Frenchmen - Sorry, We Ruined Your Party

  by Chris Jones

published: 16 / 9 / 2004

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It's said that imitation is the highest form of flattery and if that's truly the case then this album by the Frenchmen should make the Flatmates and Talulah Gosh/ Heavenly feel quite flattered.  The ghost of C-86 seems to reappear from time to time via reissues, compilations, and "new" bands.  The Frenchmen (who call Sacramento, CA home) are the latest band to flesh things out and give a body and face to that ghost.  Depending on how you covet your "legends of the past", listening to this album could either be quite thrilling or completely exasperating.  This album is a 12 song, 25 minute pop blast filled with slightly distorted guitars, hyperactive drums, hand claps, ba-ba-ba's and ooh-ah's.  This is the kind of music that induces fits of bouncing around with a big grin on your face until you knock over that lamp or fall off the couch.  And even then, you just sort of laugh and start bouncing around again.  It's boys and girls singing about good times and bad times, crushes and being crushed. If you happen to be driving when listening to this album, a speeding ticket or questions about why you were swerving about the road will surely be in your immediate future. It's twee-pop, cuddle-core, and to steal a line from a college radio show I once heard, "it's punk rock for pussies". To say the sound is derivative would be an understatement - at times I felt like I was listening to a tribute album!  Clearly the Frenchmen know from whom they borrow and they actually do quite a nice job on their cover of the Flatmates' 'Tell Me Why.' 'Chemistry Lessons' sounds like it could have been a Heavenly song, as do 'Black and White' and 'Flake for You.' If you've been longing for that sound from days gone by, then this album should make you quite happy.  And if you feel those bands are sacred, then this album may make you quite mad. I've sort of had both responses to it, much like I did with Interpol and Franz Ferdinand doing their versions of the post-punk sound.  The Frenchmen may not be covering any new ground here, but they do a good job of following the footsteps of the C-86 sound.  Playing this album at your party surely won't ruin it either, though glasses will be spilled and some furniture might get broken. If you haven't heard the original version of this sound, this will be a nice primer.  And when you get done bouncing around, go out and track down some Heavenly albums and the soon to be re-issued (by Claire Records none the less) Flatmates compilation 'Love and Death.'  What's old is new again!!!

Track Listing:-

1 Change Of Season
2 Crimes Of Fashion
3 Tell Me Why
4 Chemistry Lessons
5 Private Name, Private Number
6 Runaway
7 Black And White
8 Veterans Day
9 Flake For You
10 Like The Weather
11 Matthew Mark Lupe And Jon
12 Powdered Blue (Live On Kalx)

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