtedly the most exciting name on the list, with the headliners still to be announced (does any body dare whisper Daft Punk?). As Gigs in Paris confirmed some weeks ago, the Foo Fighters will indeed be headlining this years festival. Meanwhile local singer-songwriter Keren Ann and German electro wizard Paul Kalkbrenner have the mid-day slot stamp hanging over their heads.

March Gig Guide (2)

Text: Aidan Mac Guill
Image: Flickr CC The Queen's Hall

Two big guns are in town early this week, and tickets have been like gold dust for The Black Keys show at L'Olympia. The Ohio duo have been canceling shows left, right and centre due to exhaustion having spent the last year on the road touring their award-winning album Brothers. This Paris date is one of the few survivors in Europe, so those who have managed to get a ticket can feel suitably pleased with themselves, and those looking to pick one up outside the venue should be prepared to pay a small fortune.

There are still a few tickets left for Interpol, or what's left of them, as they continue to shed members faster than Sarkozy's cabinet. The current line-up play the Zenith on Tuesday, and while recent material may have lacked the thrill value of Antics and Turn On The Bright Lights, those albums provide a back catalogue that can't help but entail a good night out.