Musique

C’est Chouette 2012 Yearlist (7)

liminanasDoubtless there have been more captivating years in French music, and actually, it was more a year of single songs than of entire albums. It was a sexy landscape anyway, full of signs and wonders, and populated by so many people finding their voice. Maybe for you as well.

10. Raphaël, Super-Welter. Raphaël’s Chanson pour Patrick Dewaere is one of the most heartbreaking French songs ever. It’s not on this album which obviously deals with his new faible for boxing. Now he sounds like the missing link between Lou Reed, Bowie and Bashung.

Raphaël – Manager

09. Françoise Hardy, L’amour Fou. Always hated her nice girl schlager attitude. She was so much older then, she’s younger than that now.

Françoise Hardy – Rendez-vous dans une autre vie

08. Olivier Bloch-Lainé, Mercredi. I listened to this one about a year ago for the first time, at Vaea’s flat in the Marais, and it has never left me since. Fuck 2012. It’s 1976, so ultra-tender like it’s never gonna be again.

Olivier Bloch-Lainé, Mercredi

07. La Femme, Paris 2012. Surfin’ the asphalt jungle, riotous, juvenile and way cool. Along with Mathieu Boogaert’s Avant que je m’ennuie and Sebastien Tellier’s Cochon Ville video of the year: Say au revoir to the Eiffel Tower.

06. Dionysos, Bird’n’Roll. Mathieu Malzieu doing the Phantom of the Time Warp Picture Show, rollercoaster sonique style, and of course the French never understood what rock’n’roll is about (me neither). The right approach for a grand spectacle.

Dionysos – Sex with a Bird

05. Juliette Gréco, Ca se traverse est c’est beau … Direction liberté. A saint who hasn’t forgotten about la revolution. Adult cinéma including the finest hommage to proto-surrealist poet Guillaume Apollinaire ever written.

Juliette Gréco – Mirabeau sous le pont

04. Daphne, Treize chansons de Barbara. Norman Lebrecht once stated that French chanson legend Barbara was »all about the unsaid«. Daphne’s album is nothing less than a highly intimate approach to the spirit of the animal triste.

Daphne – Gueule de nuit

03. The Limiñanas – Crystal Anis. From Perpignan, Dept. Pyrénées-Orientales: The Limiñanas (see album cover above) throw Morricone, Gainsbourg and Fabienne Delsol in the garage blender and shake it, psychedelic sex groove style. Cool as shit, and featuring the sharpest fuzz guitar around.

The Limiñanas – Longanisse

02. Bertrand Burgalat – Toutes directions. Maybe BB follows one or two routes too many, but the ride includes Bardot’s Dance, an extremely infectious 70s style electro/ disco sweeper, as well as the irresistible Sous les colombes de granit, easily qualifying as one of the premier chansons of the year.

Bertrand Burgalat – Sous les colombes de granit

01. Marie-Pierre Arthur – Aux Alentours. Catchy melodies, gritty riffs and sweet, at times angelic moods. Aux Alentours is a revelation, starting in Reference Alley, but heading straight to Reinvention Boulevard in that Grand State of the Art.

Marie-Pierre Arthur – Chacun pour toi

See you in 2013.
Sky

Noël en juin

  • Posted on 16/12/2012
  • /Under Musique

indexVery few new French Christmas songs this year, in fact I only spotted one: Noël en juin by La Position du Tireur Couché, a band I last heard of in 2005. La Position… is one of the bands on a vinyl-only (but also downloadable) Christmas album released by concert hall La Coopérative de Mai in Clermont-Ferrand. Street address: Rue Serge Gainsbourg! Also on that compilation (among others): Mustang, Cracbooms (with this cover) and The Wendy Darlings. Spotify-link here.

La Position du tireur couché – Noël en juin

Year lists (3)

I’m still in doubt about 2012…If you’d asked me one week ago  what kind of year it was in French music, I would have said “hmm”…
Big names fell short, no album really stood out, no song kept ringing around in my head…
But that was last week. When making this list and going through all the music, it turned out 2012 wasn’t that bad. A lot of talent stood out. So no Françoise Hardy, no Berry, No Pauline Croze, no Daphné, no Barbara Carlotti….but instead:

10 Dawn Landes – Mal Habillée
When one of our French girls releases an album with English songs, we regret it most of the time. But when an American girl has the nerve to release an album with only French songs, I go “Yay!”, and give her a special reward by including her in my year list.
Look here.

