MUSEYON GUIDES » France

Spotlight on…La Boule Noire, Paris

Kellas — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:18:35 +0000

La Boule Noire is best known for nightly bringing non-Parisian music to Paris. They have hosted early shows by Metallica, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and Interpol in it’s small 300 person venue, offering an intimate experience with either soon to be huge bands or acts that are already packing halls three times the size of Le Boule Noire in their hometown.

A concert venue is La Boule Noire’s most recent incarnation, having spent time as a dance hall, cinema and cabaret. The walls are covered in 70s style paintings and mirrors which coupled with dark red paint and the sweat pouring down the walls air on packed nights, provides just the right amount of seedy club atmosphere for a great music experience. La Boule Noire is connected to the larger, historic La Cigle theatre.

La Boule Noire
120 Boulevard Rochechouart Paris, France 75018 – +33 1 4925 8175

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The Scene In Six Sounds: France

Heather C — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:09:24 +0000

As arguably the most artistic country in Europe (calm down, Italians…), France has plenty to say when it comes to music, too. Of course, the language barrier limits many French artist’s international impact, but -– as Museyon’s Music + Travel Worldwide found out –- rap rules the roost in Paris, and the arty side of hip-hop and some of the world’s most impressive club-filling music is seeping out of the romance capital of the world, too. As James Hendicott found out, there’s plenty to choose from.

Electronic Superstars: Daft Punk

Dressed in their iconic helmets and performing an instantly accessible form of electronica that has most corners of Europe in raptures, Daft Punk are 21st-century electronic heroes. Based on the local house scene, the duo sings in English, making them easy to grasp internationally, and played a key roll in taking synth pop to the level of international notoriety it can claim now. These days they even have their own computer game, and wow, these guys really make you want to dance.

DJ Hero: David Guetta

Having crept up to the status of near household name in Europe over the last decade, David Guetta’s more recent projects have seen him work with the likes of Black Eyed Peas, Akon, Estelle, Kelly Rowland and Kid Cudi. Having started out as a Paris club DJ, Guetta’s fame didn’t arrive until his late 30s, but when it did arrive he won numerous Ibiza Awards, as well as being nominated for a Grammy Award. Even if you don’t recognize his name, you’ve almost certainly heard Guetta’s work: he produced Black Eyed Peas recent smash hit ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’.

Ambient indie Stars: Air

An acronym for ‘Amour, Imagination, Reve’ – which translates as ‘Love, Imagination, Dream’ – Air made their name internationally with 1998’s ‘Moon Safari’ album, widely regarded as one of the most compelling ambient albums ever produced. Air thrive on improvisation, taking a truck load of equipment on stage to play with live, and have become well renowned for their live shows, while forever trying to escape the ‘coffee table music’ tag ‘Moon Safari’ left them with. Is there any better coffee table music in the world? You’d be hard pressed to say yes…

Marseille hip-hop superstars: IAM

IAM – Petit Frere
by RAP-L

A prominent feature in our guide to French rap in Music and Travel Worldwide, IAM and stands for ‘Invasion From Mars’ (in French, obviously…). With a heavy African influences, IAM became a French rap pioneer by blending French rhythms with African influenced lyrics and topics. There’s an element of one-dimensional politics to IAM, who state their sole political aim as a reaction to the French ‘Front National’ party. The group are closely linked in with American stars Wu-Tang Clan, and remains an essential influences on the French hip-hop scene.

Electro Heroes: Justice

Justice’s debut album is named as simply a cross symbol, and fetched plentiful critical acclaim, while the band went on to pick up a Grammy Award for an MGMT remix. Justice has not been without controversy, with many suggesting the video for 2008’s “Stress” depicted racism, though the band themselves argue simply shows the more deprived side of Paris. Problems aside, the band has found itself at the very heart of the modern electro scene, and travelled all over the world to perform over the last two years. If you want to check out that controversial video, though, you can find it here:

Outrageous Rockers: Oberkampf

With a suspiciously German sounding name, perhaps it’s not the biggest surprise to learn that Oberkampf has a particularly anti-nationalist stance, having once got themselves in a plenty of trouble for burning a French flag on stage at one of their shows. They were unusual in France, though, for helping am underground rock scene make an impact, releasing three albums (two of them way back in the ’80s, and the third only six years ago), and publicizing the French punk scene.

