{"id":76394,"date":"2025-10-13T20:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T20:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/76394\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T20:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T20:29:08","slug":"the-best-of-rodolphe-burger-french-rocks-original-visionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/76394\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best of Rodolphe Burger, French Rock\u2019s Original Visionary"},"content":{"rendered":"

LISTS<\/a><\/p>\n

The Best of Rodolphe Burger, French Rock\u2019s Original Visionary<\/p>\n

By <\/p>\n

George Grella<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00b7
\n October 13, 2025<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photos by Christophe Urbain<\/p>\n

Let me be an ugly American for a moment: French rock \u2018n\u2019 roll? Really?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re of a certain generation, there\u2019s snippets in your head of Johnny Hallyday,<\/a> and Plastic Bertrand\u2019s \u201c\u00c7a plein pour moi\u201d<\/a>\u2014American-style rock music that had plenty of, well, style, but lacked the grit of the blues, and by extension, authenticity. Younger? If you\u2019ve seen Flight of the Conchords\u2019s \u201cFoux Da Fa Fa,\u201d<\/a> where they show off the depth of their language skills with the word \u201cbaguette,\u201d you\u2019ve got something of the same idea.<\/p>\n

Now, setting that caricature aside, it\u2019s easy to hear how good French\u2014and for that matter, European\u2014rock music can be. And how certain special musicians have not only a strong, clear national flavor but encompass the American roots of rock, and show us (like the Rolling Stones did) just what it can do, and what we might be missing. One such artist is Rodolphe Burger.<\/p>\n

Burger is mainly a guitarist and vocalist, though he doesn\u2019t sing so much as deliver musically modulated vocal lines in a spoken near-drawl that\u2019s both elegant and grave. He is unmistakably French, unmistakably rocking, and unmistakably great. He has a modern sound that stands out in the history of rock; it connects to the blues, classic funk, and incorporates details from punk and even new wave\u2014all with French roots. This lends his own music, as well as his collaborations with others, a remarkably flexible and wide-ranging quality, the music evoking various historical moments while simultaneously feeling removed from time. Except for some production details, his records from 30 years ago sound like they were made yesterday, and vice versa. His own label on Bandcamp offers a treasure trove of his music<\/a>; here are some wonderful examples.<\/p>\n

Kat Onoma
Billy the Kid (remasteris\u00e9 2022)<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 1980, at the age of 26, Burger founded the rock band Kat Onoma\u2014initially known as Derni\u00e8re Bande, which he ultimately repurposed as the name of his record label. A jazz-rock band with heavy emphasis on the rock, the kind of band you get when you channel something like Steely Dan through punk and post-punk, Kat Onoma made five studio and three live albums through the early 21st century. A striking example is this one, originally released in 1992. It\u2019s not any kind of country style rock, or an arrangement of Aaron Copland\u2019s ballet, but a set of songs that come out of, and pay homage to, fairly obscure American beat poet Jack Spicer and his poem Billy the Kid<\/a>. Sung mostly in English, with some adaptations of Spicer\u2019s words, this has a big, glossy sound with plenty of toughness and grit underneath.<\/p>\n

Rodolphe Burger, Erik Marchand
Before Bach<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Burger is an exceptional collaborator, possessing the skill and balance of ego and generosity to adapt to varied situations while always maintaining his unique voice. He\u2019s like the charismatic friend who is happy to be with others and never needs to be the center of attention. He\u2019s the glue to this remarkable mix of styles, connecting the traditional Breton singing of Erik Marchand<\/a> with instrumentation by Franco-Algerian oud player Mehdi Haddab.<\/a> The title originates from the counterpoint the musicians employ, a modal method derived from Renaissance vocal music. These pieces might seem disjointed on paper, but when put together, the puzzle they form is seamless, rich, and profound.<\/p>\n

Rodolphe Burger & Meteor Band
Hommage \u00e1 Serge Gainsbourg<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ma mais oui, it should be de rigeur for a French musician to pay tribute to the one and only Serge Gainsbourg<\/a>, who was not just a musical star but a pioneer of multiple styles\u2014as well as just being pretty damned stylish. Live, and with guests like Jane Birkin (encore, mais oui) and Mick Harvey,<\/a> it\u2019s one Gainsbourg favorite after another here; the album acknowledges the debt contemporary French musicians have to him, while still remaining firmly stamped with Burger\u2019s laconic, tough-minded attitude.<\/p>\n

