Year lists (3)

I’m still in doubt about 2012…If you’d asked me one week ago  what kind of year it was in French music, I would have said “hmm”…
Big names fell short, no album really stood out, no song kept ringing around in my head…
But that was last week. When making this list and going through all the music, it turned out 2012 wasn’t that bad. A lot of talent stood out. So no Françoise Hardy, no Berry, No Pauline Croze, no Daphné, no Barbara Carlotti….but instead:

10 Dawn Landes – Mal Habillée
When one of our French girls releases an album with English songs, we regret it most of the time. But when an American girl has the nerve to release an album with only French songs, I go “Yay!”, and give her a special reward by including her in my year list.
Look here.

9 Buridane – Pas Fragile
A few years ago we heard a few songs from this chanteuse. And then silence…. Nothing more from Buridane, until this year, out of the blue there was here album.
Although we don’t agree on the title, obviously…
Check her video for “Badaboum

8 Céline Ollivier  – La Femme À L’éventail
Sweet surprise on #8. Her name was humming around on the internet for some time and there it was, her debut album “La Femme À L’éventail’, by this classical educated chanteuse. Excellent songs, very pure, and very personal. Listen to one of her songs “Au Flore” here.

7 Amélie Veille – Mon Coeur Pour Te Garder
Never heard about her before this album, but it turned out to be her third. Although it was six year since her last one. Yet another Quebecoise in a year list..Video officiel: ici

6 Céline Mastrorelli – Elle Était Une Fois
Guuzbourg wrote: “A favourite past time is to follow the progress of supersweet singer Celine Mastrorelli. She first popped up on our rader in 2008”, and now she fulfilled our expectations with  “Elle Était Une Fois”. Look and listen here

5 Sophie Vaillancourt – Histoires De Filles Et De Garçons
When I first heard about this album, I had no expectations at all. It looked “poppy”, she was a former of Star Académie participant, so not really things that would appeal to me.
But then I listened to it and was pleasantly surprised. Poppy, yes, but in a folky way and it all sounds very fresh. Top 5 material!
(couldn’t find a video, but here she is singing at her own release party!

4 Mademoiselle Nineteen – Mademoiselle Nineteen
Almost missed this one in my year list, because it was very early in the year when this one came out. Sparkling sixties sound from a girl from Liege. Year lists are good for replays! Here’s the lovely retro clip of “Quelle importance“.

3 Fanny Bloom – Apprentie guerrière
What a surprise this one! And again an example of the wonderful talented pool of singers from Quebec. Won the prestigious Félix de l’Album alternatif de l’année for his album.

2 Lou Doillon – Places
T
his should be actually my number one..But since the whole album is in English, it makes it difficult to top the list. Since this album gets better by everytime you listen to it, it must be in in the list. (I.C.U. clip here)

1 Melanie Pain – Bye Bye Manchester
When I gave this album a first listening, I was happy and relieved… Yes, this is the kind of music, the kind of voice and the kind of atmosphere that made me a Fille fan. See her perform the title song live ici!

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10 Sexiest Women in French Music Today (10)

This blog is all about appreciation. Of husky voices. Of fabulous chansons. Of beautiful filles. Every opportunity to exposte our love, our admiration, dare I say obsession with these girls, we’ll take. So when Nerve.com published a list of 10 Sexiest Women in Indie Rock, we (that’s Sky, Franss, Marc and me plus FS-readers Sami and Steve for extra input) thought, hey, we could easily make up a French list to counter that. Ok, well, ‘easily’ is a bit of an understatement. We fought. We bitched. We threatened. But here it is. The list. 10 Sexiest Women in French Music Today. You will agree. Or you won’t. But you’ll appreciate it, nonetheless. We’re sure.
In the next days, we’ll countdown to number one.

10. Juliette Wathieu/Mademoiselle Nineteen

If Bacharach and David had been French they’d have written songs for Mademoiselle Nineteen. With Jacques Duvall as her Gainsbourgish mentor there’s more than a hint of Francoise Hardy and France Gall mixed with a steely dash of 21st Century realism. Juliette may walk on rose petals, but you can bet that the footprints belong to Doc Martins.

Mademoiselle Nineteen – Juillet Brillait

Mademoiselle Nineteen

I can almost hear you frown: this FransS guy falls in love too easily. Two weeks ago I declared my love to Soko, and now to yet another darling. My love for Mademoiselle Nineteen’s album. We already spotted Juliette Wathieu (as her real name is) some time ago, and recently saw her sweet video of  “Quelle Importance“, and her first album “Mademoiselle Nineteen” (highly original) is just out.
The album has the atmosphere we like: great voice, to-the-point-songs, lot of sixties references but it certainly doesn’t sound like a retro copycat. Maybe it is better to state that this is how France Gall would’ve sounded if she wasn’t born in ’47 but in ’91, as Mademoiselle Nineteen is.
Some songs have a 70s vibe, like “Je danse dans le noir” (although it includes a wonderful sixties organ).
And of course if you sang backing vocals for Lio, you always get extra points from the FS headquarters!

Mademoiselle Nineteen – Je danse dans le noir

Mademoiselle Nineteen

Download the new, VERY GOOD, single by Mademoiselle Nineteen here, in exchange for your email-address.

Hey Nineteen

Gorgeous Juliette Wathieu is Mademoiselle Nineteen, the newest member of the Freaksville Records family to help make the world a little more poptastic. But wait a minute, you say, the art lover that you are, didn’t artist Charlotte Beaudry do a project called Mademoiselle Nineteen? Not only that, Julliette posed for Beaudry. See the very nice portraits here.
On this blog you can read all about Juliette, that she’s the brother of The Mash-singer Marc, that she’s on Youtube doing a Feist-cover, that genius songwriter Jacques Duvall wrote her first single together with Freaksville-head honcho Benjamin Schoos (aka Miam Monster Miam)… which of course means that a comparison to Lio isn’t that far off. In fact, Je ne vois que vous is on par with any of the best Lio singles out there. Just saying.

Mademoiselle Nineteen – Je ne vois que vous