Various Artists - Des Jeunes Gens Modernes Review

Released concurrently with an exhibit at Paris’s agnes b. gallery in April 2008, the two disc compilation Des Jeunes Gens Modernes anthologizes a scene that has often been muted amid the underground rumblings of post-punk and new wave in the United Kingdom and the United States. Between the years of 1978 and 1983, the youth of France awarded the burgeoning new wave and post-punk scenes with some thrilling contributions, at the same time pioneering a slightly Gothic genre of their own called “cold wave”. Des Jeunes Gens Modernes strives to pay due respect to those bands, no doubt hoping to cash in on the recurring popularity of all sounds ‘80s in the process.


French post-punk and new wave were defined in part by hopefulness in the face of the cynicism and despair brought on by such global concerns as the Cold War and a weathered economy. Musical advancements such as the introduction of synthesizers and drum machines into pop music played a pivotal part as well. Des Jeunes Gens Modernes pools together both the biggest names of the scene (bands such as Marquis de Sade, arguably the best known band on the compilation) and the smaller, sometimes self-produced, ones (Les Provisoires), and in the process provides a microcosmic view of the scene.


Still, to the listener well-versed in punk, post-punk, and new wave, it can sometimes be overt that—for all the quirks emblazoned by the French—debts to more renowned acts of the era are still owed. Des Jeunes Gens Modernes‘s two discs are punctuated by songs reminiscent of Joy Division (Tanit’s “Eyes Scream”) and Talking Heads (“Cancer and Drugs” by Marquis de Sade)....full text Des Jeunes Gens Modernes strives to pay due respect to some unheralded post-punk and new wave bands, no doubt hoping to cash in on the recurring popularity of all sounds '80s in the process.
Released concurrently with an exhibit at Paris's agnes b. gallery in April 2008, the two disc compilation Des Jeunes Gens Modernes anthologizes a scene that has often been muted amid the underground rumblings of post-punk and new wave in the United Kingdom and the United States. Between the years of 1978 and 1983, the youth of France awarded the burgeoning new wave and post-punk scenes with some thrilling contributions, at the same time pioneering a...full text PARIS | Police in southern France arrested 12 people in sweeps against suspected Islamic militant networks on Tuesday, including three men being checked for potential links to a network recruiting fighters for Afghanistan, officials said.

The roundups were part of two entirely different counterterrorism cases under investigation by French judges and fell on the same day only by coincidence, one police official in Paris said.

Firearms were seized in one of the sweeps, another official said.

The arrests came as France and many other European nations have stepped up terrorism alert vigilance amid what has been described as an abstract though heightened threat in recent weeks. The U.S. government warned Americans over the weekend to use caution when traveling in Europe.

In one of the cases, nine suspected Islamic militants were detained in southeastern Marseille and its suburbs, and authorities turned up at least one automatic rifle and a pump gun, the officials said.

In Tuesday’s other roundup, two men were arrested in Marseille and another in southwestern Bordeaux on suspected ties to a Frenchman arrested in Naples, Italy, last month accused of links to an Afghan recruiting ring.

A ranking French police official said the man arrested in Naples is a 24 year old from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers named Ryad Hennouni who had traveled to Afghanistan. The official denied Italian media reports that the young man had a kit to produce bombs. The official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly so asked not to be named.

“This very morning, police operations were launched in Marseille and Bordeaux that led notably to three arrests directly linked to the fight against terrorism,” Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said.

However, the police official with knowledge of the case said that by Tuesday evening it appeared that there were no close links between the three — all without police records — and Hennouni, the man arrested in Naples. The three do not appear to be “of major interest,” the official said, adding that verifications continued....full text