As far as tastemakers go, Kitsuné are up there with the best. The French label have been making top quality compilations from day one and they show no signs of stopping. Whilst Kitsune Parisien II may not be one of their Maison collections, its potential to deliver fresh music is in no way depleted.
Starting off with a Metronomy meets the sleazy side of DFA track from Tomorrow’s World is hardly a big start to the record, but Rennes band Juveniles bring a bit more excitement to the mix. It’s not until track 6 that the compilation gets remotely interesting though. From a label that’s to partially thank for the likes of Two Door Cinema Club, Hot Chip and Is Tropical, there’s not a huge amount to get excited about. Sure, now that the spring days are getting warmer, you can chill out in the park and pretend you’re a glamorous Parisian trend setter to this, but you’ll rarely turn around and have a “This is fantastic, who is it?” moment.
Absolute highlights come from Nameless (not a very google-able group), BeatauCue (If Daft Punk made adverts…) and La/KVLKD. These standout tracks alone make most of the ‘average’ seem worth it to an extent. Sadly, it’s not all mediocre and above as Wolfpack, Beartrack and Exotica are nothing short of excruciatingly painful. The former could be alright until about 2/3rds of the way through when a kind of Rebecca Black-esque ill-advised rap breaks in. The latter isn’t much better, at times switching from being completely monotonous and repetitive to attempting to be a half asleep Little Boots. You have to despair.
All in all, there’s a fair bit of disappointment. You start this record hoping for the best exciting music from the continent and end it remembering why you didn’t do so before. It pains me to say anything against Kitsuné, but they’ve really ballsed this one up.
3.5
Braden Fletcher
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