When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire… say it to yourself and then say it again. Repeat it like a mantra. It’s what UTO did.

The title of UTO’s second album is concerned with the outer diffusion zone of a flame – the hot, destructive part. It’s a title that’s been judiciously borrowed from legendary American singer-songwriter Bill Callahan, a line from his 2007 song ‘Sycamore’. You might be thinking that the duo’s uncanny, dynamic electronica is a long way from Callahan’s warm baritone drenched acoustic peregrinations, and you’d be right. Nevertheless, those words informed the making of their new record. For Emile, one half of the duo, it’s all about the process: “One interpretation that I like is that the fire part of the fire appears at the same time as it disappears, and it reminds me of the way that I make music, because when I start making music, it always feels like the first time.”

Anyone familiar with the UTO’s lauded 2022 debut album Touch The Lock, which Pitchfork praised for its “prismatic synth pop”, will be aware of the variegated nature of what they do. This album is just as colourful, with Neysa’s vocalwork sparking similarities to Kim Gordon’s off-kilter vocals, which Emile ceremoniously jets through a post-electronica blender mixing stylized indie sleaze productions with 90s breakbeats. When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire is not so much a concept album as an examination of where Neysa May Barnett and Emile Larroche find themselves in their lives in 2024, not only in their own relationship, but also with respect to how that relationship is interpreted and perceived in the wider world. In that sense, it feels like a riposte, where they confront the elephant in the room. They explain: “A recurring question in interviews for years has been: ‘What’s it like to make music as a couple?’

Neysa wrote ‘Napkin’ on an Osmose Expressive synthesizer when she was away in the South of France during the summer of ‘23 – it was a sound that imbued the essence of the track, or so she thought. Emile had other ideas, replacing the intuitive touch with his own warped pianos, recalling London avant-pop duo Jockstraps similar mad scientist approach. ‘2Moons’ also demonstrates how their symbiosis manifests itself in unusual ways. Originally a song written by Emile addressing Neysa, Neysa then subverted the track from within by writing about herself from the perspective of Emile: “I added the choruses by putting myself in his place,” she says. “I wrote to myself, projecting what Emile thought of me.” Such reflective tricks perhaps help them to understand themselves better. “Because we’ve been making music together and living together for so long, we feel we are the same person, and this is very uncomfortable,” adds Neysa, prompting a big laugh from Emile. “Sometimes we feel dead because we know each other too well.”

UTO are agents of chaos who’ve always lived on the periphery of reality, inhabiting an uncanny hinterland of the imagination where dream states coalesce with perceived real life. It probably shouldn’t surprise us then that they have embraced AI where others fear to tread, by following the sonic algorithms to see where they might lead creatively, and by presenting themselves on the cover of When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire as two generated simulations: “This image is not of our faces, but it looks like us,” says Neysa. “It’s more us than us.” More fire than fire, one could add. From fire, early man’s discovery, to AI, humanity’s next great adventure – with all of the wonders and complexities of human relationships in between – When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire really is about life, the universe and everything. Just remember, be the flame, not the moth.

17.04 – Release Party @ Petit Bain, Paris

→ Tickets

Buy new album

More about UTO

Sabrina Bellaouel get remixed by Bernadette and Karen KG on the upcoming Period Point Blank EP  → Stream

Young French Dj-producer-harpist, Bernadette offers a compelling dive into the dynamic realms of breakbeat and drum & bass. With its energetic tempo, the track crafts a powerful and driving soundscape, enriched by captivating Sabrina’s vocals. This remix showcases the vibrant intensity and emotional depth electronic music is capable of, standing as a bold testament to the genre’s electrifying essence. 

Period Point Blank EP is set for release on April 26, 2024.

Live
10.05.24 – LYON – Nuits Sonores
27.06.24 – PARIS – Festival Days Off  / Philharmonie de Paris

→ More about Sabrina Bellaouel

Blick Bassy announces ‘Madiba Ni Mbondi’, the Deluxe version of his latest album ‘Madiba’ with 1rst single with Ry X → Stream

Acclaimed Cameroonian singer-songwriter Blick Bassy is set to captivate audiences once again with the upcoming key extension of his 2023 album ‘Mádibá’. Scheduled for release on May 17th by the renowned French label InFiné, the album, now renamed “Mádibá Ni Mbondi,” (meaning water and flower), will feature four new tracks. These include vocal collaborations with Ry X and Yamê, each track carrying a profound message that resonates with the essence of life and nature. The album comes following his recent sold-out performances at Paris’ Cigale and Jazz Café in London, and ahead of his upcoming North American tour. 

