Posted by Sky | Filles Sourires

Misty Lights

Posted on 31/12/2010
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On their previous albums, French string quartet Quatuor Ebène interpreted works by Brahms, Haydn, Debussy, or Fauré. On their new one, they explore their favorite pop stuff like The Beatles’ Come Together, the surf classic Misirlou or Jobim’s Corcovado – a technically brilliant, at times too brainy record which takes ensemble music to quite boring places like Uncle Neil’s Streets of Philadelphia which don’t get hotter if you view them through virtuosos’ glasses. Among the four guest vocalists is French actress Fanny Ardant, doing a calmly intense and intriguing version of James Shelton’s too-seldom covered 1950 classic Lilac Wine. A perfect song for the early hours of New Year’s Day.

~~Fanny Ardant – Lilac Wine~~

~~Vincent Delerm – Fanny Ardant et moi~~

FS Rerun: Bringing Sexy Back

Posted on 28/12/2010
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This one appeared on FS in October 2008 for the first time. More about Sylvia Robinson here.

In the so-called 1972 porn classic Deep Throat, a notably sleazoid threesome featuring Dolly Sharp, Jack Byron and Jack Birch is scored with a delirious funk/ soul track titled Love is Strange. The original version was recorded in 1957 by r&b duo Mickey & Sylvia – i.e. Mickey Baker, the hottest session guitarist of his time, who eventually bought a ticket to France and never came back, and Sylvia Robinson, who at least went temporarily to the Paris of her mind.

In 1973, she recorded a cover of Serge & Jane’s Je t’aime, released on the aptly named Vibration label, transferring Gainsbourg’s spirit to the sultry mood of Spanish language moanings. Her partner in cooing was salsa singer Ralfi Pagan, who provided the Latin lover feel, while Sylvia seemed to practice for her smash hit of the same year, Pillow Talk, a premier bedroom anthem foreshadowing Donna Summer’s disco orgasms. In short: Soul Je t’aime wasn’t perfect, but a sexy mother of a song.

Jack Birch, the stud from „Deep Throat“, became father of Hollywood star Thora Birch („American Beauty“). Ralfi Pagan was murdered during a tour in Colombia, while Sylvia founded Sugarhill Records in the early 80s, becoming the mastermind behind seminal pre-hiphop outings like the Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight: She even played bass on the recording.

~~Mickey Baker – Parisian Holiday~~

Mickey & Sylvia – Love is Strange

Deep Throat version of „Love is Strange“

Sylvia Robinson & Ralfi Pagan – Soul Je t’aime

~~Sylvia Robinson – Pillow Talk~~

Joyeux Noel (1969 Slight Return)

Posted on 24/12/2010
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Today, you buy the New Yorker, GQ, or Entertainment Weekly, but once upon a time, you had those poptastic magazines in which you found great stories by, let’s say, Romain Gary, Henry Miller, Alain Robbe-Grillet, or William Faulkner alongside with cool, though not too glossy shots of the most beautiful women of the world – of course naked, but nobody called it sexist then. Those were the Seventies, and actually, I once worked for LUI, cranking out literary reviews in my small bureau until my senior editor showed up in the evening to take me to those risqué parties on the second floor where I met some of the gals from the photo sessions … and, knowing that they were doing their job exclusively for the advancement of culture, they listened to us breathlessly while we were quoting from Verlaine and Mallarmé poems. Just a few years earlier, in December 1969, LUI even had had Jane on the cover, today still a perfect pic for Boxing Day. And while you’re watching, you might even be in for a little sermon by Cardinal Katerine.

~~Katerine – Jesus Christ Mon Amour~~

Mayra Andrade

Posted on 20/12/2010
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The Sunday Times called her „voice from Cape Verde“, possibly due to the fact that Mayra Andrade sings a lot of songs in Cape Verdean Creole, though she’s born in Cuba and grew up in Senegal, Angola, and Germany. Her records smell a bit of the well-designed eau de toilette of all those other industry working girls mixing world music with those certain hints of Brazilian folklore, body lotion fado, and authentic leather sofa jazz/ethno feel that probably will earn her a guest job on Charlie Haden’s next „Sophisticated Ladies“ volume. She’s got taste anyway: Her new live album, Studio 105, features also Serge’s La Javanaise, written originally for Juliette Gréco in 1959, in a kind of worn-out sugardaddy’s club version, definitely not as intimate as it tries to be, but actually quite a winning one.

~~Mayra Andrade – La Javanaise~~

Peau Douce

Posted on 18/12/2010
/Under Video

All-too-short perfume spot, but eyecandy all the way, plus the right bedroom sound.

