Articles Written By: guuzbourg

Under the Radar 4: Lucy Dixon & Le Professeur Inlassable

  • Posted on 05/01/2012
  • /Under Musique

Released in March last year, this smokey collab between English dancer and actress Lucy Dixon and dj/’sound sorcerer’ Le Professeur Inlassable’. One of the tracks on the album One Too is called ‘Nobody Smokes Anymore’, which is a hint to the existential jazzy atmosphere from the good od days that le professeur creates, and Lucy’s husky vocals, a clear reference to classy singers like Julie London. But a newer cut-n-paste band like Belle Ruche also springs to mind. There are two French tracks on the album, I heard 15 Centimes first on the matchless radio station FIP. I know she’s singing about money in her pocket, but a dirty mind like mine hears ‘centimeters’ instead of ‘centimes’. A joy forever, you said it.

Lucy Dixon & Le Professeur Inlassable – 15 centimes

2012

It’s a wrap! Bonne Année from FransS, Maks, Sky and me, we hope to see you again next year. The idea was to post one final yearlist, but really, how many Coeur de Pirate-songs do we need to post to convince you she made the best album of the year (okay, well, maybe Sky needs some extra convincing). If you have Spotify, check out this playlist of the bestest songs of 2011.

So on to 2012. In January, we’ll be posting songs that slipped under our radar in the past year. But if something new pops up (a covers album by Olivia Ruiz, for instance) you sure can read about it here too.

Hopes are up high for a new albums by Barbara Carlotti, Céline Mastrorelli (pictured), La Fiancée, Adrienne Pauly, Coralie Clément, Vanessa Paradis, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rose, Valérie Leulliot, Pauline Croze, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Carmen Maria Vega, Amylie, Ariane Moffatt, La Femme and a whole bunch of fresh faces.

 

Coeur de Pirate live

  • Posted on 28/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

Three free livetracks by Coeur de Pirate! Part of the’ 12 days of Christmas app’ from iTunes – they’re giving away free songs by various artists, only downloadable for 24 hours. Or at least, that’s the idea. Not sure how & why, but the three CdP-songs (+ 2 videos) were up December 8 and still downloadable. If you live in Canada, that is. But you know we have ways of getting to our CdP-stuff. So here are the three songs, recorded last October in Paris. Enjoy.

Coeur de Pirate – Cap Diamant (live)
Coeur de Pirate – St Laurent (live)
Coeur de Pirate – La petite mort (live)

The Weeknd quotes Gainsbourg

  • Posted on 28/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

Well, he ís Canadian. So Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd using French lyrics isn’t that strange. On his new (third), free downloadable mixtape, Abel sings a few lines from France Gall’s Laisse Tomber Les Filles (written by Gainsbourg) in his song Montréal.  On first listen, I didn’t recognise it, so hat tip to @Rvlanen for bringing this to my attention. The Weeknd is considered by many as a very talented leftfield R&B-singer. Abel is like an emo-punk singer making silky soul. Coeur de Pirate loves The Weeknd too, she covered his Wicked Games. Nope, that’s not a Chris Isaak-cover. The Weeknd did cover Michael Jackson on his new mixtape, and used a Siouxsie & the Banshees sample on an earlier one. Talk about varied influences.

The Weeknd – Montréal
France Gall – Laisse tomber les filles

Boxed Vannier

  • Posted on 27/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

Adrian (from DCR) wrote a great piece on the Jean-Claude Vannier box-set on Finders Keepers.
—
Pity my poor postman. 2011 has already seen him have to deliver the heavy Tindersticks’ box set of the soundtracks they recorded for Claire Denis’ films, and the amazing Serge Melody Nelson box (thanks, Santa!). And recently, from Andy Votel’s Finders Keepers records, came a beautifully Jean-Claude Vannier three-album box set. All on vinyl, of course.

Finder Keepers was one of the UK independent labels badly hit by a fire at the Sony Distribution centre in west London during the riots that hit the capital and other parts of the country in the summer. Many labels had their stock wiped out or badly hit. Finders Keepers has been releasing some lovely mix cds compiled by guests such as Jarvis Cocker, Sublime Frequencies and Gruff Rhys to help recoup some of the losses.

