Several French and Israeli artist paid hommage to Serge on July 28 with a concert in Tel Aviv, with Serge’s son Lulu behind the piano and FS-faves like Rose and Alizee singing (and a gorgeous singer called Shirel, whom I never heard of). Check out a highlights-trailer below. Fan-made video of Alizee’s visit to the promised land here, AFP-reportage about the concert here. (Merci Christophe)
Raven-haired beauty Gaele made a second album, that leans heavy on percussion. Because of the way she sings and talks, I’d call her a slammeuse. There are mostly acoustic instruments used on the album, ranging from the ukele to a full brassband. There’s a reggae-vibe, some New Orleans-style funk and lyrics about current affairs (like the financial crisis). One song was written by the great Daniel Belanger. Kick-off track Femme en ic is my favourite because of the jazzy style and the wordplay.
Gaele – Femme en ic
Interesting find by music blog Everybody Taste: Chinatown by indie-darling Wild Nothing (see video) is based on an instrumental line from Chantal Goya’s 60s classic La pluie du ciel. Read about it (and download from) HERE.
A kooky girl, a phat groove and musings about going to a party, going to the beach, going nowhere….what more do you want from a summer jam? Anais teamed-up for Too hot with Beat Assailant, the American-born producer who is also the mastermind behind French soul-phenomenon Ben L’Oncle Soul. Too hot reminds me of Luscious Jackson, with that laid-back vibe, funny (partly French) lyrics and monster-bassline. Flavour will last until October, definitely.
Beat Assailant & Anais – Too hot
Les Disques du Crépuscule was a Belgian label that specialized in sophisticated songs and gorgeous sleeves – designer Benoit Hennebert loved putting beautiful girls on the recordcovers (like the one pictured) LDdC’s peak was in the eighties, when they released album by Anna Domino, (Isabelle) Antena, Paul Haig and Tuxedomoon. Read an extensive history on Crépuscule-activities here. Recently, LTM started re-releasing the backcatalogue and making nice compilations. Like Les filles du Crépuscule, featuring songs by FS-faves like Cathy Claret, Mikado, Antena and Marie Audigier. Great liner-notes, great package, this is what a compilation should be. I was pleasantly surprised by the Patrick Juvet-cover by Isabelle Antena (real name: Powaga) and her sisters, and the discovery of Ludus’ Bardot-cover.
Powaga Sisters – J’aime regarder les filles
Ludus – Nue au soleil
In other news: I upped a new podcast featuring great non-English songs from all over the world (Italian rock, French soul, Texan mambo, Libanese dance, etc), go here.