In a groundbreaking collaboration, Blick Bassy has teamed up with Australian artist Ry X for the centerpiece of the new release, featuring the track ‘Mbondi.’ Ry X made a name for himself collaborating with electronic artists such as Ame (Howling) and Adam Freeland (The Acid) before resuming his solo career with three albums consolidating his career as a singer-songwriter on a global scale.

Blick Bassy and Ry X’s common quest for emotion in voice and melody fuel their desire to work together on a track. “Mbondi” was composed in just a few takes, confirming that the two artists were indeed on the same wavelength. Their partnership on this track delivers a mesmerizing blend of soulful vocals and contemporary synths, creating an immersive auditory experience that transcends cultural and musical boundaries. Blick’s poetic vision shines through as he explores the significance of water in nurturing beauty, love, and poetry. This track serves as a poignant call for humanity to acknowledge and respect the vital role of water in sustaining life.

ON TOUR

04.04.24 PORTSMOUTH (USA – NH) Press room
05.04.24 TROY (USA – NY) No Fun
06.04.24 NEW HEAVEN (USA – CT) Café Nine
07.04.24 MONTREAL (CAN) Le Ministère
09.04.24 WASHINGTON (USA – DC) Songbyrd
10.04.24 BROOKLYN (USA – NY) Public Records
12.04.24 CHICAGO (USA – IL) The Hideout
13.04.24 MINNEAPOLIS (USA – MN) The Cedar
07.05.24 SEATTLE (USA – WA) Sunset Tavern
09.05.24 BOISE (USA – ID) Neurolux
10.05.24 PORTLAND (USA – OR) The Jack London Revue
11.05.24 VANCOUVER (CAN) The Fox Cabaret
15.05.24 SAN FRANCISCO (USA – CA) The Battery
16.05.24 LOS ANGELES (USA – CA) Gold Diggers
17.05.24 TUCSON (USA – AZ) Séance Room – Club Congress
20.05.24 DENVER (USA – CO) Skylark
22.05.24 KANSAS CITY (USA – MO) RecordBar
25.05.24 NASHVILLE (USA – TN) Third Man Records
27.06.24 ST DENIS (FR) Festival de St Denis
12.07.24 LA ROCHELLE (FR) Les Francofolies de la Rochelle

More about Blick Bassy

©Photo: Gabriel Dia
Album cover: Barthelemy Toguo (The generous Man on his Farm II, 2017) – Courtesy Bandjoun Station © Galerie Lelong & Co

A night of celebration, love and passion with the students and teachers of the Bauhaus school. These are the last moments of lightness and freedom before Hitler’s rise to power, the school’s closure and exile.

Video directed by Jamie Harley
Produced by Premier Cri
With the support of CNC

‘La Chair’ is taken from Amazing Carnaval, the augmented version of her latest album, featuring Anna Mouglalis, Baby Volcano, Frànçois Atlas, Supérette. → Stream

43°C, the debut LP by French electronic producer Basile3, is the result of a decade of cultivating a musical identity that focuses on hybridization, sonic recycling, and playfulness. The enigmatic title “43°C” signifies a haze of bliss (4+3=7, the producer’s lucky number) backdropped by the ecological state of a world that’s grown slightly but surely warmer. In this anticipation fiction, Basile3 offers a soundtrack that is an exploration of urban electronic music, minimalist techno and lofi house. Basile warmly invites listeners to his state of mind, blooming with genre-bending floating soundscapes.

The first single “In the clouds” is a groundbreaking track that seamlessly blends Breakbeat, Drum & Bass, and Abstract IDM Leftfield. With its percussive rhythms and deep basslines and melodies, Basile3 offers us a glimpse of his anticipation fiction.

