Posted: May 28th, 2010 | Author: Cathy | Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Cathy Greig, Fortune | No Comments »
Fortune’s debut album has a promising start with ‘Under The Sun’, a catchy and memorable tune to open an album with. The general energy of it is so powerful, and this continues through the rest of the tracks. The first couple of songs blending into one without a pause in between creates an uninterrupted enjoyable experience. Though every track on the album encourages the listener to tap their foot or dance along to the beat, each one is different and unique. Even “Since You’re Gone” is a catchy, upbeat tune, paired with lyrics that aren’t as happy as one might expect, which again, shows just how individual this band is. The main vocalist, Lionel Pierres, is definitely one to watch. The closing tracks “Poison” and “Mission” leave me wanting more from this band.
Posted: November 9th, 2009 | Author: Matt | Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Brakes, Daniel Merriweather, Fortune, Matt Merritt, Passion Pit, The Moons | No Comments »
DANIEL MERRIWEATHER – Water & A Flame
Columbia
Duetting with Adele, produced by Mark Ronson… Merriweather certainly has his bases covered! It’s not a bad ballad though, if nothing too exciting. To be fair though, if you like what Merriweather has already released, you’re likely to love this.
THE MOONS – Torn Between Two
Acid Jazz
There’s pedigree here. Frontman Andy Crofts plays keyboard for Paul Weller, and the band also features Chris Ketley of The Rakes. There’s a psychedelic Scouser feel to this, in fact it’s a tune that would sit comfortably on early albums by The Zutons or The Coral. Unlike the latter though, this sticks close enough to a pop format to make it radio friendly too.
FORTUNE – Highway
Distiller Records
If I told you Fortune were from France, what would you expect? If you said shimmering electro to set dance floors alight, you’d be right. Following in the footsteps of Daft Punk and Justice, this is a dance floor friendly few minutes that is well worth checking out.
BRAKES – Why Tell The Truth
FatCat
Starting with a gentle strum, this track lulls you into a relaxed state before launching into a rousing chorus and just as quickly back again. Not the most fresh and unique approach, but why mend a formula that isn’t broken?
PASSION PIT – Little Secrets
Columbia
More feel good electro-pop from a band whose hype I don’t quite understand if I’m honest. Still, this is a track that might have been really refreshing in June, sadly though it feels really quite out of place in November
Posted: October 19th, 2009 | Author: Matt | Filed under: News | Tags: Division Promotions, Fortune | No Comments »
November 9th 2009 marks the release of ‘Highway’, the debut single by hot new Parisian four-piece Fortune. The band are set to make a serious mark on the remainder of ‘09 before scaling great heights in 2010.
‘Highway’ is a bouncy, loose limbed piece of uplifting-boogie-meets-disco-meets-blue-eyed-soul-meets-perfect-electro-indie-pop! The track climaxes with glistening, dappled ornamentation reminiscent of seminal cuts ‘Stars’ by Mr Fingers and Carl Craig’s ‘Sparkle’.
Fortune started life in April 2007 as Lionel Perres’ solo project. Lionel asked Pierre Lucas and Hervé Loos to accompany him on stage to make a bigger noise, and, step by step, the solo set-up turned into a band project .
Pierrick Devin was their engineer for the first EP sessions and joined the band soon after, thus forming the definitive line up. Mr Devin also plays guitar for French house dons Cassius, and as a result, Fortune got to record their first E.P. in Philippe (Cassius) Zdar’s Motorbass Studio, home to the influential house producers of the same name. Soon after, they finished their debut album which was mixed by Alf, who has also mixed for Air, Phoenix and Sebastian Tellier.
Fortune’s Lionel Perres used to be in the band Abstract Keal Agram with producer of the moment Tepr, whose remixes for La Roux, Santigold, Chew Lips and Calvin Harris have torn up dancefloors worldwide.
To drop a few more names, it’s worth mentioning that Pierrick has played and recorded with Phoenix, Etienne De Crécy and Alex Gopher. Plus, Fortune have remixed Phoenix’s ‘1901’.
James Pants, who is signed to the influential beats-based label Stones Throw, delivers a laid back, bass-heavy downtempo re-rub with added heavy breakbeats. Pants’ remix maintains the sunny nature of the original, whilst sloping along in a smoked-out haze.
For the househeads, New York’s Eli Escobar delivers a deep, dubbed out and arpeggioed mix, which builds and builds before blossoming into a chunk of the original single version. Tepr themselves deliver a steroid-pumped, big room electro monster, rounding things of nicely.
Fortune’s debut album has a promising start with ‘Under The Sun’, a catchy and memorable tune to open an album with. The general energy of it is so powerful, and this continues through the rest of the tracks. The first couple of songs blending into one without a pause in between creates an uninterrupted enjoyable experience. Though every track on the album encourages the listener to tap their foot or dance along to the beat, each one is different and unique. Even “Since You’re Gone” is a catchy, upbeat tune, paired with lyrics that aren’t as happy as one might expect, which again, shows just how individual this band is. The main vocalist, Lionel Pierres, is definitely one to watch. The closing tracks “Poison” and “Mission” leave me wanting more from this band.
