The Balek Band Médecines
The French quartet follow up a couple of notable singles with their first long-player, traversing different dancefloor styles without losing their live, organic vibe.
It’s tough trying to pick out a stand-out track from The Balek Band’s inaugural album Médecines, as it’s all pretty damn good. We’re taken down an eclectic, mystical rabbit-hole that’s not afraid to break convention, starting strong with the psychedelic ambient trip that is ‘Introspection’ – a beautiful, spoken word meditation.
You don’t have to go too far these days to find a disco track or two, so standing out from the glitter-ball crowd is tough. But the Balek Band execute the genre with class and verve, as ‘Charbon Alcool’ takes the record to the next plateau. ‘Balek Zouk’ is exactly that as slap bass and hypnotic percussion play off against each other, highlighting this band’s ability to switch musical lanes with ease. There is even cinematic, sparse drum’n’bass that harks back to the mid 1990s and the likes of Lamb, where the listener is teased by a hyper-groove that’s unable to fully unleash – it all works.
The pool of influences is rich, with echoes of funk, trip-hop, soul and psychedelia all meshing together to conjure up a must-own record for anyone who considers themselves Balearic. The Balek Band are still fairly young, emerging from Nantes in 2018. Taking into account two years of disruption, Valentin Tisserandet (Vidock, Ago Gazo, Icaros) has already formed an open-minded, polished studio and live band that will no doubt be booked at multiple festivals this summer.
