Zipping through Paris, a couple of weeks ago, on a date with destiny (and the greatest egg restaurant the world has ever known) I was momentarily distracted from the beautiful girl at my side, the sunshine beating down, and the taxi driver taking chances with our lives, by a radio station that seemed to be playing all the right music (in all the right order)- Heavy jazz standards, sleazy latin bangers and that soulful mid-tempo beat-y thing the french seem to pull off so well-’tous’ killer ‘pas de’ filler is how I describe it to my (imaginery) Parisian posse.
Long time readers of the blog will know where this is headed-that this fits into the broader trend of ‘hl love for all things french’;
any kind of cheese and ham based cuisine? check;
gitanes, dirty black coffee and pastries at Le Pain Quotidien? check;
stripey clothes and general poutiness? check alors!!
And despite certainly seeing life through rose (and rose´) tinted glasses that weekend, I think it’s safe to say that Radio Nova falls into the narrow yet deep category of things-that-the-French-do-so-well(-that-we-do-not).
Back in dark London streets, where commercial radio has struggled so valiantly to program out any kind of personality or edge or life, it’s hard to imagine being able to listen to a station that plays consistently interesting and soulful music all day every day.
Thankfully for us deprived Londoners, Radio Nova have stream which you can listen if you’re online. So if your day gets a bit too much and you need reminding of that quixotic parisian moment (or two)-check them out, and in the meantime here’s a little something from some of paris’ greatest (all dubbed out by one of London’s).
air-cassanova70 (brendan lynch mix)