[Albums] Nouvelle Vague - Bande a Part

Nouvelle Vague
Bande a Part
Luaka Bop

Timing can sometimes be everything. Amidst the sudden euphoria for everything 80's several years ago, a new appreciation for the lounge scene among mature cosmopolitans simultaneously sprung up. The French act Nouvelle Vague brilliantly combined the two styles and came across with a fresh and sultry take on a catalog of 80's songs that were being rediscovered by a new generation. Critics were hesitant to allow Nouvelle Vague the opportunity to extend beyond a mere novelty act, but the audiences disagreed. Now in 2006, after touring the world, the band has released Bande a Part under Luaka Bop, David Byrne's world music label. The record is a strong musical offering that continues to challenge conventional musical tastes and further explores the possibilities of the cover band.

For Example- ever wondered what the memorable Bauhaus track "Bela Lugosi's Dead" would sound like played by a smoking Brazilian lounge act? Or what Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself" would come across reincarnated as a zydeco/bossanova shuffle? These fantastic musical meanderings, and many more, are explored with an international perspective by this funky French collective. Back on their self-titled debut, leader Marc Colin put together a group of musicians to, as he says, "arrang the greatest, but rarely covered early '80s post-punk numbers in an original and personal way". The group continues the experiment on their new album with sounds that are a musical nod to the styles of the Caribbean between 1940 and 1970.

Nouvelle Vague successfully transplants these selected post-punk gems out of the wet and overcast milieu of Britain and the claustrophobic pretentiousness of the early 80's downtown New York scene where they were created. The band then brings the songs into the hot and sweaty atmosphere of the Caribbean and the move does wonders for the songs. Hearing New Order's "Blue Monday" sung in a sexy French accent in the middle of a hot Spanish-speaking club by Melanie Pain to the beat of maracas, shakers and funky mallets is a bit, well, cool. The breathing room that is injected into these tracks allows for them to be enjoyed in environments that they originally would have seemed out of place in. Can you imagine before making out to the Cramps track "Human Fly"? You can now. A new lease on life has been given to these classic, yet aged tracks.

Any 80's enthusiast will undoubtedly find loads to like on this record. And someone that can't stand the datedness of 80's songs will find these new versions fresh and funky. It just goes to show that a well written song, like the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love" or Echo and Bunneyman's "Killing Moon", possess a timelessness that can translate into any musical language. Anyone that can't get down, or least nod their head, to the Nouvelle Vague's take on "Dance with Me" by Lords of the New Church, or any of the other tracks on Bande a Part, has a serious rhythm deficiency.