When a Japanese singer duets with French fave Pomme, the outcome is beautiful:
Monthly Archives: June 2024
Parfait Eté 2024
If you follow this blog for a few years, you know two things: around the 21st of June, I put up Perfect Summer Song compilation (on Spotify) with just the right songs for your Autoroute du Soleil (wherever that route may lay) pleasure. And 2: The name, Parfait Eté, is a crime against the French language but I just don’t care. So, for the 2024 edition (the 15th compilation) you go HERE
This year, I chose mostly 80s inspired songs, by bands & artists like Le Couleur, Ricky Hollywood, Fishbach, Petit Nuage and Perez. Songs that, to me, sound like the music I heard in the 80s when was sitting on the backseat of my parents car, on our way down the Autoroute du Soleil. Songs French radio played to death, like Rouge et Noir by Jeanne Mas, any Princess Stephanie single, Cargo by by Axel Bauer and anything by Indochine and Niagara. Those days. But then, now.
Ceylon
Cosmic indie-psyche-soul. It’s a thing, and Toulouse duo Ceylon, comprised of Louise Holt and Tristan Chevalier, play this. To break it down: there are West-African-ish guitar lines, downtempo rhythms, funky basslines, psych-electronics (very subtle), plus the high, sultry voice of Louise and the more down to earth groan of Tristan. Two albums so far, and a handful of singles. I’d never heard of ‘m before (shame), but their latest offering is VERY up my alley. See this:
En Stéréo
This is FANTASTIC. A trio from Montréal (Gab Godon,Gabriel Reichhold & Jeanne Gariépy) who make sultry downtempo music like, say, Belleruche or Boozoo Bajou back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Funky bass, soothing vocals, electronic fx. En Stéréo’s new EP has all the right vibes. Excellent stuff, also for 2024
Pale Regard
French dreamy rockband Pâle Regard released this sunny, reverb-y single. They say: ‘The song is imbued with irony and lightness, with the voice taking pride of place, perched above the instrumental like a delicate chouquette atop a stack of warm, freshly baked pastries’
To the End
Rest in peace, Françoise: