French Fancy

Salut! We're just back from a super quick visit to Paris to meet with dance supremos Justice. Young Parisians Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge are the new protégés of Daft Punk's manager (and all-round dance crackerjack) Pedro Winter. They've done storming remixes of Britney, Franz Ferdinand and Daft Punk but a three-track EP, 'Waters of Nazareth', will be their first release proper in April. Pedro sorted dinner, subverting the 'steak and pommes frites' expectations of eight salivating journalists by taking us to a local Japanese restaurant. Us hacks scoffed vast quantities of pork, beef, rice and noodles with sake, lager and wine chasers while the Parisians daintily picked over their meals and looked on with appalled bemusement. The rest of the night was danced away in a cool subterranean club called Le Paris Paris. Monday night in the capital is not much cop on the entertainment front, according to Pedro, so the place was packed out with bohemian locals, smoking furiously and looking nonchalant. Under a mushrooming fug of cigarette smoke, outlandish rockers Fancy - like an angst-ridden Darkness - drew a volley of screams and whistles from the audience. The climax? Jessie Chaton, the whip-thin frontman, playfully combing his afro while pouting through an ear-piercing rendition of the Pointer Sisters' 'I'm So Excited'. Justice's Xavier took to the decks at 1am and played some satisfyingly filthy tunes, including their reworked version of Simian's 'Never Be Alone', which drew a mini forest of hands into the air. With the prospect of an early train ride back to London looming, most of us conceded defeat by 4am. Still, the journey back to Blighty was more entertaining than expected. Despite keeping our professional cool, we were all mildly excited to see the Arctic Monkeys chattering away in the next seats. The Sheffield superstars - notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to the media - were oblivious to the fact that eight music journalists were ear wigging in on their conversation. Among other topics - counterfeit Smarties, Chaka Khan, literature, gigs - the Monkeys were pondering what type of car they fancied buying, before conceding that they should probably learn to drive first.