N L F 3

Paris / Montreal, France

You do not have the current Adobe Flash Player

To listen to this audio clip you will need to upgrade Adobe Flash Player

You do not have Adobe Flash Player

To listen to this audio clip you will need to install Adobe Flash Player

About

ECHOTROPIC, the 4-track EP released in June 2008, provided us with a foretaste of the dazzling new album RIDE ON A BRAND NEW TIME, which will come out in the UK and Germany on March the 16th 2009.

CUBICO-FOLK, WILD EXOTICA, PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY
NLF3's music has been described as "a kitsch This Heat" by The Wire, and compared for its rhythms to a 2009 version of the Ege Bamayasi-era of Can. The Guardian even spoke of them as "a Radiohead seduced by the idea of live improvisation". The members of NLF3 - F.lor, Mitch and Don Nino - name influences as varied as Pierre Henry, Fela Kuti, Steve Reich, Ennio Moricone, as well as Syd Barrett, Zappa, Fantomas, Aphex Twin, and Sonic Youth. Strange gurus indeed, for a music that, after all these comparisons, still sounds unique. NLF3 is the story of three music lovers - two brothers in blood and a third in spirit - united by the same passion: to make music, record it and take it all around the world. In that regard, their kinship with Battles and Animal Collective, with whom they have toured, seems perfectly natural - they all belong to the same generation of musicians and have the same desire to discover new territory, to explore new possibilities and to bring together past and future. It comes as no surprise either that the brothers F.lor and Don have lived in Germany as well as the US, and have spent some time in Nigeria where their father introduced them to the great Fela Kuti and others like the sculptor Twin Seven Seven.

RIDE ON A BRAND NEW TIME
The new album was recorded and mixed by F.lor in Paris between July 2007 and July 2008, and mastered in Los Angeles by John Golden. The first takes were recorded at the Microbe studio on a rare Euphonix mixing desk, and were later arranged at studio PUSH, in the 18th arrondissement. It was in the cavernous heart of this strange underground laboratory that the three-piece diligently crafted their efficient but ambitious songs. Amplified kalimbas, reverb-drenched guitars, catchy rhythms, vintage keyboards and psychedelic vocals invoke the holy trinity - Fela Kuti, Brian Eno and Tom Zé (the one of tropicalism ) - and take the listener on a voyage through a fantastical and enchanting world, perfectly illustrated by the work of Japanese artist Yu Matsuoka.

INDIE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
In the UK, they have been described as "one of the most influential bands of the French indie scene". Why? Because their discography goes back to 2000 as NLF3, and was preceded by 10 years of musical activism with their previous band, Prohibition. Because they have run their artistic career and their label Prohibited Records from the front line for the last decade, discovering and launching new talents - we have them to thank for the first outputs of Herman Düne and Berg Sans Nipple, amongst others. Because they've toured the world, performing gigs and live soundtracks to the films "Que Viva Mexico" (Serguei Eisenstein, 1931) et "Die Abenturer des Prizen Achmed" (Lotte Reiniger, 1926). Because their most precious experiences have come from their many travels and meetings, by chance or design, with inspirational figures who share the same ideas of free-spirited rock music. Because they've been skateboarding around the Eiffel Tower with Mark Gonzales and Pedro Winter, recorded Yann Tiersen, Shannon Wright and Dirty Three, been supported live by Panda Bear & Avey Tare, commissioned Gaspard Augé to do the artwork for their second album, organised a show for Don Caballero in 1999, had dinner with Jean Louis Costes, slept at David Grubb's house, drunk white wine with John Peel and sparkling water with Arto Lindsay , met Femi Kuti at Lagos airport, beaten Ian McKaye at table football - but only ever talk about music.

PRESS QUOTES

"ONE OF FRANCE MOST INFLUENTIAL UNDERGROUND BANDS OVER THE COURSE OFTHE LAST TEN YEARS. NLF3 PLAYS ASMOKEY KRAUT-ROCK GROOVE OF SAMPLES, BEATS AND GUITARS"

"FEW BANDS ARE SO CONSTANTLY INTERESTING" THE WIRE

"THIS THREE PIECE AT THE FOREFRONT OF PARIS MUSIC SCENE GIVES THE EXPLORATORY NATURE OF THE PLAYING AND THE REALTIME LIVE SAMPLING. THIS MESMERIC MEANDERING MUSIC RECALLS A RADIOHEAD SEDUCED BY THE IDEA OF LIVE IMPROVISATION" THE GUARDIAN

"THESE STRONG INSTRUMENTALS HAVE A BEAUTIFULLY RECORDED ANALOGUE FEEL : DRIVEN, GUTSY & PASSIONATE" SLEAZENATION