Basile3 has developed his sound and identity through multiple intimate artistic collaborations across the UK and Europe. This is shown from his early participation in Gang Fatale (London’s former “nerd kids” club music collective), to his recent live and studio collaborations with InFiné labemates (Deena Abdelwahed, Sabrina Bellaouel, Gaspar Claus), as well as his latest collaboration with AD93’s Minor Science. It’s, thus, no surprise to find many collaborations on his debut album, which features the vocals from Thelma Cappello, Daisy Ray, Lloydfears and Lucy Sissy Miller,  Minor Science‘s work on the mix, and the artworks by Thelma Capello.

More about Basile3

Pre-order the album

Can a planet have two moons? Can a star have two rings? Can we want one thing and its opposite?  In astronomy, a large space object whose trajectory passes close enough to the Earth and which represents a threat of collision is called a potentially dangerous object. ‘2MOONS’ is a song about living with the danger of this collision, between what we have and what we lack. 

‘2MOONS’ by UTO echoes the sounds of late ‘90s teenage bedrooms with its melancholy indie-pop atmosphere tinged with grunge notes. UTO masterfully combines the rough naivety of golden era indie music with washed-out grunge guitars and shoegaze buildups to create what is ultimately a pop song. Neysa and Emile’s lyrics illustrate the seduction of comfort versus the fiery desire of the unknown.”It seems you want both, the safe life, the chaos, the long run, the sparkle…”

The duo masterfully captures the delicate balance between our inner desires and the external world we navigate. 2MOONS’ engaging, almost familiar, arrangements and shy melodies recalls the intimate atmosphere of groups like bar italia or artist Florence Sinclair. Ultimately, ‘2MOONS’ exemplifies UTO’s talent at always finding a way to create vulnerable genre-leaping music that infiltrates the emotions of the listener and lingers in their head.

New album out April 12, 2024 → Pre-order LP / CD / Merch

ON TOUR
22.03 – Santeria – Milan (IT)
23.03 – M4Music – Zurich (CH)
06.04- Tallinn Music Week (EST)
13.04 – Westway LAB – Guimarães (PT)
17.04 – Release party / Petit Bain – Paris (FR)
26.04 – C/o Pop Festival – Köln (DE)
03.05 – Europavox Festival – Vilnius (LT)
04.05 – Paradiso – Amsterdam (NL)
07.05 – Gretchen – Berlin (DE)
10.05 – The Lanes – Bristol (UK)
11.05 – The Shacklewell Arms – London (UK)
12.05 – Hyde Park Book Club – Leeds (UK)
14.05 – Yes Basement – Manchester (UK)
16.05 – The Great Escape – Brighton (UK)
22.05 -Le Tetris – Le Havre (FR)
& more to come

Petit Bain – 7 Port de la Gare
75013 PARIS

French-Algerian artist Sabrina Bellaouel celebrates the first anniversary of her debut album Al Hadr with a single backed by an official video marking the return of the ‘Amazigh Princess’ to the forefront of modern dancefloors. Period Point Blank: the story of a romance of fiery beats, disturbing eye contact and shooting stars, as much as the framework for global House anthem revisited on this EP by Bernardette and Karen Nyame.  

The edit version of “Period Point Blank” offers a dazzling fusion between the sensuality of R&B and the bodily energy of house, and the power of a monstrous, penetrating bass. For the official video directed by the French duet Augure Augure, Sabrina dons a wooden ‘Amazigh princess’ armor crafted by the Marseille based designer Amaury Darras , meticulously selecting her warrior artefacts against a backdrop of mystical caves and vast sandy expanses. 

Period Point Blank is a poetic and political statement. It’s a self-fictional film about a state of grace on the eve of a war that we can only assume will be bloody.

Against whom/what?
There are stories that are not told by the victors. A world of details selected by other voices with or without pity. The intuition of this Amazigh woman, timeless but reminiscent of the Diyah Queen of the Aurès, who, like Joan of Arc, was the cause of a great change. The impact of an individual story on collective history. Tomorrow, nothing will ever be the same.

10.05.24 – LYON – Nuits Sonores
27.06.24 – PARIS – Festival Days Off (Philharmonie de Paris)

→ Stream Period Point Blank

→ More about Sabrina Bellaouel

Lucie Antunes and her AMAZING CARNAVAL have set their sights on an auspicious start to the new year, with five new tracks that explore the pop codes of contemporary music: erudite, complex, constantly seeking a balance between the most arduous rhythmic theory and the need to get people dancing, between the cerebral and the body that moves, taps and strikes. 

