Frustration - Empires Of Shame

French post-punk band Frustration's excellent 2014 album 'Empires Of Shame'.

Closely intertwined with Born Bad's rise to fame, being their first ever release, Frustration are seen as the caring big brothers of the French indie scene. Their pathway in itself is symbolic: hailing from the garage closed circuit from the 90s, they gave up the tattoos and brilliantine rock to try something different - at the crossroads of punk and cold wave, of M�tal Urbain, Killing Joke and Joy Division, while we were all rediscovering France's synth-wave heritage with the 'BIPPP' and 'Des Jeunes gens m�dernes' compilations.

And five fellows not particularly renowned for their technical skills found themselves invested with a peculiar grace, becoming avant-gardist just as they were entering their forties, and showing the way to a whole generation of bands that suddenly became aware that it was possible, even here, in our star-crossed France. Critical acclaim, high sells, delighted crowd: the rest is history.