Nouvelle Vague (album)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Nouvelle Vague is a French musical collective led by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Their name is a play on words, meaning "new wave" in French. This refers simultaneously to their "Frenchness" and "artiness" (the '60s new wave of cult French cinema), the source of their songs (all covers of punk rock, post-punk, and New Wave songs), and their use of '60s bossa nova-style arrangements.
Members, former members and contributors include many French artists who are now very well known on their own and considered as part of what is now called the "Renouveau de la chanson française" (the "Renewal of French chanson"): Anaïs Croze, Camille Dalmais, Phoebe Killdeer, Mélanie Pain, Marina Céleste and Gerald Toto. Template:Clearleft
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2004: Nouvelle Vague
On their first album, Nouvelle Vague, the group resurrected classics from the New Wave music era, and reinterpreted them in a bossa nova style. The songs were stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) to cover bands including XTC, Modern English, The Clash, Joy Division and The Undertones. The various female singers on Nouvelle Vague only performed songs they had never heard before, to ensure that each cover would have a unique quality.
2006: Bande à Part
Their second album, Bande à Part, includes versions of "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" by Buzzcocks, "Blue Monday" by New Order, "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.
2009: 3
On 3 Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore sings "Master and Servant" with Nouvelle Vague’s leading lady Melanie Pain; Ian McCulloch of Echo And The Bunnymen duet with Melanie on "All My Colours"; Marina Celeste performs "Our Lips Are Sealed" with Terry Hall of The Specials and Funboy Three; and Magazine’s "Parade" is sung by Barry Adamson and Nouvelle Vague’s Nadeah Miranda. For additional tracks that did not make the final album, Chris Bailey from Australian rockers The Saints performs a duet, likewise Samy Birnbach of Belgian new-wavers Minimal Compact.
|thumb|Nouvelle Vague live at Rockefeller, Oslo, 10 October 2009. In June 2009, Nouvelle Vague released an iPhone app to promote the new album 3.<ref>http://company.pias.com/en/nouvelle-vague-kick-pias-recordings-first-iphone-application</ref>
Appearances in media
- Nouvelle Vague's cover of Tuxedomoon's "In a Manner of Speaking" appears in a 2005 episode of the Channel 4 drama Sugar Rush as well as during the end credits of the 2007 film A Mighty Heart; the song has also featured on an episode of Hollyoaks,Template:When and was prominently featured in the Korean drama Soulmate.
- Their cover of "Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC was used as the background music for the Air France website.Template:When
- "Just Can't Get Enough", "O Pamela" and "Teenage Kicks" have also been used in Channel 4's Sugar Rush.
- The United States television channel Turner Classic Movies began using Nouvelle Vague's cover of "Dance with Me" by The Lords of the New Church in 2007 for an advertisement featuring former selections from the Cannes Film Festival.
- In 2005, their cover of Modern English's "I Melt with You", was used for the soundtrack of the black comedy film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and appeared in a 2007 American television advertisement for the GMC Acadia as well as UK adverts for Vicks Sinex and T-Mobile. It was also used in the third season of American reality series The Hills, in the second season (episode 8) of Grey's Anatomy, and the in the third episode of the first series of the UK drama Mistresses.
- Their cover of The Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to Fuck" was used in the 2007 film Planet Terror.
- Their versions of "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Teenage Kicks" have both been used in adverts in the UK.
- Recently,Template:When their cover of Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself" has been featured in advertisements for TLC's show LA Ink. It was also used as the show's opening theme song.
- Their cover of "Marian" by the The Sisters of Mercy appears in season 4 of Nip/Tuck.
- Their version of The Clash's "Guns of Brixton" appeared regularly in series 2 of Harry and Paul, during the "Cafe Polska" sketches.
- Their version of The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" was also used on an advert for the second series of The Inbetweeners.
- Their version of Bauhaus' 1979 single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was used at the opening of the 2007 film Elvis and Anabelle.
- Their version of "Heart of Glass" by Blondie was featured in the episode "The Rhodes Not Taken" of the Fox television series Glee.
Discography
Albums
- Nouvelle Vague (Peacefrog Records, 2004)
- Bande à Part (Peacefrog Records, 2006)
- Late Night Tales: Nouvelle Vague (Azuli, 2007)
- 3 (Peacefrog Records, 2009)
Singles
- "Eisbaer" (The Perfect Kiss / Peacefrog Records, 2006)
Other contributions
- Acoustic 05 (2005, Echo) - "Just Can't Get Enough"
- Chillout Sessions 9 (2006, Ministry of Sound) - "Blue Monday"
- Acoustic 07 (2007, V2 Records) - "Heart of Glass"