These new tracks round off the CARNAVAL album, released in April 2023, and form a new ‘Antunes cycle’: Lucie, a true band leader, has brought together the radical Swiss-Guatemalan artist Baby Volcano, the psychedelic poet François Atlas, French actress Anna Mouglalis and the young up-and-comer Superette to give voice to her music. The results are astonishing. 

It’s amazing, isn’t it ?

→ More about Lucie Antunes

Basile3 unveils new single ‘Crush’ on Paradoxe Club → Listen

While finishing his debut album, Brussels-based French producer & DJ Basile3 shares a new track via Paradoxe Club. “Crush” is an appetizer of the new gems Basile is about to unveil this Spring on InFiné…Meanwhile, find out more about his inspirations with his new playlist ‘Basile3 Stimulus’ available on Deezer, Soptify & Apple Music.

Stream the playlist ‘Basile3 Stimulus’

More about Basile3

A few months after the release of her acclaimed and FIP-selected debut album In Nomine Corpus (2023) on InFiné, Cindy Pooch returns on February 20th with a new EP: Le Feu, reinterpreting two of her album’s key tracks. This EP arises from a desire to re-explore two tracks from the album, moving ever more towards the sensitive, via minimalism. To achieve this, Cindy Pooch decided to invite five musicians she respects and admires: singer and multi-instrumentalist Claudine Pauly, pianist, multi-instrumentalist and singer Ariel Tintar, protean singer Célia Kameni, ubiquitous singer Agyei Osei and violinist Sylvain Rabourdin and his nomadic improvisations.

“The meeting for this session was almost improvisational, with everyone expressing themselves from their own place, with a great porosity to discovery and wonder. The recordings highlight an intuitive synergy in which each of the musicians put his or her own sensibility at the service of the music and texts, approaching the musical material in a physiological, organic way.” – Cindy Pooch

This results in two brand-new versions of ‘Le Feu’ and ‘Tout ou Rien’, revealing the strength and singularity of Cindy Pooch’s voice and further enhancing the warmth and sensitivity of the tracks. ‘Le Feu’ is reiterated and reinvented, fanned by new flames, revealing once again the plurality of its sources and the ambivalence of the emotions it generates. ‘Tout ou Rien’ – sublimated by choirs, violin improvisations and subtle piano touches – makes its message explicit, transporting us to profound reflections.

“Tout ou Rien expresses the attempt to resist the serenity that numbs and annihilates vitality, from the destructive instinct as an escape route not to be borrowed, to possible alchemies that lie at the subtle boundary that separates everything from nothing.” – Cindy Pooch

This unique session – recorded under live conditions thanks to the delicacy and experience of François Baurin of Hinterland Lab, his warm studio and the vibrant setting for this recording experience – allows us to rediscover these two tracks in even more direct and accessible versions than the album versions. Cindy Pooch will be in concert at La Maroquinerie on March 6 with several guests, and on tour throughout France in the spring.

06.03.24 – PARIS – La Maroquinerie → Tickets

Buy digital EP

More about Cindy Pooch

It took less than a decade for Rone (Erwan Castex) to establish himself as one of the main artists of the French electronic music scene. Always crossing the boundaries of electronic music – he has released several studio albums on the Parisian label InFiné and has collaborated with the likes of The National, Étienne Daho, Jean-Michel Jarre, Michel Gondry, François Atlas and Alain Damasio.

It was when working with Romain Allender (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water) that Rone’s electronic world bridged with that of the orchestra. Selecting tracks in Rone’s repertoire that would lend themselves to symphonic reinterpretations, L(oo)ping took shape in June 2021 as an electro-classical concert in France – receiving a rapturous response from audiences and wide critical acclaim – with a live recording that followed in 2023.

→ Stream / Follow Rone

American pianist Bruce Brubaker will take the stage on February 23th at National Sawdust ! → Tickets

(646) – 779 – 8455
80 NORTH 6TH ST
BROOKLYN, NY 11249

→ Stream / Follow Bruce Brubaker

Lucie Antunes and her AMAZING CARNAVAL have set their sights on an auspicious start to the new year, with five new tracks that explore the pop codes of contemporary music: erudite, complex, constantly seeking a balance between the most arduous rhythmic theory and the need to get people dancing, between the cerebral and the body that moves, taps and strikes. 

