Though Messieurs Oliver Fröschke and Rolf Witteler operate from Cologne’s Quartier Belge, they have an avid schtick for music from France. True heroes, the German slacker impresarios were among the very first to discover the charm of the Nouvelle Scène Francaise in 2002 – the first Le Pop compilation (featuring Burgalat, Keren Ann and Benjamin B.) was nothing less than a revelation and sold a felt one million copies in my neighborhood. Eight years and four follow-ups later, Le Pop 6 maybe doesn’t contain the same sense of wonder, but a bag of goodies all the way, featuring premier stuff like Tom Poisson’s countryfied „Trapéziste“, Marianne Dissard’s slowly building groove-fest „The One and Only“, and my favorite, Toma’s „Je bois la mer“, a solemn recapturing of old school electronica, and a splendid love song.
Toma – Je bois la mer