James Hendicott is a travel and music writer living in Ireland, and your guide to Celtic punk in the Music+Travel Worldwide from Museyon Guides. More of his work can be found at hendicottwriting.com. And be sure to tune in every Wednesday, for a new local playlist.

image by Caesar Sebastian/Flickr

OUT NOW! Music + Travel Worldwide: 12 Cities / 12 Scenes

Heather C — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:31:26 +0000

In Music+Travel Worldwide our expert guides take a musical tour around the globe. Check out our sound sampler before you buy the book…

Jazz Land: Chicago by Peter Margasak
Jazz
Hometown Hero: Ken Vandermark and the Ken Vandermark 5

Click to hear 11 more…

Bring the Noise, Bring the Punk: Dublin by James Hendicott
Celtic Punk
Hometown Hero: Blood or Whiskey, “They Say No”

New Rap City: Paris by Miles Marshall Lewis
Muslim Hip-Hop
Hometown Hero: Booba, “Mon Son”

Techno Color: Berlin by Siobhan O’Leary
Techno
Hometown Hero: Ellen Allien Apparat, “Way Out”

Jailhouse Rock: Moscow +St. Petersburg by Alina Simone
Chanson
Hometown Hero: Yanka Dyagileva, “Na Cherniy Den’”

Classical Studies: Istanbul by Alexandra Ivanoff
Classical
Hometown Hero: Fazil Say, “Black Earth”

Swing Shifts: Addis Ababa by Mikael Awake
Ethiopop
Hometown Hero: Mulatu Astatke, “Yekermo Sew” (with the Heliocentrics)

Passage to Indipop: Mumbai by Shamik Bag
Indipop

Hometown Hero: A.R. Rahman, “O Saya” (with MIA)

Experimental Methods: Beijing by Nick Frisch
Experimental
Hometown Hero: Carsick Cars, “Mogu, Mogu”

CARSICK CARS – 蘑菇蘑菇 MOGU MOGU (Music Video) from Maybe Mars / 兵马司 on Vimeo.

Art Rock Confidential: Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane by Mel Campbell
Art Rock
Hometown Hero: Deloris, “Playing the Spaces”

The Digital Domain: Buenos Aires by Eve Hyman
Cumbia
Hometown Hero: Chancha Via Circuito

Chancha Via Circuito – ZZK Records from ZZK Records on Vimeo.

Folk Lure: Los Angeles by Jessica Hundley
Calicountry
Hometown Hero: Devendra Banhart, “Brindo”

Devendra Banhart – Brindo from Rômulo Martinz on Vimeo.

Meet Museyon: Miles Marshall Lewis

Heather C — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:48:09 +0000

Miles Marshall Lewis is our man in Paris and your guide to the city’s Muslim hip-hop scene. The American expat grew up in the Bronx at the same time the city was crumbling and hip-hop was exploding. He currently writes about pop culture, music and more and is the author of ‘Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don’t Have Bruises‘ and ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On,’ a guide to the Sly and the Family Stone album from the epic 33 1/3 series. Today, he shares with us his Paris travel tips, plus his favorite under-rated artist. Want more Miles? Then stay tuned this week for his hip-hop essentials.

Home base: Paris, France
Day job: Editor
Last show you saw live? Lil Wayne at Le Zénith (32, Rue de Rivoli, Paris; +33 1 48 87 00 09)

Museyon Guides: You’re from New York, the birthplace of hip-hop. How does French hip-hop compare with the genre’s New York roots?
Miles Marshall Lewis: Hip-hop in France is comparable to where American hip-hop was in the early 1990s. Commercial considerations have crept in and begun to distort the purity of the culture. Still, there is a strong contingent of true hip-hop lovers here that supports elements of the culture outside of just rapping (i.e., deejaying, graffiti art, B-boying).

