Before Turbo Kid and before Join Us, there was Coming Soon 2007-2011, the collection of killer cuts from the early years of Le Matos’ career. The album has only been available in digital form for some time, but no longer: On April 21, AKA Record Store Day, you will be able to buy limited-edition standard and deluxe vinyl versions via Return to Analog Records. (And also via MONDO/Death Waltz and Transmission in due time.)
Some of the most popular Le Matos songs came out in the band’s early years, when Jean-Philippe Bernier, Jean-Nicolas Leupi, and former member Maxime Dumesnil were trying on different styles and still finding their niche. Consider the Human After All vibes of “Piège de Crystal,” the band’s first song ever. Other popular cuts include “I Come in Peace,” “88mph,” and “Like Perfume on a Pig.”
Indeed, the 11-track album is rife with the influence of Justice, Boys Noize, and the mid-2000s French Touch scene, along with a heavy inspiration from 1980s films and 1990s electronic music.
But let’s not forget how this album factors into the extended Drive universe (this wouldn’t be Vehlinggo if I didn’t mention Drive at every opportunity). Coming Soon features the exquisite “Comme des Pirates,” which caught the attention of Drive artists David “College” Grellier and Electric Youth, the latter which would collaborate with Le Matos for “Light Again” on Join Us.
You can learn more about the story behind the album and the band’s early years by buying the record and reading the liner notes I wrote for it. Below is the art for the standard version. You can check out the deluxe at the store.
To learn more about Le Matos, read the interview I did around the release of Turbo Kid with Bernier, who is also the director of photography for that film and the forthcoming Summer of 84. There was also the cool video for Le Matos’ “No Tomorrow,” the video for which is a Turbo Kid prequel.
