How could we miss out on this one? La Femme‘s Paris 2012 fuses proto-punk, surf attitude and 80s synth-pop into a razor-sharp garage cyberpop experience. Doubtless one of the most intriguing videos of the year, and super chouette apocalyptic fun.
Video
Françoise/ Serge
Actually, I like Depardieu’s slightly sleazoid version from Quand j’étais chanteur best, but Françoise’s voice could turn even a Gainsbourg song into an anthem of innocence.
New Mathieu Boogaerts video
LOVE this track.
Mustang vs Gainsbourg
French neo-rockabilly trio recorded an EP with reprises of old tunes, songs by Brassens, Don Cavalli, Patrick Coutin and yes, our Serge. Most of the time, these cover-EPs consist of throwaway versions, recorded just for fun, material to keep the fans happy. Mustang Reprend is just that – the arrangement of Brassens’ Je me suis fait tout petit is fine, Coutin’s J’aime regarder les filles doesn’t have the bite of the original and Chez les Yé-Yé does swing ferociously, but lacks the contempt of Gainsbourg, your honour. Still, I’ve heard worse.
Mustang – Chez les yé-yé
Video of Serge’s original HERE
Melody’s Echo Chamber
Her name’s Melody. Melody Prochet. She plays music as Melody’s Echo Chamber, ‘a kaleidoscopic fusion of psych rock and warm hypnotic pop‘. Or ‘Jane Birkin backed by Best Coast’, if you like. It’s fuzzy, distorted, colourful, danceable, supersweet and very, very husky. Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker produced MEC’s debut album, she herself played all instruments and (as far as I know) wrote all the songs. Melody looks a bit like Gigi Gaston, the mysterious yeye-girl from artist Josh Goshfield’s dreamworld. Melody sings in English and French, I like the very Cocteau Twins-y Bisou Magique very, very much. Pitchfork, New York Times and COS wrote very favourable reviews. See the video for I Follow You here.
Melody’s Echo Chamber – Bisou Magique
Lola Dutronic
Amazingly, Richard Citroen (head honcho of Lola Dutronic) did NOT include footage of singer Stephanie B. in the original video of Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead. Granted, with clips from music giants like Otis, James, Jim and the like to illustrate the point of the song, one could argue that it’s not really necessary. But then you obviously never saw Stephanie. Michael Des Barres (yep!) stepped in and urged Richard to include the real star of the song:
(By the way, see if you can make out Tina Weymouth in the background choir)
Saint Lou Lou
They’re Swedish/Australian, they’re called Miranda and Elektra and The Guardian wrote: ‘They’ve got the flaxen hair and cheekbones of Mariel and Margaux Hemingway in 1978 and they sound like a depressed tATu.’ They’re signed to French dance-label Kitsuné, they have angelic voices, and they’re not afraid to show it:
If you like your filles more discofied, try this remix.
Emily Loizeau
‘Tyger, Tyger, burning bright/In the forests of the night.’ William Blake’s famous poem The Tyger is cited in the first track of Emily Loizeau’s third album, Mothers & Tygers. A very delicate, folky affair with English and French songs. She has a French mamam and an English dad, on her earlier albums she sang both in French and English. At first, she wanted to make an English album. But later on she decided not to go against her bilingual upbringing. Family, the relationship between mothers and daughters and the poetry of William Blake (read to her as a little girl by her grandmother) are recurring themes on this album. Em’s a mom herself, which made her think back of her own childhood and the tiger-like wildness she felt back then. At least, that’s what she says in this interview.
Emily sings two duets, one with Camille, and another (Blake’s The Angel set to music) with Herman Düne’s singer David-Ivar Herman Düne – both work very, very well. Because of Loizeau’s roots, you never cringe when she sings in English, her beautiful, slightly hoarse vocals are set to banjo’s, strings, acoustic guitars and percussion. Lesser leftfield sounds then on her sophpmore album, more restrained. Not the all-out party folk of, say, Mumford and Sons. But more like in earlier single Vol le chagrin des oiseaux.
Pauline Croze new song
(thanks Elmar)