Lætitia Sadier
Sonic chanteuse and experimental avant-pop reine, Lætitia Sadier needs little introduction. A founding member of the seminal agit-pop group Stereolab, her politically charged off-kilter pop genius helped endear them to generations of loyal indie enthusiasts. Whilst Stereolab shaped the musical landscape for two decades with their whirling kitchen sink motorik adventures (before going into hibernation in 2009), Lætitia has consistently pushed the envelope - with her Monade side-project, a slew of collaborations with the likes of Luna, Mouse On Mars, Mercury Rev, The High Llamas, Deerhoof, and rappers Common and Tyler, The Creator, as well as a handful of critically acclaimed and rapturously received solo albums. Oh! And in case you’ve ever wondered, Lætitia is responsible the French spoken word element of Blur’s To The End. With her latest album Rooting For Love still in regular rotation on the turntables of discerning listeners, Stereolab fans around the world rejoiced earlier this year with news of a new Stereolab album (their first in fifteen years) called Instant Holograms On Metal Film - out now on Duophonic UHD Disks/Warp.
Iko Chérie
If you have the energy to keep up, Iko Chérie (aka Marie Merlet) can be found fronting, backing, producing, collaborating and recording with a dizzying array of artists. Driven by a pop sensibility that defies pigeonholing, with an appropriately genre bending discography, Iko Chérie is just as at home with her psychedelic cumbia ensemble Malphino, or backing the likes of Yama Warashi and The Raincoats’ Gina Birch, as she is holding her own as a solo artist. A core member of the mutating experimental HahaSounds Collective, and previously one-half of duo Zooey, Iko Cherie is also a long-time collaborator with Lætitia - a founding member of Monade and most recently contributing backing vocals to the latest Stereolab album. Don’t miss her essential monthly show Little Trouble Girls on Soho Radio, dedicated entirely to championing women in music
Doug Shipton
While his birth certificate might betray his English heritage, the Gallic credentials of your monthly compère more than earn him his place in this DJ booth. Having developed a passion for French progressive and psychedelic rock by routinely liberating records from Parisian record shops since his late teens, for two decades his archival label Finders Keepers Records have championed musique française. Traversing more than four decades of jazz, pop, rock and soundtracks, they have diligently delivered faithfully restored reissues, first-ever releases and much needed reappraisals of records by the likes of provocateur en chef Serge Gainsbourg, legendary orchestral pop composer Jean-Claude Vannier, Occitan folk siren Miquela, jazz piano improv genius Francois Tusques, radical experimentalist Michel Magne, wonky pop héroïne Lispector, and musique concrète pioneer Pierre Henry (amongst many others).
