The Latest from French Boutik

For many, the word “mod,” at least in the musical, conjures echoes of hard-driving, guitar-hook-driven, quasi-punkish rock and roll, with the early Who and the Jam as the prototypes.  But those who have done their homework that mod – short for “modernist” actually began as British kids got hip to the sounds of American soul, r&b, and jazz.

All that Pete Townshend stuff, great as it was (and still is), turned mod in a completely different direction. French Boutik puts it right back. The Paris based-four-piece puts the soul and  jazz back into mod, plus squeezes in a little French pop and Bacharach too. The group has never done it better than they have on their newest album, L’Ame De Paris.

American-born singer Gabriela Giacoman, brings a velvety soulfulness absolutely perfect to the band’s sound, though guitarist Serge Hoffman’s voice gives Giacomin plenty to work with and around. Drummer Zelda Aquil – along with bassist Jean-Marc  Joannes  keeps beats and a bottom throughout, with musical style that might prove too challenging for many.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean they don’t rock, too. “Amis Sur Facebook” (how’s that for modern?) has many snarly but subtle hooks, and “Beta Gamma” fits in just fine with the guitar mod motif, as does “Loin de Moi.”

At their best, though, the band is breezy and catchy all at the same time. The album opener, “Strasbourg St. Denis,” is an impossible song to not like. The faint melancholia of “Pedaler Pour Des Prunes” shines as the jazziest moment n the whole album.  “Belle Erreur” contains just a whiff of Smokey Robinson, enough to be severely enjoyable without being predictable. “Ta Faute” nicely synthesizes all of the soul and jazz elements.

We love to rock out as much as anybody here at Garagerocktopia, but a little subtlety and texture 

once in a while isn’t such a bad thing, especially when L’Ame De Paris helps you get there.

Speaking of getting there, here is the first video from the album, for the song "Beta Gamma," filmed partly on the Paris Metro -- until the band out. Enjoy!

We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.

Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...