These new tracks round off the CARNAVAL album, released in April 2023, and form a new ‘Antunes cycle’: Lucie, a true band leader, has brought together the radical Swiss-Guatemalan artist Baby Volcano, the psychedelic poet François Atlas, French actress Anna Mouglalis and the young up-and-comer Superette to give voice to her music. The results are astonishing. 

First up is LUCHADORA with Baby Volcano, which sounds like a PMA between Peaches and Soulwax, a frenetic anthem combining club music, hip hop, trap and unifying pop mixed by Ammar 808, a leading producer on the new Maghreb electronic scene alongside Deena Abdelwahed.

LA CHAIR with French actress Anna Mouglalis is one of those tracks that makes you dance for a lifetime and breaks your heart, vibrant poetry for the dancefloor. Anna Mouglalis’ voice and lyrics carry Lucie’s music loud and clear, mixed with a firm hand in a velvet glove by Yuksek.

PARTIR À L’ENVERS is an upheaval, a piece of imbalance both rhythmically and vocally… you wobble, you stumble, you take things by the end to find the beginning again. It’s a symbiosis between the poetry of François Atlas (François and the Atlas Mountains), who sings in a calm, lascivious voice, lyrics that have no chorus or chorus. The music and lyrics respond to each other in an astonishing way, creating an exquisite corpse that drives you into a trance.

C’EST PAS GRAVE is a mantra-like song that’s an invitation to get moving: to get over everything, to gain height, to carry on living without collapsing. This deeply topical ritornello summons the ghost of Arvo Part, Brigitte Fontaine & Areski for its poetry and very post-situationist incantations. Performed by the Well Quartet and mixed by our friend Fred Soulard (Maestro / Limousine), whom we met on Lucie’s first album (SERGEÏ, released in 2018).

Finally, T’AS TOUT TON TEMPS, a surprising, sunny and totally conquering track. It’s epic R&B in the noblest sense of the word, featuring the bass and the exquisite flow of Louise Botbol aka Superette, who was poached by Lucie while she was still a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur to take part in the Carnaval tour. 

It’s amazing, isn’t it ?

27.02 – Amazing Carnaval live @ Centquatre-Paris / Les Inrocks festival with Baby Volcano, Anna Mouglalis, François Atlas, Superette 

→ Tickets 

Rone scores the soundtrack of CANAL+ most anticipated series of the year, “D’Argent & de sang” → Stream / Buy

“D’Argent & de Sang” is the latest creation from French producer Erwan Castex, known as Rone, famous for acclaimed albums such as “Room with a View” and “Tohu Bohu”, who won a César for his first soundtrack for Frédéric Farrucci’s film “La Nuit Venue” in 2021 and the award for best soundtrack at the Cannes Film Festival for Jacques Audiard’s “Les Olympiades”.

Initially entitled “Tikkoun”, the next CANAL+ original series “D’Argent & De Sang” is produced by Curiosa Films and directed by multi-César winner Xavier Giannoli (with “Lost Ilusions in 2021), with whom the composer worked closely to develop a subtle blend of electronic and classical sounds, a field in which Rone’s reputation is well established. “By mixing classical orchestral textures with modern electronic elements, I wanted to symbolise the heterogeneity of the worlds that intersect in this story”.

The first part of the series, which features among many others Vincent Lindon, Niels Schneider and Ramzy Bedia, is broadcast in France on Canal + from 16 October 2023.

→ More about Rone

Catch Blick Bassy live in Paris on January 24th @ La Cigale! → Tickets

La Cigale
120 boulevard Marguerite de Rochechouart
Métro Pigalle (ligne 12) & Métro Anvers (ligne 2)

→ Stream / Follow Blick Bassy

Get 25% off on all InFiné releases by using the code infine2023→ Order now!

We’ve decided to offer you a 25% discount on all our catalog until December, 8th.  It’s a chance to take a closer look at InFiné’s ‘albums of the year’ – the ones you’ve loved and might consider giving as gifts, the ones you’ve missed and are discovering in a new light.