Musique

Alain Chamfort and the girls

Alain Chamfort is a big name in France. He played on hits by Dutronc like Les Playboys and Le Cactus, worked with Véronique Sanson and had Gainsbourg write lyrics for him. He debuted in 1968, released his first album in 1976 and scored big hits. Elles et lui is a duets album, Chamfort revisits old songs with the creme de la creme of French female vocalists: Claire Keim, Keren Ann, Vanessa Paradis, Elodie Frégé, to name but a few. Most songs are great. Take the lovely duet with Elodie, for instance. The original, from 1993, is an overblown, kitschy jazz ballad. Now, the music’s understated, the lyrics stand out and Elodie is doing what she does best. Also very good is Bambou, Chamfort’s duet with Camelia Jordana (a song written by Serge).

Alain Chamfort & Elodie Frégé – L’Ennemi dans la glace

Iggy sings Serge


Iggy Pop singing in French. De indestructible rocker did it before, duetting with Emmanuelle Seigner for instance (here), singing Les feuilles mortes on his Preliminaires-album (see here) and covering Serge Gainsbourg together with Lulu, on the latter’s debut album (see here). On Iggy’s new album, he sings songs by Dassin, Piaf, Brassens and Gainsbourg again, together with covers by The Beatles, Fred Neil and Yoko Ono. When you’ve heard the accent Iggy has when he sings in French, less charming then Blossom Dearie’s I’d say, you know how those covers sound. Funny, not good. Born in 1947, Iggy was the one exception to the rule that you can’t rock out when you’re over 40. Now, he proves that crooning, re-interpreting the classics, is an art that needs more than just a deep voice. I mean, Michelle by the Beatles, by Iggy? Come THE FUCK on. Must be a joke. If you want to hear old guys doing what they do best, listen to the new Leonard Cohen album, listen to Dr John’s Locked Down, listen to Tom Jones covering Tom Waits, even. But not this.

Iggy Pop – La javanaise

See video of Serge singing La Javanaise HERE

Porcelaine

  • Posted on 06/05/2012
  • /Under Musique

Guestposter Steve on super husky angel Mélanie Scala, aka Porcelaine:

Regular readers may remember Porcelaine’s acclaimed 2010 eponymous EP. Well the band have returned with the release of their debut EP. “La foire aux animaux”. Don’t be put off by the accompanying press release – this album isn’t so much a return to the spirit (over-inflated pomp?) of the 70’s as a veritable tour de force of the “son rock-folklorique quebecois” (yep I made that up – but there is a definite style emanating from this French-speaking province). The album is really a a chance for singer-songwriter Mélanie Scala to demonstrate her Filles Fragiles credentials, one that she passes with flying colours. As alluded to earlier, there are fingerprints from the usual suspects daubed all over this release – Marie Pierre Arthur (Adore), CdP (La foire aux animaux) to name but two, but there’s a certain assuredness in the delivery and the band stamp their own style on proceedings… Check out any of the tracks on Bandcamp – the two above are getting heavy rotation, along with Ange, Aurores Boréales and Offre-lui ton coeur – to name but five(!) from I fear yet another contender for the short-list come years’ end….

Porcelaine – Ange

By the way: Want to hear a jazzy, sultry version of La vie en rose? Go HERE

Brigitte Fontaine vs Yacht

  • Posted on 25/04/2012
  • /Under Musique

A brilliant cover of Le Goudron by American hipsters Yacht, a bass-heavy rework of a track Brigitte Fontaine made in 1969 with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The album Fontaine and TAoC made together, Comme à la radio, is considered one of the most adventurous in Fontaines discography. ‘They stretched the very notion of what pop had been and could be’, this review on Allmusic.com says. And now, you can dance to it too.
See the Yacht-video here.

