Summer is a great season. Probably the best one. Holidays, sun, exquisite nights and love at first sight. Not to forget the best sportive event in the whole world. The incredible “Tour de France”, followed by millions of people and fans. And during five years, its champion was Miguel Indurain, an unbelievable Spanish “hidalgo”. But INDURAIN is also a French band, formed in the early nineties by two guys, Marc Collin and Jerome Mestre, fond of new electronic sounds, pop, jazz and avant garde music. Together, with several lead-singers, they composed an astonishing debut LP, a mixture between John Barry and SECTION 25, MASSIVE ATTACK and Ornette Coleman. As many geniuses, they were a step ahead of their time... So Jerome left the band to create his own label, Artefact, and is working as a Dj-remixer under the strange name of EXTRA LUCID. He collaborated on “Zerbina” Mini-Album by Spanish superstars LE MANS with two incredible remixes of “Zerbina” and “Un rayo de sol”. Marc now works under the name of OLLANO.
SPRING is a cool season, too. Days are longer, boys and girls seem prettier and the weather is warmer. SPRING is also the name chosen by a French band. They formed in 1993 and reigned during the whole decade thanks to their charm and savoir-faire. They first appeared on an Icerink compilation, the label ran by ST ETIENNE’s headmaster Bob Stanley, with an instrumental called... “Bob Cool”. Soon after, they signed with the tasty Spanish label Elefant Records. They realised their first Ep last February, “Something Beginning” (ER-163), a three songs affair described as a pastoral cross between FELT and Françoise Hardy. They have also participated to the “Tribute to Felt” with an incredible cover of one of Lawrence’s best song, “A Whirlpool Vision Of Fame”. But SPRING love beautiful guitars just as much as they love new sounds. So, for their second single and before their first LP, they decided to team up with both INDURAIN and EXTRA LUCID. The result? Pop and abstract hip hop goes hand in hand for the dark “Hotel” and the title-song, “Be my Star” (remixed twice on the CD), gives an exact impression of what should be a perfect song for the 90’s: an angel voice with Spector-ish arrangements, a dreamy groove with a bossanova guitar. And here you are, left on your own, with this impression that summer will never end.
