Musique

Elizabeth Anaïs

  • Posted on 29/06/2012
  • /Under Musique

Another great track from the French 80s, taken from Patrick’s stash (who gave me a whole bunch of great French 80s singles, all sung by filles). Beautiful brunette Elisabeth Anaïs had a Lolita-voice, and wrote songs about great novels by great authors. She admired (or admires, for she is still alive) John Fante, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Rimbaud, and named herself after Henry Miller’s muse. She loved wordplay (one single was called ‘Canaille go with you’), so now wonder she worked with Serge Gainsbourg. She sang Mon père est catholique, apparently a very funny song. You can hear a snippet here , I haven’t been able to find the full track as an mp3. Some singles were released on cd, but they’re hard to find. Which is odd, for they were big hits, Anaïs was a juror in 2002 on French Popstars (a tv-talenthunt) and she sang duets with Sanseverino and a track for a movie. On Wikipedia is her most complete discography, even Bide et Musique is incomplete. See/hear tracks on Youtube here, here and here.
I ripped Toutes les mêmes from vinyl, love those breathy vocals, the funky bassline and those typical 80s soundeffects. Plus it’s a catchy song.

Elisabeth Anaïs – Toutes les mêmes

Jolie Jumper, Lazy Lovers


A Canadian all-girl country & bluegrass trio who call themselves Jolie Jumper – how can you NOT fall for that? The girls sing in French and English, they just released an EP (find it on Bandcamp), they sound wonderful together. Oh, okay, they get some help from a bunch of guys, but it’s mainly Audrey PM, Marie-Claude Paquin and Victoria Lord. Look at this lovely video. They list rockabilly as a musical influence, just like Lazy Lovers, also from Quebec. Amélie is the eyecatcher of this quintet, she looks great in her tight red polka-dotted number on the cover of their second EP, the first on which they sing in French. Find that one on Bandcamp as well.

Lazy Lovers – Comme toi
Jolie Jumper – Comme

Fusée Dorée vs No Ninja Am I

  • Posted on 25/06/2012
  • /Under Musique

Here’s an idea for every indie-band: have your new single covered by French girls. Or flamboyant rockers. Or folkies. Or…whoever, really. Dutch combo No Ninja Am I (if you follow Christmas-a-Go-Go, you’ll remember ‘m) recorded Better Mistakes, and then thought of asking as many musicians they knew to record their version. Or just a small part. All versions, bits and pieces were edited into one 28 min-long new version. A bit like this version. One of Holland’s best read industry blogs picked up on it. You can hear Emmanuelle from Fusée Dorée (pictured) is singing a great French version of Better Things, on a ‘pastiche’ that has input from Port of Call, Gerhardt, Max Vanremmerden, Channah, Motel Aurora, Marisela, Martijn Buis, Box of Chocolates, RoSm, Joey de la Fuente & No Ninja Am I. You can listen and/or download for free on Bandcamp. In fact, ALL No Ninja Am I music is downloadable for free!

UPDATE: Emmanuelle put her French (solo-)version of Better Mistakes on Soundcloud, also free to download.

Astrid Adler

Look at those lips. That smouldering look. Astrid Adler released, as far as I can tell, two singles in the late eighties. They were never released on cd. Perds Pas Son Temps is the best of those two, it’s synthesized jazz-pop (think Matt Bianco, Blow Monkeys, Swing Out Sister or, from France, Blues Trottoir), but in a husky, Lolita-esque way. I’ve tried looking up more info about Astrid, there’s an Irish artist with the same name but I don’t think it’s the same girl. Somebody put a bunch of videos on a MySpace account, with more songs. This is the video for Perds Pas Ton Temps.
I got the single from FS-reader Patrick, who gave me a whole bunch of French 80s singles by girls like Astrid, expect more of this in the upcoming weeks. If you have more info on Astrid, please let me know.

Astrid Adler – Perds pas ton temps

New Emily Loizeau single

Kooky French folksinger Emily Loizeau, who made delightful singles like Sister and Je Suis Jalouse, will release a new album in September. First single Vole le chagrin des oiseaux is a very promising first look. Great voice, great atmosphere. Get a preview of her album here. Last year, she released the soundtrack for the movie King Guillaume, with most songs in English. Most songs on that are short, the screwball-comedy-song Girls Like Jerks stands out.