Crate-digger extraordinaire Votel has been championing Vannier’s work for years, bringing him over to London’s Barbican in 2006 to perform L’Histoire de Melody Nelson and L’Enfant Assassin Des Mouches. As well as that album, FK has also released Electro Rapide and Roses Rouge Sang. These three records come together in this special set to mark the label’s 50th release. So what do you get? First up is a sturdy box, with the artist’s name die-stamped in red on the lid. Inside, before you even get to the records, there are photos, three exclusive Vannier illustrations, one piece of tablature sheet music and a promo CD copy of the invigoratingly bonkers Histoire De Melody Vannier mixed by Andy Votel, of which only 69 physical copies have been released previously. It’s full of snippets of Vannier’s work, which will be exciting or agonizing, depending how much of a completist you are and you realize there’s still so much more to track down.

But it’s the music on vinyl that is so attractive about this set. All on heavyweight pressings, L’Enfant comes on black, Electro Rapide on white and Roses on a beautiful clear red pressing. Sound quality is as excellent as you’d expect. Each is accompanied by an information sheet about the album and the session players.

There were only 150 of these beauties made, and they’re all gone now. Mine is being treasured, so no, I won’t put it on eBay or Discogs for you. The individual albums are available from FK to buy on vinyl, CD and download. But the set is a fitting tribute to a singular artist and to an always fascinating label. Here’s to the next 50 releases.

Jean-Claude Vannier – Les Yeux Valise (from Roses Rouge Sang)

Year lists (5)

  • Posted on 23/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

FOFS David send in a very special end-of-the-year list:

As 2011 comes to a close, I want to thank you again for your Filles Sourires blog. I’ve been going back through all your posts looking for artists I missed, buying many secondhand CD’s. On the offchance you haven’t seen these, here’s three albums from this year:

Ingrid St-Pierre, from Quebec, has been playing the cafes and small venues for years, and had her debut album “Ma Petite Mam’zelle De Chemin” One of my favorites is Desjardins (video). Another is Homeostasie Cranienne.

I came across Maya Barsony’s new album, “Monter Amoureuse”, when I reread your Filles Sourires post on her 2008 album. I found I enjoyed almost every song, especially liking Insomnie. Here’s the video for Poing Virgule.

Another Canadian premiering this year was Alecka, with her self-named album. Her songs vary widely, from “Le Printemps” (a favorite of mine this year), to more of a hard rock with a ska beat, Choukran (video).

A couple not from this year:

Occasionally (okay, very occasionally), I come across a filles with several albums that I don’t think have been mentioned previously on FS. One of these is Lynda Thalie. Lynda blends North African and middle Eastern rhythms with a bit of rock, similar in some respects to Souad Massi, including her low alto voice. While I like songs from each of her three albums, my favorite is from “La Rose des Sables”, Rallye aicha des Gazelles. The video shows the competition which I hadn’t heard of before – it’s an endurance road rally in Morocco, for women only.

Beats me what happened to Mimi Rousseau after her debut album, “Belle Route” (2007), but I wish she hadn’t stopped there. She does a very nice cover of Suzanne Vega’s “Luka”, with french lyrics. Another favorite of mine from this album is “Cassiopeia”.

Anyway, I have been meaning to write to you for quite some time – I have a bit of time off and thought I’d finally peck the keyboard for a bit. Thanks again for all the effort you put into FS.

all the best,
Dave

P.S.: Really envy you’re getting to see Beatrice Martin in concert. Hands down the album of the year – still listening to it every day.

Ho Ho Canada

  • Posted on 19/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

21 Christmas songs and/or seasonal tracks by Canadian artists, including a few who sing in French. Go to THIS SITE to download the zip. Alas, Malajube and Les Breastfeeders turned in an earlier released track, but fine ones nonetheless. Also check the hoarse Ivy Mairi.

