Tahiti 80
Formed by multi instrumentalists Xavier Boyer, Médéric Gontier, Sylvain Marchand & Pedro Resende, Tahiti 80 ’s adventure began in the French cities of Rouen and Paris in the mid 90s.
Singer/ guitarist Boyer and bassist Resende formed the pop combo as students at the University of Rouen, sharing an affinity for indie music, new wave and sixties pop. Taking their name from a souvenir t-shirt given to Boyer’s father in 1980, the duo recruited guitarist Mederic Gontier, and with the addition of drummer Sylvain Marchand a year later, the lineup was complete. The foursome released a self-produced and self-financed EP, “20 Minutes” (Bobby Records 1996) which resulted in them signing a deal with French label Atmospheriques.
http://www.tahiti80.com/
General Elektriks
General Elektriks is the brainchild of Herve “RV“ Salters. A French national and a keen vintage keyboard player, Salters was playing keys for his bands and for various artists in Paris (Femi Kuti, M, Vercoquin, DJ Mehdi etc...) before he moved to San Francisco in 1999... He started working on funk collages as he was moving to the US, using his favorite keyboards, a computer and a mic. GE became a musical journal that followed RV through his move to Seattle, then back to the Bay Area, in Berkeley. There, he hooked up with the Quannum crew (Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, etc...) and started sessioning for them. He invited Quannum“s own Lateef The Truthspeaker and Chief Xcel on a few tracks, then completed the 1st GE album, “Cliquety Kliqk.“ Hailed by URB as “Ennio Morricone for the 21st century,“ the album is a far out mix of vintage funk, hip hop beats, noir riffs and pop melodies.
http://www.general-elektriks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/generalelektriks