PHOTOS: Bigmoneymakers @ L'international, Nov 25

The French indie band played l'International on Saturday. The venue was totally packed and it seemed pretty blatant that they have now become far too popular for venues that size. Their first video for Tired To Get Fired should be out soon. The photos of the show can be found in the Flickr diaporama. You can have all of them in larger size by clicking on the bottom right or go to the Flickr page as the embedded diaporama doesn't want to be in HQ. Oh well.

PHOTOS: Mystery Jets @ La Flèche d'Or, Nov 21

The band whose style spans from Wings to Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young played their parisian date in a very trendy venue. Even miss Lou Doillon was there. A great live band and a great gig.

PHOTOS: Oh Othello @ La Flèche d'Or, Nov 21

The folk duo supported Mystery Jets at La Flèche d'Or this Wednesday. A revelation, that's the least we can say.

REVIEW: Some Better Days- Make Yourself At Home EP

There are a lot of things that we like here in our job at High And Loud and one of these is certainly receiving albums from bands. This week, it's Some Better Days who sent us their first EP entitled Make Yourself At Home.

To make a long story short, Some Better Days is a folk duo coming from Northern France. Firmly grounded in a tradition in which Bob Dylan and The Beatles are heroes, the two singer-songwriters have penned six tunes verging a lot more on Simon And Garfunkel or Fleetwood Mac than on the Merseyside band. Coming alongside a video for their first single No One Else shot in black and white on the Belgian side of the border, this EP could be the soundtrack to your long winter evenings.

Right Or Wrong starts the album and is a kind of soft ballad you would expect from a band like Cocoon. Surely good but not excellent as it's lacking a strong melody, the thing that grasps you by the heart and the ear that a first tune should have. But this is the only mistake in an overall pretty good EP.

The eponymous second tune Make Yourself At Home is indeed definitely a lot better. A straightforward acoustic rock tune with a definite identity, it sounds a bit like Simple Plan and would be brilliant live with a full-size rock band. Just Like Enough Of Lies which seems to have been written for a plugged experience. Actually, Some Better Days might well be the first French band singing in English that sounds Canadian as Praise Your Way, No One Else and Wake Up surely make you think you're having a pint in a pub in Québec. Reflective and soulful, these ballads have a North Atlantic vibe and should appeal to all the checked shirts lovers around. (did I think Bon Iver too loud?)

Anyway, with Make Yourself At Home, Some Better Days have summed up all their influences and paved their own way, shovelling the folk road with a guitar in their hands. If you're somewhere in the North in the next few weeks, you could catch them live in and around Lille.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Il y a pas mal de choses que l'on aime dans notre job pour High And Loud, et l'une d'entre elles, c'est recevoir des albums à chroniquer. En ce début de semaine, c'est donc  Make Yourself At Home, premier EP de Some Better Days qui tourne sur notre platine.

Pour faire court, Some Better Days vient du Nord de la France (le Nord, le vrai Nord, pas juste "au Nord de Paris" hein). Bien ancré dans une tradition qui a fait de Bob Dylan et des Beatles des héros, les deux compositeurs et chanteurs ont écrit six titres qui doivent autant à Simon and Garfunkel ou à Fleetwood Mac qu'aux Fab Four. En parallèle, le groupe a sorti un premier clip pour son single No One Else, réalisé en noir et blanc et shooté côté belge de la frontière. De quoi occuper donc vos longues soirées d'hiver.

L'album débute par Right Or Wrong, ballade qui  aurait facilement pu se trouver sur un album de Cocoon. Curieuseument, ce titre se trouve être le moins intéressant de l'album, manquant d'une mélodie accrocheuse dont un premier titre a besoin. Mais l'erreur est plus que pardonnable puisque l'EP se trouve être de très bonne facture. Ainsi, le second titre éponyme Make Yourself At Home est définitivement meilleur. Direct, acoustique et rock, avec une identité bien affirmée, cette chanson sonne un peu (un peu seulement) comme Simple Plan et  rendrait étonnement bien en live, version électrique avec bassiste et batteur à l'appui. Tout comme Enough Of Lies qui semble avoir été écrit pour un groupe. En fait, Some Better Days pourrait bien être le premier groupe français à sonner...canadien puisque Praise Your Way, No One Else et Wake Up donnent l'impression d'avoir été écrits pour une ambiance pub Québecquois. Sorte de miroir d'une pop transatlantique, mélodique et carrée, cet EP devrait plaire aux amoureux(ses) d'un folk à chemises à carreaux et beenie hat (est-ce que j'ai pensé Bon Iver un peu trop fort? )

En résumé, Some Better Days offrent donc avec Make Yourself At Home un concentré de leurs influences. A voir sur Lille, en attendant une salle parisienne.

PHOTOS: Clock N' Works @ Le Batofar, Nov 17

The Paris-based band played a show at Le Batofar, on the Seine. Awesome tunes. A band to follow.

PHOTOS: Haight- Ashbury @ l'International, Nov 13

The band played the Ménilmontant venue last Tuesday. Definitely renewing a Mamas And The Papas vibe.

INTERVIEW: The View

Find the interview I did with Kieren Webster on Sound Of Violence

We'll try to post it in English asap.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Retrouvez l'interview de Kieren Webster, bassiste de The View, à cette adresse !

PHOTOS: The Vaccines @ La Cigale, Nov 9

As usual, all the photos are HQ. Once you open one pic, there's a slide bar in which you will be able to view all the other ones.