Yes, the New French Pop 2015 playlist is up: HERE
Articles Written By: guuzbourg
Je m’appelle Charlie
Four singers, La Grande Sophie, Jeanne Cherhal, Camille and Emily Loizeau, expressed their feelings about the slaying at the Charlie Hebdo offices in a song. Read the lyrics in this Figaro piece.
Marie-Pierre Arthur
Welcome in the 10th year of FillesSourires.com. Here’s a new track by Marie-Pierre Arthur. Guestposter Mark Sullivan has the news:
Et voilà – Marie-Pierre Arthur is Filles Sourires’ first new song of 2015.
‘Rien à faire’ is the advance track of her third album, ‘Si l’aurore’ (does the title remind you of anything?) due out on 17 February. It catches the ear straight away – and seems a definite move by MPA from folk-rock into pop. The beginning has a late 80s feel: it recalls for me the start of ‘Love Power’, the Dionne Warwick – Jeffrey Osborne number by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. And it’s a potential dance track. It puts Marie-Pierre into yacht rock/AOR territory, Taylor Swift territory even. And it’s better than Swift’s own move from country & western into pure pop.
This augurs well / cela est de bon augure pour l’album.
New Keren Ann album
Keren Ann was a busy bee in the past years, producing songs for films and tributes, writing an opera, but most of all, being a mom. But now the time has come to start working on a new album. You and I can be a part of that album, via this Pledge Music crowdfunding campaign. You can either pre-order a digital copy of the new album for 10 euros, buy the vest she wore on the cover of her La Disparition album for 625 euros or have her come to your house to play for 10,000 euros. I think 42 euros for a vinyl album plus download is pretty steep, but encouragement of KA is always money well spent.
Noël
As you know, I’m a sucker for alternative Christmas songs. Earlier, I posted DCTV’s version of Noël Interdit (click), they also recorded a ‘When Francoise Hardy and Black Sabbath met to record a Wham! cover’ dream version:
Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Chic Gamine is the only French-language band on the yearly (and usually great) Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada Christmas compilation (click). On that comp, and on CG’s recent EP, is this really sweet seasonal song:
Best of the Best (part 6): Nevche
Regular guestposter Adrian Arratoon goes back to his fave track of the year, by Nevche. And looks forward!
Vas-tu freiner? by Nevche was my track of the year, from their Retroviseur album. A haunting, nocturnal, poetic track that was utterly beguiling. The bit where the slightly discordant riti, or Senegalese violin, comes for the first time in was probably the moment of the year in French music for me. The rest of the album is pretty much essential listening too.
2015 already looks bright, listen to the first single of a new album (released next year) by Dominique A:
Best of the Best (part 5): Mina Tindle
Regular guestposter Mark Sullivan picks an exceptional track by Mina Tindle
Mina Tindle’s new album ‘Parades’ hides within it a dance track which must be among the best of 2014 in any language. At Mina’s one appearance in Britain, in London in November, ‘The Curse’ was unknown to most of us the audience until it suddenly began, rather different from her classic style. We stood mesmerized by this unnamed tour de force, with its great instrumental middle part. When Mina (Pauline de Lassus) signed my CD afterwards, I asked her what this extraordinary track was, and she wrote the name for me.
‘The Curse’ is about the idea of rebuilding a relationship (‘Let’s go back to where it felt right’) but then deciding not to (‘And you won’t be around, It won’t hurt so bad’), with the title taken from one line, ‘Magic or curse, I don’t regret’. As a dance track, it deserves a wide audience.
‘The Curse’ is the key song in Mina Tindle’s elegant ‘Green Lagoon’ filmed session, preceded by ‘Pas les saisons’, the much-admired ‘I command’, and ‘Ā Seville’. (Four of the tracks on ‘Parades’ are in English, eight in French.)
‘The Curse’ starts with a run-in at 15m55s. Or watch the song by itself here. Steffen Charron, her bass guitarist, who plays in the film, told me that they were amazed at the perfect location, a restored sand quarry turned nature park just 60 km south of Paris.
A well-filmed performance by Mina of ‘The Curse’ at this July’s FNAC Paris concert is here. It starts at 3m25s after ‘Pas les saisons’. The full set at Paris (40 minutes) is also on YouTube. She does 8 songs: Bells; Ā Seville; Lovely day; Madonne; Too many small things; I command (at 21m35s); Pas les saisons; The Curse (30m56s to 36m00s)
For the background to ‘Parades’ see Mina’s website page. ‘Le Figaro’ now calls her ‘la plus anglophone des chanteuses françaises’.
As if to prove it, here she is singing Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I’m on fire’ in Paris last month
Two interviews in English from 2012 (here) and 2014 (here) tell us more about Mina’s background and career. And she is in person charm itself.
Best of the Best 2014 (part 3): Salomé Leclerc
I love the way she pronounces her own name (watch), Salomé Leclaaaarrr. I love the way her sweet singing voice cuts through the darkness and heaviness of her music, as a much needed torchlight in a pitch black forest. I love how she channels Joy Division, Timber Timbre and even Kraftwerk in her songs – I suppose this is what they all would make if they were stuck in an elevator with Salomé. I love 27 fois l’aurore, the sophomore album by the Canadian songstress. I even bought the vinyl version. As one friend, who’s also a record store owner, once said: these days, vinyl albums are works of art. 27 fois l’aurore is my most treasured possesion of this year.
Noel Interdit
Yes, Christmas music blog Christmas A Go Go is open again and posting odd/good/funky xmas tracks for a month now. Some in French, like this cover of a Johnny Hallyday track, by our American friends of DCTV:
Free download!