By Steve Peralta
Nouvelle Vague
The Azuli record label’s “Late Night Tales” franchise in February took a Bossa Nova/New Wave turn with the release of the latest “Late Night” compilation mixed by Paris-based artists Nouvelle Vague. Nouvelle Vague’s mix includes artists such as The Pale Fountains, seminal eighties Gregorian chanters This Mortal Coil, and the beautifully talented Anja Garbarek (daughter of legendary jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek). Nouvelle is also included in the release with their own version of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen.”
“If acid house had exploded in a fetid basement in Rue Hachette rather than the repressed and sweaty confines of Thatcher’s Britain, it might have sounded something like this,” said London-based Azuli in a release.
Nouvelle Vague translates to “new wave” in English and “bossa nova” in Portuguese and it essentially defines Nouvelle’s music. Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux founded Nouvelle and released their self-titled debut album in June 2004. The group is an eighties alternative cover band that has been described as a fusion of “Brazilian Bossa Nova with Flowery acoustic instruments.”
“(Late Night Tales) is something different,” said Collin, “it is only a selection of tracks so it is not really my music – it is the tracks I like. I hope it will be well received everywhere.”
Nouvelle’s renditions of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and The Cure’s “A Forest” are sublime. Find them and other songs here.
Previous “Late Night” compilations have been organized by artists such as Belle And Sebastian, Flaming Lips, Jamiroquai, and Turin Brakes, among others.
More information is available at the Azuli Web site. 
- Photo courtesy of artist.
NeoAztlan editor and founder Steve Peralta is a native of Colorado and graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver. He has been creating content for Web, print and radio for nearly 15 years. Past projects include work with the former Sony Interactive, several Internet boom content providers, and Capitol Underground pirate radio, among others. Peralta can be reached at speralta@neoaztlan.com.
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