Search - Tetes Raides :: Les Oiseaux

The Turning Point

Roderick Cumming | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On their two previous albums ("Not dead but bien raides" and "Mange tes morts"), Tetes Raides took Clash-style punk rock and spiced it with the occasional addition of horns and accordion. On "Les Oiseaux," their third album, they dropped the distortion and added more acoustic instruments, and the effect was stunning.This album is full of classics: the pathologically catchy "Le Phare," the sparse and haunting "Luna," "Emily"...there's not a clunker in the bunch. The wild abandon of their first two albums is all but gone, but that's not to say that "Les Oiseaux" is sedate. In fact, songs like "Austerlitz" and "Gino" light up with energy. But it's a focused energy that comes out in the tight, inventive arrangements and the high caliber of musicianship.It should also be noted that Tetes Raides, the band largely credited with the underground revival of classic French music (musette, chanson, etc.), is also the least slavish in their approach to this sound. This album references French tango, the 3/4 rhythms of musette, and the songwriting styles of Brel and Brassens, but never with a mind to imitate them. Like Tom Waits' approach to American music, Tetes Raides use the music of their homeland as a source and never a destination."