Emily Loizeau – Vole le chagrin des oiseaux
Emily Loizeau – Girls Like Jerks

Christine & the Queens

She looks like the younger sister of Camille, she has a band that’s both ‘fantastique et fantasmagorique’, she performs in a smoking and she covered Michael Jackson, Madonna (while wearing antlers) and Yves Simon. Amazoniaque, a song about a bad dreaming, Amazonian-whipped person by author/singer Simon, is the one French track on her EP, that was released in January. Paris-based Christine & the Queens toured with The Dø, and when you hear her glacial electronic pop, you’ll see why. Lykke Li, Class Actress, Camille + Oomiaq, that part of the pond. A very nice part of the pond, I’d say. Dip in.

Christine & the Queens – Amazoniaque
Yves Simon – Amazoniaque

Harder, Better, Continued

Thanks to FS-reader Brad for reminding me that the earlier post on the Daft Punk-covers wasn’t complete. Five years ago The Brassens recorded this brilliant version in the style of Georges Brassens. Later, they changed their bandname to La Pompe Moderne and recorded an EP and a live-album with covers in the stylo of good ol’ Georges. Last year, they disbanded.

The Brassens – Plus dur, meilleur, plus rapide, plus fort (Daft Punk cover)

Primitives, Laura Ulmer

Ah yes, The Primitives. I loved their fuzzy ‘n husky late-80s single Crash, singer Tracy Tracy was on par with her ‘blonde pop’ rivals, Wendy James of Transvision Vamp and Darling Buds‘ Andrea Lewis. Pitchfork rightly said that The Primitives were the role models for current bands like Best Coast and Vivian Girls.
The Primitives reformed and made a new album, Echoes and Rhymes. It features covers of songs sung by girls, like ‘Turn off the moon’ by Lolita-actress Sue Lyons, and ‘Single Girl’ by Sandy Posey. You guessed it, there’s also a French tune (with a heavy accent) – Amoureux d’une affiche, originally sung by Laura Ulmer. The daughter of actor Georges Ulmer, Laura had a few hits in France in the 60s before moving to Canada. There, she recorded some more and acted in (tv-)movies. To be honest, I’d never heard of Laura, I seemed to have missed Mordi’s post on her. Thanks to FS-regular Anna Maria for the tip!

Laura Ulmer – Amoureux d’une affiche
The Primitives – Amoureux d’une affiche

Sky’s verdict: As for a few of the originals, see Legrand Mellon, Polly Niles, Sandy Posey, Adam & Eve or Dutch favorites Shocking Blue. Even FS’s secret mastermind Roy Black only knew four of the originals, and that guy knows everything. The Laura Ulmer cover actually is the least impressive on this gorgeous rarity bonanza of an album, balancing ultra-coolly between Motown copycats, Northern Soul, Garage goodies, girlie psych-outs and Sunshine Pop. Surely the most hip album of the year, including a Jesus & Marychain-like version of Olivia Newton-John’s 1966 debut:

The Primitives – Till You Say You’ll Be Mine

Mari Posa

  • Posted on 14/06/2012
  • /Under Musique

From her Facebook: This is Mari Posa’s world : tangy, particular and cryptic. She began to play music one year ago, and composes between her dark influences (The Knife) and 21st century’s pop music.

Royaume A Stockholm will be out nov. 21st 2011 on Yuk-Fü records. This first EP has been remixed by Mike Simonetti, founder of Italians Do It Better (Glass Candy, Chromatics, Appaloosa…).

Listen to her superhusky voice via Soundcloud.
This is a fun cover of Tous les garçons et les filles:

Lou Doillon

The four-track EP by Lou Doillon (fille de Jane Birkin & Jacques Doillon) is out. It features two versions of the title-track ICU, the brass-y remix by Bright Moments is truly beautiful. Mid-tempo groover Devil and Angel is very much in the vein of her half-sister Charlotte, Questions And Answers is a piano-driven track that gets more interesting when the chorus comes on. As said before, Philippe Zdar and Etienne Daho are the big names behind this EP. I don’t think we’ll hear Lou sing in French on her upcoming album (September), but one can hope, right?
See Lou sing ICU and Questions and Answers live.

Lou Doillon – ICU (Bright Moments remix)

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