OohLaLA! Announces Debut London Festival For October 2013, Plus First Line-up Revealed Including Dominique A, Lescop + ≠ FAUVE

A big celebration of modern French music happening 21st, 22nd + 24th October @ Village Underground, East London

www.oohlalafestival.com
www.facebook.com/oohlalafestival
@oohlalafestival

OohLaLA!, the definitive international festival celebrating the best of modern French music, is coming to London for the first time this October. The event will run over three nights at East London's iconic music and arts venue Village Underground on the 21st , 22nd and 24th October 2013. The first names from the line-up to be announced are influential experimental songwriter Dominique A, no wave disco artist Lescop, polemic post rockers ≠ FAUVE, popstar-in-the-making Christine and The Queens plus the equally revered The Quietus DJs.

Tickets for each day of OohLaLA! will be available from the 1st July, with more acts and one-off collaborations to be announced. There's more Gallic musical delights to discover beyond Daft Punk's shiny masks and disco balls, with the full OohLaLA! line-up representing a vibrant array of sounds issuing from the other side of La Manche.

Sign-up to OohLaLA!'s mailing list to receive the festival ticket link HERE before it goes on general release, RSVP to the Facebook event.

More about the OohLaLA! artists:

Dominique A (Cinq 7)

www.dominiquea.com
Dominique A is widely viewed as being the one of the most innovative French songwriters of recent years and subsequently an inspiration for a whole new musical generation including François & The Atlas Mountains, Françoiz Breut and Yann Tiersen. Dominique A has been steadily making progressive experimental pop music since the early 90s and his humble origins in the Nantes pop-rock scene. His musical achievements were officially acknowledged by today's French music industry when he won Best Male Artist at this year's Victoires de la Musique (France's Brits). He was one of the first modern French musicians to find a new voice outside of the traditional constraints of 'la grande chanson' and to encourage others that it was possible to make music that reflected their tastes and feelings using the French language.

In 1990 Dominique A began to record songs which were both minimalist and rock in style. He wanted to break with 'chanson', considered to be in his opinion more literary than musical. Debut album, 'Le Disque Sourd', met with critical acclaim from Les Inrockuptibles and by Bernard Lenoir, the 'John Peel' of France. Furthermore, his song, 'Le Courage des Oiseaux', was an underground hit, and Dominique's reputation increased even more through his seminal release 'La Fossette' in 1992. From here onwards, he started to produce more and more live shows, either with a backing band, or solo. He made his commercial breakthrough in 1995, with 'Le twenty-two bar', a single off the album, 'La Mémoire Neuve'.

After releasing no less than seven albums throughout the noughties, Dominique released his latest, 'Vers Les Lueurs', through respected independent Cinq7 in 2012.

Watch the recent video for 'Rendez-nous La Lumiere', taken from 'Vers Les Lueurs': www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6oBgyM_WHo

Lescop (Pop Noire)

www.facebook.com/lescoplescop
Lescop released his cooly understated debut album via Pop Noire in the UK this month, with his sleek mix of no wave disco and post punk fast gaining the adoration of The Quietus, Time Out and The Fly. Naturally, Lescop already had a credible reputation amongst savvy music lovers in his homeland, with 'Lescop' provoking a smattering of critical applause from the likes of Les Inrockuptibles, Libération, Tsugi and Wonderland Magazine. Not discounting exclusive support from Hedi Slimane, who shot the album cover, and the mighty Phoenix, who have tipped Lescop of late.

Watch the video for album standout, 'La Nuit Américaine', as hailed by The Quietus as one of their tracks of 2013. This clip was directed by Sylvie Verheyde and is an extended cinematic exploration of the track, based on an idea by Lescop: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezeyIGnKIKY

≠ FAUVE (independent)

http://fauvecorp.com/
Parisian post rock band ≠ FAUVE are quite the zeitgeisty phenomenon in France right now, similar aesthetically and sonically to British Sea Power, also reminiscent of Mogwai (but with more overt hip hop influences). Having only released videos up until their debut self-released 'Blizzard' EP in May, ≠ FAUVE's devoted fans know all their lyrics by heart and snap up tickets to the band's shows, selling them out in minutes like at their recent monthly live residency at La Fleche D'Or. It seems ≠ FAUVE have struck a tone with the current disaffected generation, their music addressing the general difficulties facing the common man to survive in today's society. Read on for more about ≠ FAUVE and their timely mission statement:

≠ FAUVE is an open collective - what they like to call a CORP - that operates on various formats (music, videos, photos, texts, visuals, web, etc.) to put forth and share their common intention and belief: tell of the starkness of modern human relations, refuse defeat, have the right to weakness, the almighty power of words and the never-ending quest for love with a big L (whichever that may be).

The founding members of ≠ FAUVE are long-time friends. They first started out by uniting around music with a need for collective externalization. The result is a French spoken word dropped on instrumental tracks ranging from hip-hop to pop; this also explains the depth of the texts, written without lyricism and openly transparent from start to end.

Watch the intense mini film for 'Blizzard', as realised by Noki Powlonski and ≠ FAUVE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMpmedi_pH4

Christine and The Queens (Because)

www.christineandthequeens.com
Fresh from appearing at The Great Escape and releasing EP 'Nuit 17 à 52' on Because this month, Christine and The Queens makes alluring electronic pop music sparkling with superstar charisma. Sonically she combines the vulnerability of Bat For Lashes, Lykke Li's pop nous and Prince's funkiness, all making for a great live show where Christine slinks and slides across the stage like a female Michael Jackson.

Christine is pop for popular, but never forgets what makes her different: author, composer and also producer of her songs, she is the soul and moving body who picks without distinction among diverse and complementary influences. Alone on stage, she seeks the energy of bigger shows. Without an instrument or a safety net she draws inspiration from dancing artists (the aforementioned King of Pop is her idol), and performing artists (Andy Kaufman, kamikaze without knowing it).

Despite only starting her musical career in 2010, Christine has already packed a lot into three years, touring the whole of France thanks to Les Femmes S’en Mêlent festival in 2012 and winning the revelation prize at Printemps de Bourges in the same year. Earlier this year, she was selected for the compilation 'Les Inrocks Lab', with the magazine predicting that Christine was one of the most exciting new French artists with worldwide potential.

Watch the video for 'Narcissus Is Back': www.youtube.com/watch?v=de6YFk_vrJM

More about OohLaLA!

Founded in 2009 by Sylvain Taillet (head of A&R for French label Barclay/Universal Music France), OohLaLA! is an international multi-day celebration showcasing the best artists from the French indie, pop, rock and electronic scene. Previous line-ups have featured Sebastien Tellier, Tinariwen, Kavinsky, Nouvelle Vague, Citizens!, Brodinski, Gonzales, General Electriks, François and The Atlas Mountains to name but a few. Originating in Los Angeles, the festival has successfully expanded to take place in San Francisco, New York, Montréal and now London.

OohLaLA! London is promoted by 2 For The Road Productions in association with the Bureau Export and Institut Français and presented by The Line Of Best Fit.

For press tickets and more info on OohLaLA! please contact debbie@createspark.co.uk