MG: Where’s the best place to see a live show?
MML: Both the Élysée Montmartre (72, boulevard de Rochechouart 75018 Paris; +33 01 44 92 45 36) and l’Olympia (18, Rue de Caumartin, Paris; +33 8 92 68 33 68) are wonderful venues to see live shows.

MG: Any particularly memorable shows?
MML: Kanye West played Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy Stadium (9, boulevard de Bercy, Paris) for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour, with The Roots as an opening act. Kanye hosted a great little intimate champagne party backstage afterwards.

MG: What’s your idea of one perfect night out in Paris?
MML: A perfect night in Paris would have to involve getting a great view of the city and eating some fabulous food. The Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (35, rue du Chevalier-de-la-Barre, Paris; +33 1 53 41 89 00), the top floor of the Pompidou Centre (Place Georges Pompidou, Paris;+33 1 44 78 12 33) or the second level of the Eiffel Tower (Champs de Mars, Paris; +33 1 44 11 23 23) are all great places to see Paris in full. For wining and dining, go ethnic with Senegalese food at Le Petit Dakar (6, Rue Elzévir, Paris; +33 1 44 59 34 74) or Moroccan cuisine at Le Comptoir Marrakech (22, Rue de Châteaudun, Paris; +33 1 48 78 15 52).

MG: How do you find new music?
MML: I surf the Internet regularly (MTV News, theNew York Times, NME.com, Twitter) for music information in general, and I often get turned onto new stuff. Word of mouth is also essential. Hanging at the Parisian apartment of the poet Saul Williams, I fell in love with The Dead Weather’s Horehound album.

MG: Is there an artist, album or venue that you wish more people knew about?
MML: Tricky is an artist out of England who layers rich, dark rock and pop music with hiphop textures. He hit a creative peak in the late 1990s. But his cover versions of rap songs like Rakim’s “Lyrics of Fury,” Public Enemy’s “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” and Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story” are all excellent and super-innovative.

&nsbp;
MG: Outside of Paris, are there other music scenes that you’d like to see Museyon visit?
MML: I love neo-soul, the 1990s-born strain of American soul music exemplified by Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Bilal, The Roots, Jill Scott and Angie Stone. The Afro-Punk movement is another music scene gaining tremendous importance in America right now. Whatever Museyon could do on these music scenes could be fantastic.

Get more on Miles Marshall Lewis in Music+Travel Worldwide, or on his blog Furthermucker.com. You can also follow his musings on music and more at twitter.com/furthamucka. And be sure to stay tuned for Hip-hop 101: An Introductory Guide by Miles Marshall Lewis at museyon.com.

When Religion and Culture Collide

Heather C — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:54:20 +0000

Renowned ex-rapper Napoleon of Tupac's Outlawz explains why he thinks Muslims should abstain from listening to or creating music

What do you do when your passion and your religion are at odds with one another? That’s the question behind the new doc ‘Deen Tight‘ from Mustafa Davis. More and more Muslims living in the West are turning to music, and hip-hop in particular, to express their faith, despite the fact that many traditional Muslims consider music taboo. ‘Deen Tight’ tells the personal stories of Muslim hip-hop artists as they deal with their own personal conflicts, and with the outside pressures put on them by their community. The film journeys all the way from the US and the UK to Morocco and Abu Dhabi to ask: is it possible to be a pious Muslim musician?

Deen Tight from Cinemotion Media on Vimeo.

To find out more about Muslim hip-hop, pick up Music+Travel, in stores October 15. Acclaimed author and pop culture critic Miles Marshall Lewis gives you the inside scoop on the scene in his adopted hometown, Paris.

image:MQube Web Development/Flickr

New Rap City: Paris

Heather C — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:22:10 +0000

To understand Muslim hip-hop in Paris, you’d have to go back to the beginning — to the early ’80s when rap was imported from New York City. Since then, the city has spawned a distinctly francophone sound, one that paints an accurate picture of what’s really happening á Paris — beyond the bright lights of the Seine and Champs-Elysees. Join Museyon Guide Miles Marshall Lewis as he explores the spectrum of Muslim hip-hop from Muslim-and-proud acts (Abd al Malik) to rappers of Islamic faith who rock the microphone without mentioning Allah at all.

image: iStock