Brigitte Fontaine & the Art Ensemble of Chicago – Le Goudron
Yacht – Le Goudron (edit)

Ornette

You may know blonde Bettina ‘Ornette’ Kee from her French hitsingle Crazy, or the Nôze-remix. She’s French, but sings in Franglais and now has an EP out with two duets (Mike Ladd, Ours), a new song (see here) and a very, very nice cover of French filterfunkheads Justice’s On’n On (great unofficial video with Monica Belluci). Love it. And yes, her stage name is a nod to free jazz hero Ornette Coleman. In an interview, she said: “One of his songs is called ‘Lonely woman’ and that was what I wanted to call myself when I first started performing alone. But I found that a bit ‘heavy’ and redundant, so instead I plumped for ‘Ornette’ which I also found a very pretty name and it’s also appropriate because even if I don’t exactly play the same sort of music, I also like improvising when I play.”

Justice – On’n On
Ornette – On’n On

Catleya

David again, guestposting about his recent discovery Catleya:

It’s hard to find out much about Catleya, a French quartet self-described as “folk rock” but that sails closer to rock than folk. Like Mademoiselle K, lean and sexy, singer Syrile has a strong, low voice, and plays the guitar with a driving rock beat. Cataleya formed in 2002, put out an album in 2007 (“Rien ne Press”, Sony/BMB, video of title track here), and followed with a second album in early 2010, “Cataleya II”, which they independently produced. (A video of “Les Jardins de Kyoto” from “Cataleya II” is here) There’s also “Bang, Bang”, an EP mostly in English, but with one chanson francaise worth a listen, “Mes Salines”. My favorite track of Catleya’s, having played them the better part of this past weekend, is “A folle allure”. Okay, maybe “Tête brûlée”. It’s not an easy choice though – both of their albums are strong efforts, which I found worth giving a listen straight through from beginning to end.

Catleya – A folle allure

Sophie Beaudet

Guestpost! David on Canadian (yes, ANOTHER gorgeous Canadian) Sophie:

Judging from the cover of Sophie Beaudet’s first CD, Garconne, Sophie’s clearly a fille fragile. Unconvinced? Then give the first song “À quoi tu penses?” a listen. Sophie’s from an artistic family and grew up listening to a wide variety of music, including classical and jazz. While in her early twenties, Sophie met famed Canadian jazz singer Ranee Lee, who agreed to teach Sophie the basics of jazz. While personally I like jazz, I am glad it didn’t take over the entire CD, as the music hews more closely to folk rock. The jazz overtones provide additional color, and are especially strong in “Dans les bras de Léa”. Other favorites songs from this CD are “Tu n’es pas à moi” and “Où vont-ils?”. See her perform live here.

Sophie Beaudet – A quoi tu penses?

Emily Loizeau, Berry

A new Emily Loizeau album! In September! Check out the rural preview

In other news: If you have a Facebook-account, you can listen to Berry’s new album here. And if you don’t have an FB-account, try the title track:

Berry – Les passagers

Liza Manili

VERY charming, that clip of former model, actress and singer Liza Manili. That smile, that hairstyle, those lips, that voice – oh la la. But somehow I didn’t keep up with the news. Liza made very good EP, released more charming videos, and on June 4th her first proper album is released. The Strasbourg-born beauty, who also plays in a couple Revolver-clips and a Kyo-video, channels early Lio, via Jeanne Cherhal and Emily Loizeau. She duetted with Séverin, and was one of the singers on the Dr Tom project. Yearlist material, you people ask? Who knows. Looks good, tho.

Liza Manili – L’eclipse
Liza Manili & Séverin – Les restes
Liza Manili – Le verdict

Great Lake Dancers

  • Posted on 18/04/2012
  • /Under Musique

Some people have sex in unusual places. Tony Dekker, mastermind behind Canadian country folksters Great Lake Swimmers, makes music in such locations, trying to capture their energy and acoustics – churches, subway stations, castles, tiny islands named Just Room Enough or, well, a grain silo. That’s probably why Tony’s music is about as sexy as Hank Williams’ clothbrush. It’s tender though, calm and serene, alternative country all the ruggedly sensitive way. In that sense, The Great Lake Swimmers’ recent album New Wild Everywhere is surely neither new nor wild, but a respectable one, recorded for the first time in a real studio, featuring even a French language tune reminiscent of the great Iowan songwriter Greg Brown, and commemorative of those times when dancing was different in Ontario. Mind a little country waltz?

Great Lake Swimmers – Les Champs de Progéniture

← Newer Posts
Older Posts →