Le POP! Is Back

German label, Le Pop Musik has really out done themselves with the Le Pop series. This increasingly essential compilation has taken the most essential Chanson tunes over the last couple of years and crammed them on to CD's for the world to hear. With nary a bad compilation amongst the bunch, the Le Pop series has become just about essential when wanting to keep up on the latest music from the ever fashionable French pop scene. Now up to their fifth compilation, Le Pop Musik has once again upped the ante and Le Pop 5 unsurprisingly does not disappoint.

Over the course of it's sixteen tracks, the entire gamut of pop and chanson is covered as only this compilation could; with a spring in it's ever swanky step and a melody in its heart. Bang on and up to date, the songs that populate Le Pop 5 are chanson's finest moments and they revel in their impeccability. Whether it's moody beat pop, jangly twee pop, or dance pop it's all here on Le Pop 5 and it is here in abundance. And not unlike the other Le Pop records in the series Le Pop 5 is pretty much perfect in every way.

From lavish orchestrations to crooning vocals and deep grooves to spiky guitars with sugary sweet vocals Le Pop 5 serves as a constant reminder of just how fantastic chanson can be and that's true even if you don't understand a word of French. About the worst thing you can say about Le Pop 5 is that it's over almost as quickly as it starts. The songs here are original and packed to the rafters with great harmonies and choruses that even non-Francophiles will have a hard time shaking from their memory. Le Pop Musik is clearly on to something here with the Le Pop series and having heard each of these five compilations, each compilaton is better than the last. This is a seriously great label that's not even based in France (it's based in Germany) but undoubtedly scours the country it loves for the finest music out there and Le Pop brings it all they way across the Atlantic for us to enjoy. This series is a labour of love and each of the tracks here are here for a reason, they're awesome.

Le Pop 5 is a fantastic record that will appeal to anyone who likes a strong tune whehther or not you speak a word of French. Music is said to cross barriers and after listening to Le Pop 5 I'm ready to say the French can just about the closest thing to blowing the cross-cultural divide sky high. Highly recommended.