The French Connection: Ear Candy A La Française, S'il Vous Plaît...

Oh bon dieu, mais qu'est-ce qui s'est passé avec cette séries? I knew it had been a while since I posted something from my adopted home country but it seems that the last time The French Connection connected you with Gallic music of some sorts was *checks notes* October 2025?!? Time to change that, though admittedly, if it hadn't been for a bit of a chance encounter, the return to music from the frog- and snail-eating part o the world would've been even longer. 

But a couple of days ago I caught Phoenix's "Lisztomania" on the radio, and I thought to myself, "why, that was a cool tune", and then thought that the accompanying album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was also really neat, and that the kind of fluffy ear candy pop on it is the perfect music for the spring with summer temperature that we have around here this week (today, it thankfully cooled down a bit, after a week of temperature saround 35°C, which really is too much. It's also too much historically speaking for a month of May, but that's probably the new normal with global warming continuing unabated. But I digress.

Hipsters et fières d'y être

So, Phoenix. If you vaguely remember having heard something about these guys or this album, that's because with this album especially they made some waves in the States, even winning a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album of the year. How you feel about that will say a lot about what the Grammies do with their voting categories, or how the term 'alternative music' has changed since its inception in the early 90s. Because nothing about this album screams 'alternative' in a way that you and me and other older folks remember that term. This is lush, extremely produced, intelligent pop music, which i only alternative, if the mainstream choices are hip hop, EDM or a mix of both. In no sane world would this run as 'alternative music', but the Grammies have always been insane (not in a good way), and category fraud has been as rampant as at their cousins, the Oscars, if not more so. 

Honestly, I remembered that Phoenix basically did all the TV late night shows back when that still meant something, but the whole Grammy and platinum (for single "1901" ) and gold certifications (for "Lisztomania") thing passed me by. But yeah, for a couple of weeks in 2009 Phoenix looked like the next big thing in alternative pop music. And, you know, deservedly so. If you remember these two singles, you sould remember them fondly: big catchy songs with big catchy choruses, even though some of the idiosyncratic lyrics are probably best blamed on these guys not writing in their mother tongue. Or, you know, being French arty hipsters. I mean, c'mon, these guys hail from fuckin' Versailles! 

Le hipster chic, mode ironique, eh...

Oh, but Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix deserves whatever prices they want to give out, and whatever chart success it can get! It's such a confident, impeccably played and produced record. If you want you can hear hints of, say, Antmusic-era Adam And The Ants in "Listzomania", and there's some clear New Wave influences, while lush instrumental "Love Like A Sunset Pt. 2" reminds you of Avalon-era Roxy Music. Opulent pop aren't dirty words, you know, so there's no need to couch this in 'alternative' clothes. 

Seing how a straight up post of the original album would be lame-ish, you'll even get an extra special, One Buck Records only bonus track edition, with a handful of live unplugged tracks from a small live for radio concert in Germany in october 2009. It's interesting to hear these songs in a more stripped-down form, plus they (and thus I) throw in a cover of Dylan's "Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands", because why not. 

Check out Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix for the sound of the spring...

P.S.: If you like polished pop made in France, I invite you to check out Geyster right here.