Category: Culture

Group to follow: the spellbinding folk-rock in chiaroscuro by Noir Audio 

Noir Audio, Toulouse’s burgeoning quartet distilling an intoxicating dream music between indie rock and folk.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION] Formed by Alice Blazutti (vocals, guitar), Louisa Bénâtre (drums), Bettina Bordes (bass) and Anthony Hérigny (guitar), all four very active in the music scene in Toulouse for several years, Noir Audio started on the pulse Alice Blazutti and Louisa Bénâtre. The original songwriter and composer of the band first gave voice, guitar and even ukulele in This Silly Thing , a country-folk-oriented project, while the latter sang and played various instruments in Alone With Everybody. , pop-folk duo led with his brother Camille.

” Alice and I met in 2016-2017 , says Louisa Bénâtre, who is the spokesperson for the group. We started to make music in duo and then we wanted to expand the training and build a real band-guitar-bass-drums configuration to give a more rock tone to the project. We tried with several people before arriving at the current line-up of Noir Audio, with Bettina on bass and Anthony on guitar. ”

A promising first record

In August 2017, the first untitled recording of Noir Audio is online. Although presented as an EP, it contains ten pieces in a minimalist folk-rock vein, all being signed by Alice Blazutti and interpreted mainly by her. Bearer of promises despite a little tight, this (broad) introductory EP is thus more like a solo disc serving as a business card for the group in gestation and basic work for the future. Hangs in particular the Ear Sleepless Nights, Useless Fights , captivating ballad, both dragging and scathing, illustrated by a nice clip in the lynchian atmosphere.

Stabilized for a few months in its current configuration, Noir Audio has just released its first EP . Entitled Sentimental Girl , he comes out on cassette and digital at Lunadélia Records, a young Toulouse label whose catalog includes Laure Briard and Thomas Pradier.

The energy of the live

” We recorded the EP last July at Food, a small Toulouse studio ridden by a friend of ours, Thomas Juvé , said Louisa Benâtre. Thomas made the sound for the first concert we gave with Noir Audio – in the band’s current band – and we loved what he did. He immediately understood the spirit of our music. Therefore, recording with him seemed obvious to us. We recorded live because we really wanted to transcribe the energy of the live, to transmit the adrenaline of its own. ”

In fact, the four songs included in the EP reveal a real cohesion and a beautiful group dynamic, conveying a musical universe already very strong. ” Now, we work more collectively for the composition of music, starting from small themes that we all develop together, ” said Louisa Benâtre.

Superb dreamlike cavalcade in chiaroscuro, terribly addictive from the first listening, the title track is not only the longest (almost five minutes) but also the most memorable EP. But it should not overshadow the other three: Play a Little More With You , alert and catchy, Never Coming Back, half-jolly half-disenchanted, and When You’re Asleepmelodious and nervous. Very seductive and impeccably highlighted by the production, the whole floats with great elegance and presence between indie rock and folk, slight country inflections appearing here and there. Among his major influences, the group quotes Big Thief, Courtney Barnett and Patsy Cline – but we also think, for example, Molly Burch and Throwing Muses.

Having just made a tour to promote the EP, developing its repertoire, Black Audio is becoming stronger and stronger. New songs are currently being created, an album should arrive sooner or later. The future looks pretty good.

Source: Group to follow: the spellbinding folk-rock in chiaroscuro by Noir Audio – Les Inrocks

What Is Impressionism In Music?

Impressionism in art is fairly easy to describe: thin brush strokes, obscured edges, the play of light. Impressionism in music is harder to articulate.

Impressionism in art is fairly easy to describe: thin brush strokes, obscured edges, the play of light.

Impressionism in music is harder to articulate. Composer Claude Debussy translated visual ambiguity to music by unrooting time.  There are no hard edges. The music is dreamy. It’s often hard to find the beat.

The Impressionist composers — Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel in particular, but also Erik Satie and Gabriel Faure — took their inspiration from many of the same places that Impressionist painters did: nature. Debussy was particularly inspired by water.

Symbolist poets of the day also influenced Impressionist composers.  Paul Verlaine’s “Clair de Lune” and Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” were beautiful, but obscure, as is Debussy’s music based on these poems.

And finally, Impressionist composers paid attention to how music vibrated in the body. You’ll hear the lowest notes on the piano played in conjunction with the highest notes. Feeling the music was almost as important as hearing it. LISTEN HERE

Source: What Is Impressionism In Music? | Colorado Public Radio

How Red Wine is Made 

Wineries make red wine today much the same way they did 6,000 years ago in Greece and Persia. Dark-colored grapes are harvested, crushed, fermented, stirred and separated from the skins by a press. Voila! Red wine.

Better containers, presses and cellars have increased quality and efficiency of red wine production many times over, but it’s still essentially a simple process. Red wine production requires no cooking or ingredients besides grapes, yeast and, usually, sulfur dioxide as a preservative.

Red wine is made on the skins

Red wine is made like white wine, but with one major difference. Generally, it ferments with the grape skins and juice combined in a tank or vat. White wines are pressed before fermentation, separating the juice from the skins.

The skin contact in red wine production allows color, flavor and textural compounds to be integrated into the juice, while the yeast converts sugar to alcohol. The skins contain most of the good stuff that gives red wine its color, while the pulp mostly provides the juice.

