Chris DeLine

Je Suis France takes surrounds itself with as much myth and humor as the acts many might suggest it sounds like. The group’s off kilter experimentalist Ween-ish melodies roll hand in hand with its peculiar history. With the group’s Mind Zappa release it attempted to construct renditions of Frank Zappa songs that the band had never before heard using only tabs. The band’s members jokingly call each other names straight out of The Big Book of Bad Norwegian Death Metal Names like Iceberg, The Darkness and Crogers. There’s roughly ten years of this stuff and a solid discussion would cover the ins and outs of the entire history but the music might then be overlooked; a shame as it’s as entertaining and charming as the group’s history.

“That Don’t Work Well For Us” and “Whalebone” come from the band’s upcoming Afrikan Majik release and ring true to any introduction laid forth by the spaciest of Flaming Lips songs. They’re gentle, warm and funny all at the same time. “Je Suis France is Playing at My House” is a fantastic drunken parody of the LCD Soundsystem hit, it’s sloppy, falls in and out of time and is simply hilarious. Je Suis France is music.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]