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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

Dionysos, Joann Sfar

  • Posted on 20/04/2012
  • /Under Video

Great video that cartoonist/Serge Gainsbourg biopic-director Joann Sfar made for Dionysos:

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

Mad Men and Gillian Hills

A sultry version of a Gillian Hills-tune in the first episode of the new Mad Men-season! It’s all over the internet (thanks Taylor for the update!), haven’t been able to find a video yet, ’cause I’d love to see Jessica Paré shimmy to the chanson. I just found that video, see above. Not the first time Mad Men refers to a French tune – in the second season a coffee-commercial based on Gainsbourg’s Couleur Café was used (listen here).

If you compare Parés version with the one by Hills (or Sophia Loren), the Europeans win by a landslide when it comes to sultryness, by the way. Still, a nice touch. Jessica’s version is available on vinyl, by the way.

Jessica Paré – Zou bisou bisou
Gillian Hills – Zou bisou bisou (clip)

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