France: Country Week

Ten new French styles built from single recordings, running from postwar orchestral chanson and accordion waltz to new wave guitars, filtered house loops, cinematic synth pop and modern Afro pop bounce. The pack keeps growing as more French styles join the library.

French song has its own deep tradition, and this pack follows it from the late 1940s to the late 2010s. It opens with postwar chanson, where a small string orchestra, a sparing accordion and close intimate singing carry the story, then moves into early sixties yé-yé guitar pop and the three four lilt of Parisian waltz chanson. The eighties bring angular chorused guitars over tight gated drums, widescreen synth pop with a huge gated snare, and jazz tinged pop led by a melodic bass hook. From there it turns electronic: filtered disco loops with a vocoder mantra, glossy club pop with side chained pump, and a reverb heavy cinematic synth wall. It ends in present day Paris, where balafon style plucks, deep sub bass and clipped conversational phrasing shape the sound. Ten new recording specific starting points to build on, and more French styles join as the pack grows.