(General Strike / Talion productions / Mass Prod)
Fifteen years of existence, more than 400 concerts in all France, two exhausted albums (but republished in casket there is little), the keupon combo Confederate is of the definite kind. Heir of the heroes of the alternative rock of the 80s, actor of the revival of of 90, Gilbert et ses problèmes remains faithful to his principles with this third full of life and one-liners.
Maybe that this new album would have been able to go out on a more important label (still would have there to exist labels punk rock in the solid loins down here), but Gilbert And His Problems prefers to collaborate with small structures indés and underground French (Mass Prod, Maloka, Stygmate, Karameikos) with which he feels close and in osmosis. He(it) thus put themselves in some (of which the own structure of the group, Talion Production - you really thought that these people did not dream in autoproduire?) to publish(edit) this attractive En transit.
Attractive, because the packaging is magnificent (the work of her limps with BD Distant District) which contrasts with the first graphic works a mere nothing rough of the group. But if the outside is "attractive", the contents are nasty. Furiously nasty.
We describe the life, the real there, in the simplest splendor: the absurd everyday life (" Rêve, ô Lucie ", "En transit"), the decay of the spirits ("Le Bar Des Pauvres"), the human, loving relations ("Love Her Craft") or not ("Comment Savoir? "). Even there, the group of Montpelier enormously progressed, technically (it approaches all the styles, of the punk rock in the ska) and artistically (let us call it that of the maturity or the adulthood, no matter).
The titles(securities), that they are placed under the banner punk rock ("Souvenir"), hardcore ("En transit") or ska ("Crois-tu Pouvoir m'Echapper?"), remain always nervous, hectic and, especially, return - dedant (kind) La Ruda shaken by Trust).
The combination(overall) music / text works moreover perfectly. It is going to say it to itself that the group, with its texts in French, its radical commitment and its colored music is certainly going to interest only a part of the public French punk rock (roughly, those who like very much the alterno), what naturally it's a pity so much this Gilbert et ses problèmes is new service (with a name like that, anti-punk rock in French will have already left this chronicle) assures a link, ténu certainly, but well and truly physical between past and the present. - Pépito Ramirez
www.myspace.com/gilbertetsesproblemes
