Mathieu Artu's solo project, RQTN is the reflection of the artistic aspirations of its creator. He released his first writings as a composer on early 2008, on a CD EP "We Were...We Are", on Swarm Of Nails Recordings. As reviewers acclaimed this first effort, RQTN started to make itself known, dropping its name out on the musical landscape. One year later, no more copies were left.
Time passes by, and new songs are written to be played with french hardcore band EINNA's singer. Though the project fails, Mathieu Artu reckons it should be shared. So, a second EP, self-titled, is released on the internet. Fully downloadable for free, it reaches more and more people every single day. In the meanwhile, it's time for self-questionning, as the Myspace page says, "RQTN is dead".Yet it is not the end of the story.
Several weeks later, RQTN comes out of nowhere, writing a brand new page of his story, leaving the ethereal post-rock spheres for a crossover between several sounds. Through classical, alternative and modern minimalism, Mathieu Artu borrows from Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter, Philip Glass, Clint Mansell or The Album Leaf. 9 tracks are written, the first long-play album from RQTN is born. Its name : "Monolithes En Mouvement"... (Monoliths in motion)

Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream’s debut album “Canopy” is an unforgettable and awe-inspiring instrumental rock masterpiece of majestic depth consisting of four long atmospheric tracks fuelled by orchestral expansiveness, soaring guitars and intense melodies that induce powerful emotions and a dreamlike state at every listen.
“Canopy” is an astoundingly disarming debut release from a band that immediately displayed remarkable cohesion in their compositions and a natural ability to tug at one’s heartstrings. The arrangements emphasize texture, structure and pacing. The lush cinematic strings are constantly enveloping and come to life with mystical grandeur. Yannick Tournier’s pristine production only further empowers the high-reaching capabilities of this imposing band that truly lives up to their name. “Canopy” is a towering triumph born out of ambition, emotions and mesmerising mastery. It is a larger than life post-rock symphony for the ages. - Elusive Sound