Harvesting red-wine grapes and the crush

Red wine grapes are ready to harvest in late summer to early fall, several weeks after the initial green color of the grapes has turned to dark red or blue-black, a period called veraison.

Vineyard crews cut the grape bunches or clusters from the vines. That’s either done by hand or a self-propelled machine that shakes or slaps the grapes off their stems and collects the individual berries and juice.

Delivered to the winery, winemakers can also sort out mildewed grapes, unwanted raisins, leaves and debris. Clusters then go through a destemmer/crusher that removes the whole grape berries from the stems and may squeeze them slightly to get the juice flowing. Any juice created at these stages prior to pressing is known as free run. Machine-harvested grapes are already ready to ferment. Continue reading “How Red Wine is Made “ →

The Bigourdans of the Stairs group do not stop climbing the steps of success 

In 2015, they had created a buzz by posting videos of recovery worldwide hits, and had been seen by some Lady Gaga …

Since this buzz, Lucille and Samuel Atchouel, now from Toulouse but from the Hautes-Pyrénées, now aged 22 and 20, have come a long way … “In 2015, we had an important meeting, Richard Seff, who was the producer of Francis Cabrel and many others. He was seduced by one of the small clips that we made and, although he moved on, he wanted to get back to produce us, provided that we start thoroughly. That’s what we did, we worked every day, on music, texts, models … We finalized 5 titles, Richard Seff made them pass to Valery Zeitoun, the former boss of Universal Music who has set up his own label, My Way Management. And he offered us a contract, he is our producer, and we are now distributed by Sony Music. “

Their first single is available recently, on all platforms. “The title is called” Old Hollywood “and it pays tribute to American cinema in the 50s and 60s. “In fact, we find in the clip (directed by Fabrice Begotti, a size in the genre) full of references to cult movies, as 7 years of reflection with Marilyn, or Roman Holidays with Audrey Hepburn …” We like this universe, “say the artists, who sing tart melodies, in tune with the times, with just the right amount of glamor.

 

Source: The Bigourdans of the Stairs group do not stop climbing the steps of success – ladepeche.fr

Where to Eat in Paris: The Best 13 New Restaurants to Try Right Now

To make choosing where to eat in Paris as painless as possible, we’ve done the “hard” graft for you by testing out 13 of the newest, most talked-about places in the city. From creative cuisine hailing from Israel to the chef that’s shaking things up at the Eiffel Tower, we’ve got you covered.

1. Shabour, A (Michelin) Star In The Making

Every dish here is testimony to the chefs’ inexhaustible inspiration. And teamed with hospitality that’s rarely seen in trendy Paris restaurants of this caliber, Shabour certainly packs one mighty punch.

With several restaurants under their belt in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, London and Paris, Shabour, meaning ‘hangover’ in Hebrew, is the clan’s third restaurant and first independent endeavor in the French capital.  Alongside the enigmatic Assaf Granit is his clan, Dan Yosha and Uri Navon in the kitchen, and Tomer Lanzmann as head host and all-round ambiance-setter en salle.

As far as the décor goes, it’s simple. And that’s the way they wanted it. A former jazz club, the space is entirely candlelit. The stone walls and waxed cement floors provide the backdrop for an open kitchen encased in a marvelous jade-green marble counter for diners to perch at, giving the restaurant a perfectly achieved result.

In a silent ritual of swift movements and the occasional hint of a smile in his icy blue eyes, lead maestro Assaf deposits utensils in front of diners in preparation for each dish, his hands, covered in cryptic black tattoos, sporadically emerging from the shadows.

He lays dinky forks on the counter. An oyster appears adorned with zata herbs (similar to wild oregano), apple and shallot juice, all laid on top of a wooden stand like an artwork, ready to be blowtorched before we swallow it, reeling from the burst of flavor as it slowly imparts its notes in our mouths.

Another stand-out dish includes scorched leek plunged in vegetable stock and filled with labanais (yoghurt-like drink) and porcini mushrooms accompanied by a halloumi crumble and stock that’s meant to recall a journey through the woods. And what a journey it is, each dish pulling us deeper into a world unknown where flavor becomes all that matters.

Next up, Assaf lays out a porcelain egg cup, ready to be filled by Dan with four types of egg: poached, marinated for 48 hours in black tea with ginger, relish of carrots and onions, raisins, tahini, Egyptian spinach, salmon eggs, and poutarde. Explosive. As is Uri’s exceptional amuse bouche of escargot-shaped apple roasted with olive oil and arak, and pickled pink and white beetroot stuffed with brie and plum purée, prepped like a “small tower of Babylon,” as he describes it while he rolls it into shape behind the counter in front of us.

A flurry of dishes, each one more sophisticated than the next and interwoven with accents from a faraway land; the genius behind each mouthful is the scattered positioning of the ingredients on the colorful mismatched porcelain plates. The result is that no mouthful is ever the same.

Here, time stalls as the experience takes you to places you’ve never wandered before. When we left some hours later, we were floating – merry from the wine (which flowed) and not uncomfortably bloated from the food. The next morning however, starting the day proved a little less smooth, but then again, we were warned – the restaurant isn’t called Shabour for nothing.

Shabour – 19 Rue Saint-Sauveur, 75002 Paris Continue reading “Where to Eat in Paris: The Best 13 New Restaurants to Try Right Now” →