It’s the hard funkin’ bassline that draws immediate attention. The melancholy-filled, eighties-referring female vocals are a high point too. As is the head nodding beat. That Viragezero is inspired by 90s abstract hip hop and electronica-overlords like Boards of Canada, also a big plus.
From the bio: ‘Viragezero is a new Geneva-based project born from the meeting of several musicians well known on the local scene. Around the brother and sister duo of Citron Citron (Zoé and Augustin Sjollema) gather two former members of L’Éclair (Sébastien Bui and Elie Ghersinu, also a member of Magic & Naked) and a musician from Magic & Naked (Léonard Persoz). Five trajectories intersect here to form a new sonic constellation, somewhere between dreamy electronica, hazy guitars and rhythms inherited from trip hop.’
Salomé Leclerc has a modest role on the new Jérôme Minière single, but anything with Salomé is worthy of posting here. Plus, it’s a cool song, about a calculator. Or, maybe, about trusting the machines a little too much (hello ChatGPT).
‘Confession/Ces jours-ci/Je m’affale/Comme un naufrage.’ Makes two of us, Rosie, in these dark days of destruction, I too feel like I’n collapsing (affale) like a shipwreck (naufrage). Good thing Montreal’s Rosie Valland put the song to a very uplifting dance beat: when all else fails, you can still dance. I hope.
No relation to Frida Boccara, as far as I know, but Alice Boccara’s Sprechgesang on this very funky track by Dopamoon is both sexy and playful. The track reminds me, because of the ‘allez danse’ line, of -M-‘s Machistador.
New, wonderful single by Camille, she of ‘Ta douleur’, album ‘Le Fil’, the soundtrack to Emilia Perez and that cool Johnny Hallyday-cover. It brings back Le fil vibes (very vocal), with a wonderful string-arrangement.
Lolita & Fania Morange = L’Oléfan. Two sisters making quirky French pop, and yes, they have a Brigtte (the duo) vibe. And some Les Rita Mitsouko spirit. We need to follow these sisters, because they’re destined for something plus cool:
With nods to 80s synthpop, this French ‘state of the world address’ by Lily Bonnel asks some tolerance for autotuned vocals, but is an earworm nonetheless:
This year marks the 40th anniversary of ‘Voyage Voyage’, one of the ultimate French 80s hits, by Desireless. From this blog: ‘A beautiful number about travelling the world. Literally translated to ‘Travel Travel‘, the lyrics encourage eternal travel to beautiful, wonderful, breathtaking places and sacred destinations around the world. Written by Dominique Albert Dubois and Jean-Michel Rivat, and recorded by Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop who went by the stage name ‘Desireless’ and released it in 1986 as the first single from her album ‘François‘, the song became a huge hit all over the globe. Despite being sung entirely in French, it broke through language barriers on music charts and featured in the top slots internationally between 1986 and 1988. (Ironically it missed the number one spot in France, peaking at second position for four weeks, behind Elsa Lunghini’s ‘T’en Vas Pas‘.) The music video was directed by Bettina Rheims, and premiered in France in December 1986.’
As you’d expect, the song was covered many times. Recently, by former Eurovision Songcontest staple Barbara Pravi, for a movie soundtrack, the song gets a pop flamenco make over:
Thanks to reader Victor, I got hold of this sulty piano version by ESTL:
Also on piano, but with a totally different vibe, this wailing version by Libanese duo Soap & Skin:
Fanny Luzignant, she resembles Clara Luciani, but she is the singer of La Femme. Monstres du soir is her first solo single, that floats on a driving bass, disco strings and some spoken word:
