…there’s always this mix of French 60’s and 70’s grooves (featuring Michel Legrand, Gainsbourg, Michele Mercier, Alain Goraguer) to keep you warm.
Articles Written By: guuzbourg
Coeur en bondage
Oh la la. More here. Feminist dismissal here.
In other news, did you see this fine cover of an Elli Medeiros track by CdP and François & the Atlas Mountains? [Merci Bruno]
Verlaine, Baudelaire and the Girls
Here’s an idea: let gorgeous filles like Claire Keim, Jenifer and Camelia Jordana sing poems by Verlaine, Baudelaire, Elouard and Carême. Add some garçons (Arthur H, Marc Lavoine, Babx), some unsinkable legends (Ferré, Hardy, Nougarro) and you have La Bande des Mots. A compilation to raise money for handicapped students, and to help popularize the great French poets. Not every poem is fit to be sung, to be honest. But Verlaine’s Il pleure dans mon coeur by Claire Keim sure makes excellent FS-material. She’s certainly not the first to sing Verlaine’s poem, many classical soprano’s did it before her, but it never sounded this sexy.
Claire Keim – Il pleure dans mon coeur
Camelia Jordana – Spleen
Fusée Dorée
Remember electronic fille Fusée Dorée? You can download her new EP for free on Bandcamp. I strongly recommend the guitaristic Un autre film.
David Giguère
Last year was a French-Canadian fille fest, this year the guys put in some weight. Well, one guy, and David Giguère gets help from one of our alltime fave Quebecoises (Ariane Moffatt, who produced), from Fanny Bloom (who sings a too short duet) and Camille Poliquin as his choriste. Giguere, also known as an actor is Canada, made quite an impression with his first single L’Atelier. His debut album is a folktronic affair, with breezy melodies, heartfelt lyrics and modern soundscapes. His voice is a bit lazy, offbeat, a bit like fellow Canadians Damien Robitaille and Pierre Lapointe. At times, like in Madame M, the late Bashung springs to mind.
David Giguere – Madame M
Luciana Mello
Brazilian singer Luciana Mello recorded a French version of Serge Gainsbourg’s latinized ode to coffee-coloured beauties Couleur Café on her 6th album (called 6 Solo). In the video above you don’t see French singer Corneille, but he’s on the album version. Luciana comes from a musical family, her dad’s Brazilian funk pioneer Jair Rodrigues, her brother Jair Oliviera is a music producer. Not sure if Luciana recorded in French before, but this sure’s convincing.
Listen to more Luciana via Soundcloud.
(Merci to Under Paris blog for the tip)
Anaïs
Quirky French singer Anaïs new single is a cover (see original version here), the first track from a new covers album. Though we love covers at FS, we’re also sceptical. The reason you didn’t find a post about the new Olivia Ruiz-EP is that her swing covers are average, not to say below average. And Olivia in English…I don’t know. On her upcoming album A l’eau de javel, Anaïs sings tracks by Edith Piaf, Rina Ketty and other 40s singers, whom she prefers over, say, Madonna and Mylene Farmer (good choice). I also heard a version of Tina Turner’s Private Dancer by Anaïs, but I sure hope that’s not on the album for it’s baaaaad. But this new single is very, very promising. And danceable.
Anais – Je n’embrasse pas les garçons
Under the radar (12) an even dozen
Guestpost! David B. on his new French love.
Anna Flori-Lamour from Paris put out her first album, “Je Ne M’excuse Pas”, last June. Aside from her myspace site, there is not a lot of information on Anna, but it’s always nice to find another pretty blonde chanteuse. “Réveillez moi en septembre”, has a driving beat, Anna singing in a clear alto, with accompaniment suggestive of the early ’70’s (think Jefferson Airplane). The title track is similar in style: here’s a video. Anna varies her rhythms and styles from song to song, making it easy to play the album straight through without feeling saturated. “Toutouche Pipi” and “Valse Punk” remind me a bit of La Grande Sophie.
Anna’s not signed to a label, but happily it didn’t stop her from putting out this album.
Anna Flori-Lamour – Reveillez-moi en Septembre
심규선 (Lucia)
A tip from a fellow ‘zuchtmeisjes’ (or fille sourire) fan Cor Hospes, this video by Korean singer Lucia. No idea what she’s singing about, no clue if there’s an album (I could only find a single and a few guestspots) and ok, not everything is as breezy as this one. But this one’s great. The only K-Pop I know sounds like this, so Lucia is quite a difference.
Maissiat
This is the only shred of information I could trace of Maissiat. But boy, do you want to hear her. Think a young, sensual Mylene Farmer, produced by Dominique A. This is going to be BIG.
Maissiat – Le départ
Listen to Jaguar on Maissiat’s Soundcloud page