Phoenix Alphabetical

[Source; 2004]

Styles: AM radio, french pop, electronica
Others: Air, Mellow, N.E.R.D.


French band Phoenix, with the release of their sophomore album Alphabetical, prove themselves kings of indie kid babymaking music. Featuring the kind of saucy succulent harmonies, bouncy vintage-soaked rhythms and laconic French cool that would help even the shyest of music geeks peel off their skin tight Diesel's, kick off their scuffed Converse and knock boots like a champ. "Run Run Run" and "Hold on Together" feature enough white boy, cheese filled R&B lyrics to give Justin Timberlake a run for his money; yet unlike Timberlake, who desperately clings to the teat of mass fame and pseudo credibility like a four year old breast feeding for far too long, Phoenix are blessed with that uniquely French 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. Which makes Phoenix's glaringly obvious, yet shockingly original cocktail of synth infused, late '70s, Americana derived, AM radio pop stylings work. They walk the fine line of kitsch and hip ingenuity previously embodied by Serge Gainsbourg, a chain smoking Frenchmen so cool he recorded ridiculous songs with titles like "69 Annee Erotique" (which literally translates to '69, the erotic year') and during the '80s told Whitney Houston, during a live Television broadcast, he wanted to 'fuck' her. Phoenix, like Gainsbourg without the shock tactics, get away with making music that, in the hands of just about anyone else, would be disposable pop best left to the soccer Mom's of the world, yet somehow they straddle the line between fluff and absolutely essential hipness that few attempt, and even fewer succeed at.

1. Eveything Is Everything
2. Run Run Run
3. I'm An Actor
4. Love For Granted
5. Victim of the Crime
6. (You Can't Blame It On) Anybody
7. Congratulations
8. If It's Not With You
9. Holdin' On Together
10. Alphabetical