Following the swanky cool of the E.P Istanbul is Sleepy by a few months, the new album from French veterans of 60s garage beat and psychedelia, The Limiñanas, peddles a similar groove-enriched strain of psych-rock that sounds contemporary, while cribbing the best of their influences.
Musical couch-surfer, Anton Newcombe has been collaborating with the band in recent times. This has had the effect of synthesising the relative strengths of each of the artists. A coterie of friends indeed. Also, since Malamore, The Limiñanas have shifted a little more into the trance aspects of psych-pop, whilst sheltering behind vocals inspired by the detached cool of Serge Gainsbourg, the great French master of pop erotica. The voice on tracks such as ‘Dimanche’ has a rhythmic drive and poetic meter. It doesn’t even matter what the [mostly] French lyrics reveal because the voice, as an instrument, caresses the mood so effortlessly. It matters not from where the breeze emanates. The guitars layer the sound with looping melodica and percussion, a gently assuaging sound that manages to incorporate the sound of police sirens on ‘De La Part Des Copains’, as if this is no longer an intrusion but shares a comforting affinity with urban life. The mood is nonchalant, a kind of ambulatory effervescence that doesn’t share the darkness of much of the psychedelic oeuvre.
The ‘Ouverture’ sets the pace, a kind of Mozartian scene setting for much of what is to follow, themes that will recur – guitars, sitars, tambourines, distant broadcasts – a panoply of 60s garage sound updated with great enthusiasm for the easy swagger. ‘Le Premier Jour’ is sexy as hell, and surely is the godchild of later era Serge. Whatever the fuck it translates to, the vocals are the sensorial equivalent of a tropical massage. Beautiful stuff. ‘Istanbul is Sleepy’ males a re-appearance from the EP of 2017, and why not, it’s psych-pop masterwork.
‘Shadow People’ is predominantly the female vocal of Guest, Emmanuelle Seigner which is a simple tune executed beyond its station. Deceptively engaging. ‘Trios Bancs’ is quite possibly the most accomplished track, setting a trance much like Moon Duo without the vortex of freaky guitar. Here the Interplay between the Limiñanas is so hot, it’s little wonder the album cover is drenched in sunburnt orange.
Rob Taylor / Soundblab
French pop in its purest form hasn't really got its groove back since the 60s, but, wisely, it's this very era that this Perpignan duo mine, marrying fuzzed-out psychedelia and agreeably rambling rock with the pop sweetness of that decade's chansons. The ghost of Gainsbourg is felt most keenly in Votre côté yéyé m'emmerde, a softly spoken-word litany of icons and celebrities. Not hero worship, though, but an eye roll at the cute-ification of the past; its title translates to something like "your yé-yé view annoys me", or, more literally, "enshittens me". It is, in other words, a perfectly Gallic "bof" of a pop song.
Hermione Hoby / The Guardian
Crystal Anis is the latest LP from the French underground band The Limiñanas. This hook laden dreamy fuzz felt pop owes a big nod to the Velvet Underground which Lio and Marie Limiñana make no secret of. Lush garage rock and folk-pop with plenty of tambourine, jangly guitars and hooks to keep you off your chair, you can’t go wrong.
The music has a simplicity that works on many levels, from looping ukulele openings (AF3458) to the great Velvet Underground sounding tribute on Kinam Baby. Sultry female vocals call to mind the likes of Mazzy Starr and Nico which really go to work on the breathy Hospital Boogie. Male vocals also feature on the likes of Bad Lady Goes to Jail whose combined tambourine percussion calling to mind the early Stones whilst the title track shines with fuzzy guitars and organ and Serge Gainsbourg inspired male / female spoken parts.
This has got to be one of the most overlooked albums of 2012, it’s brilliantly constructed and executed…scatter the cushions on the floor and get the liquid light show ready.
Alex Gallacher / Folk Radio
Style: Bossa Nova, Fusion, MPB, Latin Jazz 
Style: New Wave, Rock & Roll
Like R.E.M., the B-52's, and Pylon, this fine band hailed from the unlikely independent-rock hotbed of Athens, GA. The long jangle pop shadow of R.E.M. is extremely strong on this release, with seven of the ten tracks showing either full or partial influence of that group. Fortunately, the songs here are excellent, exhibiting much variety within this style. "Trail of Tears," a haunting antiwar number, sounds the most like their Athens counterparts. "Fire From Heaven" is more up-tempo, intense, and dynamic, while "Sleepers Awake" is an ominous, slowly unfolding song. "Ghost on the Road" is primarily a fast country-punk number that saves its R.E.M. stylings for its yearning chorus. "Gilbert Takes the Wheel" and the title track are jangly instrumentals, the former being a fast rocker with a thudding beat, the latter being a lengthy slow-tempo selection exhibiting noticeable psychedelic traits. Other territory is touched on as well. "Pillow Talk" is a winsomely energetic Everly Brothers-influenced song. The brilliant "Watusi Rodeo" is a jumpy pop number sporting over-the-top surf guitar licks and inspired hilarious-yet-uncomfortable lyrics about "Ugly American" cowboys in Africa. There's also an eccentric cover of the missionary hymn "Kum Ba Yah," complete with appreciative background audience shouting, an energetic drum solo, and extreme contrasts of loud and soft dynamics (sometimes within the same verse line). This odd yet strong album is well worth hearing.
David Cleary / AllMusic
It only takes a couple of listens to start singing along with And Yet It's All Love, the second album from the Eglo artist Fatima. Where her breakthrough LP, Yellow Memories, impressed with its unorthodox approach to modern soul, the follow-up lands on a more modest, immediate sound that still oozes personality. She's assembled a mostly fresh production team for her latest LP, though she's retained the hip-hop beatmaker Flako. Having contributed two tracks to Yellow Memories, his increased prominence on And Yet It's All Love helps give the LP a more modern-sounding palette. There aren't flashy maneuvers like there were on "La Neta," which switched tempos and time signatures, stuffing 20-minutes' worth of ideas into six. The level of musicianship here is still high, but the focus is on making moving, memorable songs.
All great singers, or rather, the ones who write their own music, have musical trademarks. There are motifs that crop up in many of Fatima's vocal melodies. What makes them uniquely hers is their jazzy ambiguity—instead of simple minor or major keys that might reference single-note emotions, her weird harmonies often suggest a tense counterbalance of conflicting feelings. "Attention Span Of A Cookie" is sexy, sassy and even a little sad, with strange minor intervals offset by a fun bassline. When a songwriter gives voice to that tension—not just multiple emotional notes but the semitones between them—that's when you start to hear the messy magic of real life.
The LP has a wide range of moods, painting a lively and dynamic portrait of Fatima as a person. There are the hooky singalongs that DJs will love, like "Westside," "Caught In A Lie" and "Attention Span Of A Cookie," which benefit from the album's bass-boosted production. There are moments of audacious self-empowerment ("So Rite"), slow-burning sensuality ("Dang"), manic energy ("I See Faces") and clear-headed confidence ("May I"). There are curveballs where the album gently swerves off-piste, such as "Waltz," which is indeed a waltz, with its pum-pum bassline and sparkly fairytale synths. She closes out the album with the title track, and it's Fatima at her most virtuosic—not only does she have style and grace, but the vocal chops to bring all of her notes to life.
Max Pearl / Resident Advisor
