Video
SoKo
I can’t help it. Really. It is stronger than myself. But I love Soko. She first appeared on this blog in 2008 (see?), she became a minor hype, then she disappeared, and now she’s back with her first album: “I thought I was an Alien”. Video of the title song is available here. And again: I love it.
It’s not that she’s a brilliant singer (kinda thin), or that she has world shocking lyrics (kinda naive), or that she is musically very interesting (kinda dull).
But what is it then? Is it that “French-ladies-singing-in-franglish” accent? Yes, that is a huge part of the attraction. It is downright lovely. Is it ’cause she’s cute? You bet.
But there must be more, too. I think it is also something like originality, or even authenticity. It all sounds so honest. Soko’s a young woman who sings about what is on her mind, as if she is talking to you after a night out.
To give an example of what I mean, listen to a song like “Happy Hippie birthday”. It starts like a happy birthday song for a friend, but you can hear that the tone changed while she was writing the song. She realised that he is much older and that the age difference is exactly like it was between her parents. You can say it is a bit messy song-writing, but I don’t care. It sounds real and authentic to me.
And yes, maybe I get easily deceived. Maybe Soko’s prefab, made up by a clever svengali.
But still, I can’t help it. I love Soko.
RIP Whitney
On the day Whitney Houston died, it is good to remember the legendary TV interview from Michel Drucker, with Whitney and Serge, on April 5, 1986.
As a wise man said: Serge said what every one thought back then…
Une fille de 85 ans
Too often reduced to Deshabillez-moi, Juliette Gréco was not only the ultimate Existentialist poster girl of the late 40s, but also the most charismatic chanteuse of the post-Piaf chanson. She still is, her brand new album Ca se traverse et c’est beau featuring stunning lyrics by Amélie Nothomb and Jean-Claude Carrière, among others. Yesterday, the mysterious dark-haired girl who once was asked by Boris Vian why she never said a word, turned 85. Belated bon anniversaire, Muse, Amoureuse, Immortelle.
Do Your Math
In 1965, comic illustrator Jean-Claude Forest created futuristic heroine Marie Mathématique for French TV, kind of a little sister of Bébé Cyanure (Baby Cyanide) and 60s icon Barbarella who brought Forest world fame and was played by Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim’s masturbation blockbuster. Venusian Marie, “la jeune fille comme il faut”, appeared in six all-too short episodes within ORTF’s Dim Dam Dom tv magazine — a pop art kitten sexed up additionally by the low-pitched cool of singer/ storyteller Serge Gainsbourg. Extraordinary stuff, not to be missed. Giggles and chuckles by another outlandish creature: France Gall.
Initiales D.D.
Last song on Diane Dufresne’s Turbulences, 1982. Written by Monsieur G., and definitely not a virgin suicide.
심규선 (Lucia)
A tip from a fellow ‘zuchtmeisjes’ (or fille sourire) fan Cor Hospes, this video by Korean singer Lucia. No idea what she’s singing about, no clue if there’s an album (I could only find a single and a few guestspots) and ok, not everything is as breezy as this one. But this one’s great. The only K-Pop I know sounds like this, so Lucia is quite a difference.
Maissiat
This is the only shred of information I could trace of Maissiat. But boy, do you want to hear her. Think a young, sensual Mylene Farmer, produced by Dominique A. This is going to be BIG.
Maissiat – Le départ
Listen to Jaguar on Maissiat’s Soundcloud page
Under the radar (10)
Serge Gainsbourg’s L’Homme à tête de chou is the underrated masterpiece in his catalogue, lesser known then ‘Melody Nelson’ but certainly not a lesser album. Just before he died, Alain Bashung worked on a ballet about the man with the cauliflower head. The videos for the ballet look interesting, the album was a bit of a letdown to be honest. Yet this is a great video for Bashung’s version of Variations sur Marilou. What I didn’t know, is that Serge-soundalike Rodolphe Burger recorded a live tribute of ‘Tête de chou’ in 2006. With help from Mick Harvey, Jacques Higelin and Fred Poulet. Last year, a registration popped up on Bandcamp, featuring extra tracks like a duet with Jane Birkin. I can’t believe it’s not Serge singing there.
Also on Bandcamp, an album by the British jazz band Les Effrontés. It says release-date February 4 2012, but you can stream and download it already. The band started out as a Jacques Brel coverband, with Paris-born Tiffany Schellenberg on vocals. They do two Gainsbourg-covers, the best is Black Trombone. The song, one of my favourite SG-tunes, gets a tango make-over that really works.
Rodolphe Burger & Jane Birkin – Dépression au Dessus du Jardin (See the original version by Cathérine Deneuve, and this version by Serge himself)
Les Effrontés – Black Trombone
(See Serge’s original here)