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Les Chauds Lapins's debut album is
" Parlez-moi d'amour".

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LP $14.99  BUY NOW

From the murky depths of New York’s cultural ferment, LES CHAUDS LAPINS rise stately into view. In their hands, small devices — banjo ukuleles, that curious half breed which combines the impetuous snap of early jazz with the light charm of the ukulele. On their lips, cryptic incantations from an alternate reality — for it is the heart of the French music hall which pulses within collaborators Kurt Hoffman and Meg Reichardt.

Les Chauds Lapins present French songs of the '20s – '40s, an epoch when American jazz and swing was being absorbed into the witty, passionate, highly melodic tradition of French popular music. Their repetoire includes numbers popularized by the likes of Mistinguett, Lucienne Boyer, Edith Piaf, and in particular features suave, swing-tinged gems from the enchanted catalog of songs by the great, late Charles Trenet.

MEG REICHARDT reports that her first trip to France was on a biking tour from Rome to Paris with a triumphant finish in Paris round L'arc de triumph. Says Meg, “I was exposed to Serge Gainsbourg’s music à la that nasty duet he did with his daughter (“Lemon Incest”) which I saw on French TV. My second adventure to France was a six-week stay with a family in Nantes, of which the highlight was a week spent camping on the Brittany coast. I recall the inviting sign, ‘Gratuit pour les filles toutes les nuits’ which was located on the door of all the beach night clubs.”

Meg also sings and plays guitar in the The Roulette Sisters, who perform frequently in the New York area, and have released their first album, "Nerve Medicine".

KURT HOFFMAN Collecting old French 78s and learning some Charles Trenet songs began as a diverting way to pick up some French vocabulary. However, there was apparently some Gallic genie in that pile of old records. It has possessed him, causing French chanson to replace much of what had hitherto constituted Kurt’s life on earth.

Prior to his current infatuation with the banjo uke, Kurt was active as a composer, saxophonist and clarinet player. He co-led the legendary nine-piece instrumentals band, The Ordinaires, for close to a decade. Later projects included his early swing fantasy, the Band of Weeds, and various film and video scoring projects. As a sideman, he has recorded and toured extensively with They Might Be Giants, and has recorded with the Jon Spenser Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Frank Black, Firewater, and Drink Me.

Les Chauds Lapins means literally, ‘the hot rabbits.’ Figuratively it means someone who is always turned on sexually. Usually, it refers to the guys who are always hitting on girls. This music will cause you to recklessly try your luck.