Vanessa

OK, OK, I don’t mean THE Vanessa, but here we present to you another Vanessa: Vanessa Philippe. And, to be honest, it is a bit late for an introduction, because she just released her third (or second) album. It is called “La Fille Sans Qualités” (the Girl Without Qualities) and that is definitely not true. This album is inspired by a book with the same title, by Juli Zeh.
Vanessa has a very sweet voice, which she uses exactly as we like it here: sweet, tender and sultry in some songs too. You can see her too, here, with a song from her earlier album. For you to listen to, we picked the first single of this new album: “La Robe Verte”.

Vanessa Philippe -La Robe Verte

 

Lili (&Thierry)

They worked together before, Lili Cros & Thierry Chazelle. In 2008 they made two seperate albums that looked the same from the outside and could be put together, and now there is their first “real’ album together, called Voyager Léger“. Their new collaboration led to a very pleasant album, with both Lili and Thierry solo, and some nice duets, all done in a sweet melodious, folky way. Texts and music are by Lili and Thierry. Lili Cros has a very nice voice which reminds me in some songs of Clarika.
One of the nicest songs on the album is IMHO “A la Radio”. a song about listening to musique, so very suitable.
BTW, they are funny too, as you can see here in the small “commercial” they made in their kitchen.
Lili Cros &  Thierry Chazelle – A la Radio

Evie

And then there was Evie. Parisian with Initials A.V. but when pronounced that in English, it explains her stage name. She recently released her first solo album “La route”. It is a very nice mix between pop and chanson, between outspoken and intimate. An example of the first can be found here, in a cover version of “Because the Night”. example of the other part  can be heard (and seen) in “Au bout des doigts“. For today I picked another song, a song about waiting, “L’attente”, because it suits this weblog best.

Evie – L’attente

Elisa

Since her second album, ‘”Je ne mâche pas les mots” from 2006 (remember?) she has been a favourite of Filles Sourires.. And since the end of June there is a new album from here,  and we didn’t even write about it. In the years between the albums she did some acting and appeared on some tribute albums, but now there is a whole new album, her third in total. It is as dreamy as the title “Le Syndrome de Peter Pan” suggests, but a bit more poppy and less outspoken than her 2006 album.Still it is nice up-tempo with some catchy songs. The duet with Belgian singer Tom Dice (“Ils Nous Faut”) even became a small hit in France. Here you have the video of it, but I must admit it is not the best track of the album. Here you have an other song, which sounds much more like “our” Elisa…

Elisa Tovati – L’ABCD

Serge at the Hollywood Bowl

On August 28, to be exact. At the KCRW’s World Festival. A programme and a line-up that makes me want to go there…I can’t but if you can you should! There will be a lot of Serge songs and the legendary album Histoire de Melody Nelson will be performed in full with orchestra and guests. Director will be Jean Claude Vannier himself, French composer, arranger and longtime Gainsbourg collaborator. Among the guests some artists “have” something with Serge like Beck (who produced Charlotte Gainsbourg’s “IRM” album) and of course Lulu Gainsbourg. The others are pleasant surprises to me: Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Victoria Legrand (Beach House), Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl (The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger), Mike Patton (Faith No More) and Nika Roza Danilova (Zola Jesus). Good to see that apparently Serge still inspires a new generation of artists…
The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger made a cover of  “Comic Strip“!

Ambient fille

In English, alas. Love to hear something like this in French. See for details about the song/video here

 

 

Mitsou

Canadian 90s sex-symbol Mitsou (best known for this, and this) released a new single, On vole. Her style nowadays, you could say, is Lady Gaga meets Yelle, with some Mylene Farmer thrown in. That stewardess-outfit in the video works for me too. You can download the single for free on Mitsou’s Soundcloud page, HERE.

Note: not everybody is impressed by Mitsou’s return…