To fully appreciate Les Sans Culottes- one must either speak French (not moi) or visit their website. The lyrics are pure genius- and I don't even know if SOS Elephants; a song that mentions fat pachyderms and politician in the same verse can be translated back! It's not "revisionist" or "reductionist" in the way that EVERY pop band on MTV is. (Puff Daddy anyone?!) They are truly original, and it's too bad they have to be compared to "homage" bands when Justin Timberlake, Creed, Staind, 50 Cent, Britney, Linkin Part aren't.

Les Sans Culottes, which translates to "those without undergarments," with their campy sex vibe, would sound at home in any of the Austin Powers films and should the Man of Mystery go to Paris to meet Octo-pusé, LSC would definitely follow him there. "Demimonde" with its mystery and show-stopping chorus even sounds like a lost James Bond theme. You can get an idea of the Brooklyn-based band's approach and sentiment just from the names of their deux chanteuses, Kit Kat le Noir and Celine Dijon. Disc opener, "Sa Sabine," sets the stage for much of Faux Realism with it's backing harmonies and party atmosphere. "Balzac 7502" is nostalgically reminiscent of the music of the Gallic past as "SOS Elephants" sounds like They Might Be Giants filtered through red wine and Roquefort. "Ecole de Merde" is French garage pop at its finest and "Le Cog Sportif" translates perfectly the live energy of their shows to your living room. Album standout, "The Tongue of Romance," mocks many of the wonderful things the world has received from LSC's home and sarcastically features the opening notes of classical standard "Fur Elise" played on a concertina. Recently, their tunes can be heard in commercials by Hewlett Packard and most episodes of The Real World: Paris. If the Nineties brought the J-Pop & Britpop invasions, Les Sans Culottes with their ironic party kitsch could be the one to usher in the Franco-phoney wave of "Grand Guignol Roque & Roll" in this new millennium.

Oh, my. I have no idea how to explain Les Sans Culottes. The name of the band is, crudely, "Those who wear no underwear". They are so ultra-cool that nobody much yet knows who they are yet. They are simlutaneously the antidote to high school French and a weapon of mass destruction aimed at the boring junk put out by the major labels today.

I heard the live version of "Funky Peripherique" on local college radio (KCOU) and ordered the CD the same day. Listen to the samples here and on the band's eponymous web-site, and you could well be hooked, too. I guess they are best described as a cross between the B-52s and Jacques Chirac....The melodies are infectious, while the lyrics are allegedly French (or as French as you'll get from a a ye-ye pop band that comes from Brooklyn).

Revivalist of french garage rock. Except without any of the charm, style, or greasy wit of that genre. Trite and boring. Dependency on nostalgia to use as a platform for anything is proof of an intellectual bankruptcy...so is the music of LSC. Worthless.

I can't even explain it. I just love it so much.