Various: Cuisine Non-Stop

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * * )

France has usually had a bad rap in rock and pop - usually deserved - and it has been only in the past few years that their trip-hop and rap artists (well, MC Solaar anyway) have found their own unique voices.

This is surprising, given the melange of musical cultures French artists can draw on: North African, Middle Eastern, gypsy and Jewish, Spanish and West African among them.

This excellent and aurally diverting collection subtitled Introduction To The French Nouvelle Generation is compiled by former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and should lend a touch of Euro-exotica to backyard barbecues this summer.

Here are the Arabic/Spanish sounds of Jo'Lo (who impressed mightily at the last Womad with their street-theatre-styled stage presence as much as their vibrant music), seven minutes of Arthur H (son of French rock star Jacques Higelin) who sounds like a gone-dub Tom Waits, the terrific Louise Attaque, the angular strings behind Ignatus' La Politique, and the tuba-driven reggae of La Tordue.

Yes, there are accordions in places, and yes it's all in French.

But if the language eludes you - idiomatic French and the puns will go past even those who passed it at school - then it's still possible to immerse yourself in the confluence of musical cultures and styles (from rock-pop through oddball funk to experimental art music) and come away smiling.

Student radio should be all over this one, Arthur H in particular.

Label: Luaka Bop