9 Buridane – Pas Fragile
A few years ago we heard a few songs from this chanteuse. And then silence…. Nothing more from Buridane, until this year, out of the blue there was here album.
Although we don’t agree on the title, obviously…
Check her video for “Badaboum”

8 Céline Ollivier  – La Femme À L’éventail
Sweet surprise on #8. Her name was humming around on the internet for some time and there it was, her debut album “La Femme À L’éventail’, by this classical educated chanteuse. Excellent songs, very pure, and very personal. Listen to one of her songs “Au Flore” here.

7 Amélie Veille – Mon Coeur Pour Te Garder
Never heard about her before this album, but it turned out to be her third. Although it was six year since her last one. Yet another Quebecoise in a year list..Video officiel: ici

6 Céline Mastrorelli – Elle Était Une Fois
Guuzbourg wrote: “A favourite past time is to follow the progress of supersweet singer Celine Mastrorelli. She first popped up on our rader in 2008”, and now she fulfilled our expectations with  “Elle Était Une Fois”. Look and listen here

5 Sophie Vaillancourt – Histoires De Filles Et De Garçons
When I first heard about this album, I had no expectations at all. It looked “poppy”, she was a former of Star Académie participant, so not really things that would appeal to me.
But then I listened to it and was pleasantly surprised. Poppy, yes, but in a folky way and it all sounds very fresh. Top 5 material!
(couldn’t find a video, but here she is singing at her own release party!

4 Mademoiselle Nineteen – Mademoiselle Nineteen
Almost missed this one in my year list, because it was very early in the year when this one came out. Sparkling sixties sound from a girl from Liege. Year lists are good for replays! Here’s the lovely retro clip of “Quelle importance“.

3 Fanny Bloom – Apprentie guerrière
What a surprise this one! And again an example of the wonderful talented pool of singers from Quebec. Won the prestigious Félix de l’Album alternatif de l’année for his album.

2 Lou Doillon – Places
This should be actually my number one..But since the whole album is in English, it makes it difficult to top the list. Since this album gets better by everytime you listen to it, it must be in in the list. (I.C.U. clip here)

1 Melanie Pain – Bye Bye Manchester
When I gave this album a first listening, I was happy and relieved… Yes, this is the kind of music, the kind of voice and the kind of atmosphere that made me a Fille fan. See her perform the title song live ici!

When it comes to defining one’s beauty, hair is one of the most significant things to put into consideration, for this reason is important that you learn about 10 facts about hair.

Year lists (2)

All FillesSourires-contributors (me, FransS, Sky and Maks, see below) are posting their year lists in the upcoming days. Plus, we asked several regular guestposters and FS-fans to send in their lists too. List-o-mania, baby!

1. Marie Pierre Arthur – Aux Alentours.
MPA isn’t the antithesis to Coeur de Pirate (my #1 of 2011), but there are obvious differences. Less tattoos, more guitar than piano-driven and in lyrics and feel slightly older, more mature. Aux Alentours is MPA’s sophomore offering, with hard-hitting hits (Si tu savais) and almost esotheric ballads (A Partir de maintenant). It’s the French(-Canadian) album I played the most in the past months, the one that kept on giving, the one that left a mark.

2. Fanny Bloom – Apprentie Guerrière.
‘Lio-esque’ is the penultimate compliment on this blog (the biggest is of course ‘Gainsbourgian’). On Parfait Parfait, Fanny’s almost out-Lio’ing Wanda de Vasconcelos, and that’s REALLY saying something. Yes, I do miss La Patère Rose, but this plaster covers that wound quite nicely. Merci Fanny.

3. Céline Mastrorelli – Elle Était Une Fois.
Speaking of Gainsbourgian, listening to Céline’s duet with Joseph d’Anvers (T’oublies or not t’oublies) is like ASMR to me. Goosebumps, hair-raising, butterflies in the belly, everthing. And that’s just one song on this album that is as beautiful as Céline herself.

4. Françoise Hardy – L’amour fou.
Haven’t read the novel that came with this album (waiting for the English translation) but if it is as good as this album, it’s quite a read. Françoise ages with grace, dignity and songwriters who provide songs that fit her like stylish black leather gloves. See Pourquoi Vous? here.

5. Melody’s Echo Chamber – s/t.
This is cheating a little, because there are more English than French tunes on this debut. But hey, she’s called Melody! She is French! And she sings really, really husky! And I simply ADORE this kind of shoegaze with electronica with Gainsbourgian touches.