Colleen的05年专辑“The Golden Morning Breaks”在Splendidezine刚刚评选出的年度TOP 20中位列第一。不排除由于该站的高层主编是个电音达人，单就这张专辑的自身价值来说，确实是今年不可忽略的一笔，不管你听的喜欢的是什么类型的音乐。
Colleen的音乐风格定位于Post-electronic/Abstract/Minimalism。谈到这张“The Golden Morning Breaks”，你会发现自己无非是在围着其中那些制造出高度抽象概括声音的器乐绕来绕去：铃铛，大提琴，教堂氛围，以及19世纪的玻璃钟琴。这是Colleen的第二张专辑，乍一听，你会觉得和她的首张专辑“Everyone Alive Wants Answers”没什么区别。Cecile Schott，一个有着强烈DIY精神与头脑的法国艺术家，她的音乐依然是混合了旋律与极简主义，她喜欢温暖梦幻的声音，她的音乐是跨越时空的“混合物”：原声民谣与文艺复兴时期的古典乐融合，并用一支电子的“调和棒”将它们搅匀。这不禁会让一些较为资深的听者由此张联想到Vini Reilly的早期作品“The Durutti
Column”，人们不会忘记Vini以overdub和loop增色的优美而闪烁的吉他。其实，Schott的首张CD是一张完全的小样专辑，仅用自己的一台电子录音机和朋友送的制作小样的软件完成。真是简陋的可怕。那时她给我们留下的印象无非只是一个德国的声音艺术家或是用笔记本电脑做音乐的音景师。但在第一张专辑发行后的巡演推广中收获了出乎意料的成功后，Schott意识到只坐在台上用一台笔记本电脑合成音乐，这并不是她想要的。由于青少年时玩学生乐队的经历，这时的Schott已经积累了相当的吉他技术。她开始钻研一些其他乐器的专业技术，这里的其他乐器所指的就是她在此张专辑中大规模应用的乐器，比如奥开斯里特翁琴(一种能模仿管弦乐队各种音色的机械乐器)、玻璃钟琴、风琴、口琴等一些盛行于19世纪或更久远的近乎失传的乐器。在这张“The Golden Morning Breaks”中，她已然完全抛弃了原先那副做音乐小样的姿态与装备，精工细画出极其优雅别致的作品，将那些古董级的器乐音色发挥到极至。如果告诉你这张专辑的标题“The Golden Morning Breaks”正是来源于17世纪的一支琵琶作品，你会不会感到惊讶呢？
在深层次挖掘声音的过程中，Schott的目标就是采用和第一张完全不同的音乐理念和方式来创造出一样的梦幻般的美感。在这张“The Golden Morning Breaks”中，尽管所采用的乐器是不胜枚举的，但细心的听者一定也会分辨出以下这些：原音吉他，前文中提到过的奥开斯里特翁琴，简单的电子琴、风琴，铃铛，竖琴，原始人用木棒演奏的打击乐器，也许还有一些玩具，比如手摇的八音盒。尽管在这张CD中出现的所有乐器都是不插电的，但是Schott一点儿都不为用了效果器而感到不好意思，因为最终的结果是完美的：它完全营造出了和第一张一样的轻薄的美感——那种和云朵一样纯净，不带任何质量、情感，源自未知境地，漂浮不定的感觉。“The Golden Morning Breaks”拥有更为透明和令人折服的品质，即使它哀伤的姿态都是迷人的。
Colleen的音乐给我一个莫大的印象就是太抽象了，完全没有主题与主旋律，你只能完全凭借自己的想象空间去填充和猜测。在不可思议的“Summer Water”里，安排大段的推弦，每一段新的琵琶loop都被影射上一段配套间奏。在每一个被无限膨胀的声效填充的立体光谱中，Colleen听起来又很像Brian Eno早期的音乐——Schott最大的兴趣就是不借助把各种音源聚集到一起然后按顺序整齐的把它们排列成线形的手段，而是直接的制作出具有凌乱美感的音效模型。“Summer Water”是Schott的作品中同时兼具与众不同与清晰结构性的一首歌，也是最容易让人接受让人喜欢的一首。当再次面对她抽象的不定形态的音乐时，我们已经不会再面露难色，因为那声音仿佛曾经在我们的记忆里出现过一样，模糊而遥远，却极其悦耳。
其实你的大脑只有15%的部分是在分辨耳边现在出现的到底是哪种乐器，而剩下的85%已经处于无意识的状态下深深沉浸在它们的余韵当中。"The Heart Harmonicon"里神秘花园的钟鸣声，"The Happy Sea"里港口的风琴声，“I’ll read you a story”里滴答回响的八音盒声……Schott在这张专辑里所采用的全自然的录音手法，到处充满着轻巧和谐的转换，使之成为一张超越你想象的作品。
不管怎么说，“The Golden Morning Breaks”是一张抽象的专辑，即使你那么喜欢它，你也会很挣扎不知道该把它放在什么场合下的什么情绪中来欣赏——你一周中又会给自己多少时间来静静的坐下，闭上双眼聆听这种音乐，去回想小时侯头的无数个黄昏，头顶上掠过的所有光的颜色？如果你不是特别钟情于这种极度抽象但美妙的却无固定形态的纯净器乐音乐形式，那“The Golden Morning Breaks”于你就只是一张华丽的壁画，永远的背景地位，比如你把它当成助你入睡的枕边音乐——当然这也不赖，但绝对不是Colleen能给予你最好的享受。因为如果你可以完全的理解它，这张专辑将是一切可能性与期待值，它将是任何我们将要发问的一切根源：一些简单、美好而连贯的东西，一些可圈可点而又完全基于偶然的想象。它的精妙不是死板的，而是可以生动的流淌的，没有明确流向，时轻时重，时缓时急。与其说这是一张能驾御人的潜意识接近一种引起幻觉的梦幻境地的专辑，还不如说它听起来更有Ancient-Chamber的味道，虽然所应用的器乐大都是古董级的，但丝毫不影响它的文明化和后现代化程度，那是种脱离蒙昧的冥想。
Colleen的第二张专辑展现在我们眼前一条通向更深更广的音乐世界的道路。我沉浸其中，眯着眼仿佛看见无数玄幻的光影在上空乱晃，八音盒的暗紫色眼泪，以及尖顶教堂没有一丝杂色的纯白。那是现实的庇护所，没有冲突，只有宁静与和平……