Ben Sidran
Rainmaker<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ben Sidran<\/a> began his career as a young rock musician, playing in Steve Miller\u2019s band and with Boz Scaggs<\/a>. He\u2019s done session work with some of the biggest stars in rock, and has had a notable sideline as a music journalist. His own music-making has explored the sweet spot of jazz, rock, soul, and the blues\u2014much like Scaggs and, especially, Mose Allison.<\/a> He describes this album as a sort of studio party for his 80th birthday, and Burger\u2019s guitar and voice feature on a few tracks.<\/p>\n

Tinariwen
Amadjar<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

. <\/p>\n

00:10 \/ 00:58<\/p>\n

Where else does Burger go? Here is Tinariwen<\/a>, a great international rock group and one of the standard bearers for rock and native blues from the Sahel. With Warren Ellis joining Burger as another guest, the European and Tuareg musicians play a loping, hypnotic groove, guitars keening above and in the background, fleshing out individual moments with crunching chords.<\/p>\n

Rodolphe Burger, James Blood Ulmer
Blood and Burger: Guitar Music<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Blood and Burger may not be as big or as well-known as his work with Sidran, Fran\u00e7oise Hardy, Marchand, and others, but it\u2019s truly special\u2014and spectacular\u2014nonetheless. Here we have two strong musical personalities meeting on equal ground; a sinuous guitar sound meets a rich one, rock and blues rhythms meet shuffle grooves and freedom. Burger and harmolodic\/free-folk\/blues guitarist and singer James \u201cBlood\u201d Ulmer sound like they could get one stage and jam on a groove until the end of time\u2014oil and vinegar, a phenomenal emulsification of two complementary traditions with common roots and the feeling of the earth under the musicians\u2019 boots. This is heavy music. That\u2019s not weight, though, but mass, there\u2019s just so much that\u2019s glorious, beautiful, and soulful happening.<\/p>\n

Rodolphe Burger & Olivier Cadiot
Psychopharmaka<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best way to approach this wild album from Burger and lyricist Olivier Cadiot is to start with their description: \u201cPsychopharmaka puts Germanic culture through the blender and then the shaker.\u201d Figures alluded to\u2014and sometimes invoked directly\u2014include, but are not limited to, Kurt Schwitters, Kraftwerk, Frederich Nietzsche, Paul Celan, Anton Bruckner, Kaspar Hauser, and the arrangements incorporate Lieder, German poetry, disco drum machines, and Art-of-Noise-like sampler stabs. There\u2019s also a cover of \u201cDa Da Da,\u201d and a track which name-checks Romanian classical music conductor Sergiu Celibidache. The record\u2019s biggest asset can be summed up in a simple question: What isn\u2019t on this thing?<\/p>\n

Rodolphe Burger
Avalanche<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Burger\u2019s latest full album was released in November 2024. It\u2019s easy to hear it as a stylistic compendium of everything he\u2019s done to date, but there\u2019s no self-conscious retrospection here; that\u2019s just who Burger is as a musician. He nourishes his creativity from multiple angles, taking the instrumentation and arrangements in multiple directions without losing track of his roots. And like the previous albums, there\u2019s one more nod to his foundation, and one more surprise: pop-song-crooner and Jerry Lewis\u2019s comedic foil Dean Martin.<\/p>\n

Rodolphe Burger & Philippe Poirier
Play Kat Onama<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 2014, Burger and Philippe Poirier, the other surviving member of Kat Onama, re-recorded the Billy the Kid music, doing it from scratch with new arrangements, expressive ideas, and style. They opened up space in the music, slowed it down, put in more recordings of Spicer reading the poem; they took their time to play it, say it, and let it sink in. The first version was rock-inspired by poetry, the end result is something closer to poetic rock, fueled by Burger\u2019s inimitable savoir-faire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LISTS The Best of Rodolphe Burger, French Rock\u2019s Original Visionary By George Grella \u00b7 October 13, 2025 Photos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-76394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}