Bubbling under: Francoiz Breut, Emily Loizeau, Barbara Carlotti, Liza Manili, Olivia Ruiz and Mademoiselle Nineteen.

Merci for yet another hoarse voices-filled year. Keep it up!
Guuzbourg

Year lists (1)

  • Posted on 11/12/2012
  • /Under Musique

Fanny Bloom1. Fanny Bloom – Apprentie Guerrière
With this superb debut solo-album, Fanny Grosjean left the sometimes somewhat naïve songs of La Patère Rose far behind. Apprentie Guerrière is mature and diverse and never fails. Bloom shows with this album that she grew in all facets of her writing and luckily still has her delightful, hoarse voice on top of it.
Listen to ‘Mon Hiver‘ and feel everything a song needs. In only 1:40 minutes that is, simply brilliant.

2. Françoiz Breut – La Chirurgie Des Sentiments
Never a dull moment with Françoiz. With ‘La Chirurgie Des Sentiments’ she managed to surprise again within her very own and very special universe. And wherever she will take you in that weird universe, being with Françoiz somehow never feels uncomfortable. In contrary.

3. Celine Mastrorelli – Elle Était Une Fois
It took beauty of the year Celine Mastrorelli quite a while to come up with a full album. But it was worth the wait. Celine does it the way we like it most at FS. Check ‘Lost in Paris’ and you’ll understand why.

4. Mélanie Pain – Bye Bye Manchester
Too bad she did only half of the tracks on this album in French. In spite of that she easily made it into this years top 5 with her ukulele and Casio. Original songs, seductive singing, all the ingredients we already know from Nouvelle Vague, but she can do it on her own very well.

5. Mademoiselle Nineteen – idem
Fresh, quirky, contemporary and poppy, exactly what you might expect with a name like ‘Mademoiselle Nineteen’. Nevertheless reminiscents of earlier days (Lio! France Gall!) are never far away and in this case that’s a good thing. The Lolita-esque Belgian singer recorded the most cheerful album of the year without getting obligatory.

Wishing you all the best for the next year!
Maks

Brigitte covers Gainsbourg

  • Posted on 03/12/2012
  • /Under Musique

Kooky pop duo Brigitte (Aurelie & Sylvie) released an extended version of their quirky debut, Et Vous Tu M’Aimes?. It features a bonus disc with leftovers and covers, songs by RUN DMC (Walk this way), George Michael (I Want Your Sex) and yes, our beloved Serge. Brigitte’s take on Chez les Ye-Ye is danceable, well-arranged and one of the better cover versions, I’d say.

Brigitte – Chez les ye-ye (video of Serge’s original here)

Sophie Vaillancourt

Another guestpost by David! Woo!

After disappearing for a few years since reaching the finals of Star Académie in 2009, Sophie Vaillancourt has her first album, “Histoires de filles et de garçons”. Sophie opted not to take the risk of pursuing a full time career in music right away, completing her degree in elementary school education from the University of Montreal, earning the money to put herself through school by modeling. She looks nothing at all like any of my grade school teachers.

For her album, Sophie wrote half the songs herself, poppy songs with bright melodies and a tinge of melancholy to the lyrics, exhibiting a clear ’60’s influence (think Simon and Garfunkel). She worked with David Brunet, a name some might recognize from his work with Coeur de Pirate or Tricot Machine. There’s a nice article that discusses how this came to be here. My favorite song from the CD, “Danser Sous La Pluie”, leads off.
For fun, here is a snippet of another favorite, “Alors J’irai”, sung by Sophie with her class. I can’t find any videos for her album, other than this promo, but the camera loves her, so it’s highly likely her label will make it happen eventually.

P.S.: It’s been a pretty good year for filles fragiles – here’s a video from Brigitte Saint-Aubin’s new album, “Glamour”.

Sophie Vaillancourt – Pour lui plaire
Sophie Vaillancourt – Les sentiers regrettés

Marianne Dissard

  • Posted on 26/11/2012
  • /Under Musique

We live in interesting times, people. Times where elegant country-noir singers like Marianne Dissard, she of the brilliant L’Entredeux, she who rubs shouders with the Calexico’s and members of Willie Nelson’s band, can’t get a record label to release her new album The Cat. Not Me. If you hear L’Oiseau, you wonder why. Surely, this soundtrack for Paris, Texas, if it had been shot in the Camargue, is sultry and brutal – just like Marianne herself. So enjoy this track. Not sure when we can hear the rest. If you’re new to Marianne and her music, go here.

Marianne Dissard – Oiseau

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