L’amour à la Gainsbourg

Posted on 16/12/2010
/Under Video

Adjani lookalike Caroline Grimm recorded this one, an élastiquely carribean-ized disco-pop number that made my sister buy her first dessous on Ibiza in 1988.

FS Rerun: Sarah Nixey

Posted on 15/12/2010
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Though Sarah Nixey is British, she’s a fille to boot, levitating effortlessly between the realms of innocence and lasciviousness, the subversive and the sublime. With Black Box Recorder – assisted by Luke Haines of Auteurs fame and John Moore, ex-Jesus & Marychain –, she recorded three of the smartest, though too much neglected pop CDs of the last decade. French Rock’n’Roll from Recorder’s brilliant second record Facts of Life echoes the spirit of Jane & Serge, London-style, and features even a few lines in French:

Black Box Recorder – French Rock’n’Roll

Solo, Sarah also did a trippy club cover of Francoise Hardy’s hit Le temps de l’amour, written by Hardy’s future husband Jacques Dutronc in 1962, and Ici avec toi, a gauloised-up translation of her original song When I’m Here With You.

~~Sarah Nixey – Le temps de l’amour~~

~~Sarah Nixey – Ici avec toi~~

Last not least, another of Sarah’s French connections from the compilation The Worst of Black Box Recorder: Her version of Terry Jacks’ weeper superhit Seasons of the Sun – cover of Jacques Brel’s classic chanson Le Moribond – reverberating an entirely different quality: the dizzy state when awakening from a already half-forgotten dream.

~~Black Box Recorder – Seasons in the Sun~~

Ödland – Cecidomyiidae

Posted on 14/12/2010
/Under Video

Nicely done video for the brand new 7″ by FS favorites Ödland. Face A, Cecidomyiidae, is a stoned-out Cheshire Cat’s grin of a song, face B, La floraison des bambous, an odd mix of chanson, chamber music, and babypop. I love this stuff, but cannot shake off the feel that it’s more of the same. 200 signed and numbered copies which can be ordered via the band’s website.

Gladys Pink

Posted on 13/12/2010
/Under Musique

Few people remember Detroit all-Latino garage band ? and The Mysterians, though they had a #1 smash hit with 96 Tears on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold more than a million (!) copies in 1966. The 7“ generally is regarded as proto-punk and was also featured on the famous first Nuggets compilation. 12 years later the song was covered by Belgian unknowns Gladys Pink who replaced the delirious vox organ of the original with a vicious accordion and recorded one of the most sensational and completely unnoticed singles ever to come from the Lowlands. No need for French lingo here. The spirit should be enough.

~~Gladys Pink – 96 Tears~~

Yearlist 2010 by Sky

Posted on 13/12/2010
/Under Musique

Great year, fantastic filles, awesome albums, terrific tunes. Here we go:

1. Various Artists – Je Deteste Serge. This is it. The (illegal) album that had the highest rotation at my château this year. 19 strikingly artistic and intertextual killer tracks blending Serge G. with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Sugarhill Gang, Biggie, and loads of others. Bâtard Pop Heaven – for download still available.

DJ Y alias JY – Skee-lo and Clyde

2. Ödland – Ottocento. Lorenzo Papace is the mad hatter behind this absinth-soaked, tenderly hypnotic (and quite humorous) 19th-century-fantasy, Alizée Bingöllü (pictured) the most sexy voice you’ll ever hear from behind the mirror. The album ist just like her: Little girl eyes, big girl ideas.

Ödland – De l’autre côte de miroir

3. Élodie Frégé – La Fille de L’après-midi. She can do without Biolay, and easily. A concept album like a trois-accents-promise, much better than its predecessor, amazingly uncompromising, full of high-class songwriting, suspense, and drama. The record that made Guuz a poet. Ravissante indeed.

Élodie Frégé – La fille de l’après-midi

4. Fabienne Delsol – On My Mind. While nobody noticed, Fabienne clandestinely took April March’s place in girlpopdom. Sixties mood, simple but irresistible melodies, lost love dreamscapes, Rick Nelson feel, fuzz guitars and that certain not-so-innocent voice. Only two tracks en Français here. Somebody who cares?

Fabienne Delsol – Ce jour la

5. Cécile Hercule – La Tête à L’Envers. Lots more versatile and inventive, Cécile is outsmarting everybody’s darling ZAZ by far. Wooing and cooing as a premier art form, and Enfin should have been a huge hit. For the bedroom, and some of those things beyond.

Cécile Hercule – Enfin

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