Reviews

Gestalt

La Fraction De L’Autre Côté LP

The last LA FRACTION album came out in 2007. I drove the band on a North American tour that summer and I saw them play a few dozen times, so I should have known what to expect when I dropped the needle on De L’Autre Cote fifteen years later in 2022, but I was not prepared. Not at all. When Magali’s vocals opened “Tout Va Bien,” I fucking cried. It wasn’t something I could control, and I didn’t try. There is a magic here, and it’s not something I can describe, but the band sounds (appropriately) older, wiser, and more angry than they ever have before. Their fourth full-length is arguably their best—Magali sounds like she is doing battle with DeDe’s guitar while Boris’s drums push everything forward. It’s a perfect band, really…it always has been. And while I knew that before I started listening to this record, I was still, somehow, not at all prepared. Bands (particularly punk bands) are simply not supposed to get better with age, but LA FRACTION have defined themselves with this album, and I feel like I don’t want to listen to anything else. Ever.

V/A Peace, Unity, Noise And Having Fun: Tekken Tribute & Remixes LP

So this compilation LP is apparently a tribute to the French fastcore band TEKKEN. I regret to announce I was not familiar with TEKKEN the band, but it looks as though they were around in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and with some video research, I have realized that they were pretty good! If you like to blast off with CHARLES BRONSON, SPAZZ, DAMNABLE EXCITE ZOMBIES, AGATHOCLES, or even FANTOMAS, or any bands that were forming when fastcore was really breaking into its stride, I have this recommendation for you! There’s also some really bizarre MIDI carnival music, which I must admit I am entertained by, if not perplexed.