Les Breastfeeders – Manteau de froid

For more seasonal songs (in various languages and genres) check out my Christmasblog

Year lists (4)

  • Posted on 18/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

Sylvester Hoogmoed, longtime FOFS and host of the excellent Het Chanson on Dutch Concertzender and writer of a book on singer Ramses Shaffy, provided his yearlist:

It was not a very lively year for French chanson. Death anniversaries of Brassens (1981), Gainsbourg (1991), Montand (1991) and Bécaud (2001) were commemorated with the usual tributes. At 87, Charles Aznavour was still going strong, with a series of concerts and his 57th album (not counting the ones in English and other languages). Brigitte Fontaine (72), Johnny Hallyday (67), Alain Souchon (66), Julien Clerc (64) launched not too boring cd’s with one or two nice nouveautés. Likewise did Thomas Dutronc – the son of Jacques (68) and La Hardy (67). Têtes Raides on their excellent new album invited Jeanne Moreau (83) to resume her singing-career after some 30 years. In August Allain Leprest (57) died after decades of obscure brilliance. Only two months earlier he had recorded ‘Leprest symphonique’, which hopefully will bring some fame at last – posthumously.
Luckily there were Juliette, Thomas Fersen and Les Ogres de Barback to shake things up in 2011, as did some filles sourires, In particular I liked the albums of L (Raphaële Lannadère), Brigitte Boisjoli, Luce, Liz Cherhal and Stéphanie Crayencour – second cousin of Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987).

01 Les Ogres de Barback – Comment je suis devenu voyageur
Jolly, multi-instrumental, multi-cultural. Favourite track: Graine de brigand

02 Têtes Raides – L’an demain
The spirit of Brel, combined with Mano Negra. Favourite track: Emma (featuring Jeanne Moreau)

03 L – Initiale
Dreamy beauty. Favourite tracks: Mes lèvres, Chapeau rouge, Mescaline

04 Juliette – No parano
Qualité engagé and humorous. Favourite tracks: Dans ma rue, Les dessous chics, Rue Roger Salengro

05 Allain Leprest – Leprest symphonique
Classical poète maudit, dished up with a classical orchestra. Favourite tracks: Il pleut sur la mer, Nu

06 Thomas Fersen – Je suis au paradis
Nice voice, singing original ironic lyrics. Favourite track: Félix, J’suis mort, La balafré

07 Luce – Première phalange
Cheerful pop-chanson, excellent to start the day with. Favourite tracks: La symphonie d’Alzheimer, J’me fume, J’aime la pluie

08 Liz Cherhal – Il est arrivé quelque chose
Every song she writes is good, like the accordion she plays (and the fluit and the piano). Favourite tracks: Un matin, Quand je regarde la mer, Mes bretelles et mes hublots, Le poids des fantômes. (Listen on Spotify, here)

09 Brigitte Boisjoli – Fruits défendus
Pop music rather than chanson, but too good to ignore, even for me. Favourite tracks: Le temps de partir, Fruits défendus

10 Stéphanie Crayencour – La garçonnière
Unpretentiously charming. Favourite tracks: Charleston d’insomnie, Petite chanson pour te laguer, Les miettes

La Grande Sophie, Olivia Ruiz

  • Posted on 16/12/2011
  • /Under Musique

Two filles that have been featured here before, Sophie and Olivia. The latter is a regular on FS, yet it’s been several months that we talked about the blackhaired beauty (here). As said before,  a LOT of tributes were released this year, for Jacno, Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg, Boby Lapointe and Alain Bashung. Now, there’s one for Gilbert Bécaud. Not many girls aboard, alas, but our Olivia delivers a very strong track. Original version here.

Ne m’oublie pas, sings (La Grande) Sophie, a welcome reminder. Sophie once sang like a police siren, but she toned down, added more air and this first single of a new album sounds maybe a tad too youthful, but it works. And the message is clear.

La Grande Sophie – Ne m’oublie pas
Olivia Ruiz – Les tantes Jeanne

← Newer Posts
Older Posts →