Nous Non Plus (formerly Les Sans Culottes), Vagenius

Description

Bio for Nous Non Plus:
Justice is blind, literally, they can tell you this firsthand.

The members of …Nous Non Plus hail variously from Paris (chanteuse Céline Dijon), La Jolla (guitarist Calvino “Cal D’Hommage” DiMaggio), Westport (chanteuse Bonnie Day), San Francisco (keyboardist Morris “Mars” Chevrolet), Denver (chanteur, bassist Jean-Luc Retard), Pittsburgh (drummer Professeur Harry Covert) and Boston (keyboardist, trumpet genius François Hardonne). They met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early nineties, drinking in the sounds of 60’s French yé-yé pop from Gainsbourg, Dutronc, and Ferrer. After an extended post-graduation stay in Ramatuelle, they relocated to New York in 1998.

Their sound was crafted off the drunken vapors of French pop, as heard through the ears of (mostly) Americans. After years of playing together, the band has grown, matured, ripened—like fine Bordeaux. …Nous Non Plus sees the opportunity of launching a new band as a way to highlight this maturation: What was once a band performing imitations of retro French icons has become the ne plus ultra of French rock and roll, as performed by (mostly) non-French peoples. Their new sound retains the core influences of the past, but time-hops through Stones era disco, to more modern sounding bands like Blonde Redhead.

The result: mind-altering, elegant, sexy, bi-lingual Grand Guignol. While the band’s continued passion for singing in French in the USA might appear at first blush to be quixotic or even absurdist, as time goes on more and more people seem to realize exactly what the band is saying regardless of what language they are saying it in, and even while it is filtered through assumed personas. And perhaps there is still something revolutionary in that.


Giant Value:
Words do not suffice to describe San Francisco indie pop trio Giant Value. Indeed, the San Francisco Weekly wrote, "Giant Value is as easy to like as it is hard to describe." As West Coast Performer magazine put it, "for all its familiarity, you've never heard anything quite like it." GV defies description, all right, but here's why they're easy to like.

Giant Value traverses the musical genre map multiple times in a single set, but there is a cohesive energy to their "peppy, sophisticated sound." Singer and guitarist Dena Connolly delivers lyrics that are insightful, clever, and sometimes silly. She veritably bursts into flames on her SG, filleting melodies into hooks that stick. Long time accomplice Heather Brubaker adds depth and texture with her honeyed harmonies, warbling keyboards and jaunty bass lines. Between his witty antics and backing vocals, drummer Vinnie Rodrigues lays down a precise "Twister game of beats." Often trading instruments, laughing, and, on the whole, celebrating life's joys and mysteries with one another and the crowd, GV's shows make for a first-rate party, a good time to be had by all. The San Francisco Bay Guardian proclaimed: "Even if you're dead-set on ducking the enthusiasm, you'll likely fail."