A World in Their Screams (2007)
Founded in 1993 by composers and multi-instrumentalists Iskandar Hasnawi (France) and Renaud Tschirner (Austria), joined by keyboard player, programmer and engineer Sébastien Roland in 1997, ELEND have gathered around them various musicians in the course of their existence: violinist David Kempf (2000-present), the sopranos Eve-Gabrielle Siskind (1994-1995), Nathalie Barbary (1995-2003), Esteri Rémond (2003-present) and Laura Angelmayer (2005-present).
The completion of the "Officium Tenebrarum" (or "Office des Ténèbres", 1993-1998), ELEND's highly acclaimed, very dark and violent trilogy, was followed by a hiatus of several years, where the composers turned to other, non-public musical projects.
ELEND resurfaced with Winds Devouring Men in 2003, the first part of a new sequence of albums. This work saw them take a quieter turn, soft and delicate strings were organically intertwined with exotic tones and harsh metallic textures and sounds inspired by French musique concrète. On their next album, the furious and dark Sunwar the Dead (2004), the composers combined their talent for large and dense orchestration with the most extreme experiments of the musical avant-garde of the XXth century.
Their latest album A World in Their Screams, which completes their “Winds Cycle” trilogy, was recorded with 30 instrumentalists and vocalists. The new compositions follow the long epic prose poem which also served as the foundation for the previous two parts of the “Winds Cycle”, combining personal themes with references to ancient Greek authors. Techniques from the musical avant-garde are tied together with a massive use of electronics and experiments with the human voice; microtonality, sonorism and musique concrète are fused with the post-Romantic instrumentation that is still intrinsically linked to ELEND’s musical identity.
Difficulties in producing this unprecedented type of music led to a deferral of the initially scheduled release date. The earliest draft of the album, contemporaneous with Sunwar the Dead, was modified several times: when the recording sessions had to be postponed the album was merged with the work in progress for the abstract and violent ELEND side-project ENSEMBLE ORPHIQUE. Since techniques had to be invented and developed in order to master such an uncommon sound, ELEND’s intensive and unusually long-lasting work on this album fostered a further radicalisation in composition and production: the result surpasses even their legendary album The Umbersun (1998) in terms of oppressive darkness. A World in Their Screams pushes the limits of musical density, suffocating atmospheres and raw violence to a point of no return.

Genre: Instrumental | Post- Rock | Post-Metal
Country: France

他们来自法国巴黎,共11人.接受过严格的巴洛克演奏训练, 三把吉他,一把小提琴,一把大提琴,两个主唱,这样的组合特别容易给人留下深刻影象

今年听到很多的地下后摇乐团给我们带来的惊喜，这支名叫Rqtn的乐团也同样是能让人喜出望外一支。这是一支来自法国的新晋后摇团体，目前只有这两张Ep作品，没有发行过正式专辑，也没有乐团相关的任何资料。这两张作品都被乐团提供在了自己的Myspace供人免费下载。虽然是这两张EP作品，但可听性非常之强，份量也十分之充足，绝不会亚于正式作品。法国的独立音乐一向带着法国人浪漫和温馨的特质，而Rqtn的音乐却显明有别其大多数的法国乐团，而是有着极其内省和深刻的内涵，这在他们的音乐表现得十分彻底。所用的这张Ep的封面是一副荒凉的战争背景的画面，而他们的Myspace上也贴着很多同样风格压抑的暗色图片，对战争的反省和控诉也许是他们作品主题的一部分吧，我不得而知。总之，他们的音乐表现的都是极其灰色压抑的情绪。淡淡的人声采样，忧伤悲悯的钢琴，在寒意正浓的深冬之夜，在他们的曲子中听到的都是非常让人伤感的情愫。这音乐越听越让人感觉寒冷，越听越让人浑身僵硬，越听越觉得内心孤寂。哎，这个夜晚也许我的朋友们也正躲在某个角落为某些事而悲伤着。

来自法国的Indie乐队CocoRosie，甚是有趣。这一双人女子组合由Casady姐妹花组成，Sierra负责吉他、长笛等音乐主旋律部分，Bianca则潜心研究节奏打击及采样合成声效部分。
姊妹二人组CocoRosie的特点就是怪，唱起歌来像妖妇，或者说巫婆，总之就是和性感不沾边，但够诡异悠扬，几乎没有打击乐器，单调重复的吉他和弦、漫不经心地吹笛子、弹钢琴、并混入对链条、家禽、玩具的采样，和声鬼魅，这种音乐没有什么现代人的特征，虽然是现代人的技术，但两个姐妹的喜好和心劲更像来自远古时代，给人一种超越时空的避世感，不过避世但不自闭，他们的音乐中的想象力又十分开阔，而旋律又好听温暖。

2006 album by this popular French actress, the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. On this, her belated sophomore album (her debut was released in 1986!), Nigel Godrich (Radiohead/Paul McCartney/Travis/Beck) handles the production duties and Charlotte gets musical assistance from Air (who wrote the music), Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), amongst others, with orchestral arrangements provided by David Campbell (Beck's father). 11 tracks in all. Warner.

Taken from their 2002 album, 'Genetic World'. The title track is backed with four non-LP tracks, 'Breathe' (Radio Edit, Markus Nikolai S Thinking Of S.D.C. Mix, Jori Hulkkonen Remix & Extended Mix). EMI.

Telepopmusik是成立于1997年的法国3人电子乐团，灵魂人物Fabrice Dumont负责出整体音乐编排、架构及贝斯的弹奏；曾受过音乐训练的Stephan Haeri，则担任各式音效处理及混入；以Anti-Pop为名的Christophe Hetier，展现出深具架式的高超DJ刷碟技巧，他们的音乐中也经常出现一些有着迷人声音的客席歌手，将音乐中那种浪漫迷离的感觉蔓延.

没有人会拒绝她迷人的嗓音，然那甘露般的音乐洗去世间的尘埃

Genre: Ambient / Post-Rock
Country: France

M83，又名南天纸风车星系，是业余天文学家们能够在夜空中看到的最壮观旋涡星系之一
当然，M83不是星系，而是来自法国的两人组合(05年已经变成一个人...)。电子外衣下的shoegaze(自赏派)+迷幻nosie rock。可以说有时像 Sigur Ros 刻意构造的实验噪音，或还带有点 Vangelis 的环境音效在里面。

居住于法国南边的小城Antibes，Anthony Gonzalez与Nicolas Fromageau这对双人拍档自2002年的首张同名专辑以来，让世人见识到原来白色噪音，这一度濒临绝迹的梦幻声响，竟能完好如初地包裹于电子糖衣里。一口咬下，滋味依旧甜美。
2003年的破格大作Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts，正式让M83成为所有Indie Kids的新宠儿。专辑不但成功打入美国市场，在世界各地也掀起一股Shoegazer Retro风潮。适逢Air沉潜（当时Talkie Walkie仍未推出），其它电音大团多萎迷不振，M83遂与其它新世代的电音新星如Manitoba、Four Tet、Boards of Canada等顺势接起了电音摇滚的旗帜，让曾被Chemical Brothers、Prodigy炸轰着脑袋的人们再度觅得足以信仰的新声音。
今年的新作Before the Dawn Heals Us虽难突破Dead Cities的格局，但基本盘还是守住了。Nicolas的离团使得M83成为了Anthony的个人Project，如此一来音乐的一致性更为密合。新专辑加重了Vocal的比例，整体氛围趋向早期Kraut Rock的硬派精神。迷蒙甜美的吉他音墙当然仍是主角，但Anthony赋予曲子更幽深的结构的企图也是极为明显的。