Axelle Red
What a great way to kick off the new year! A new song by Belgian Axelle Red, from her upcoming new album.
Axelle Red – Rouge ardent
Sophie Hunger
Ne me quitte pas by Jacques Brel; often covered, seldom bettered. Swiss singer Sophie Hunger (whom we know because of this fantastic cover) does a great rendition on her new album The Danger of Light. She keeps it simple, adds a tad more swing to the melody (great trumpet playing too) but leaves the song as it is: a sad story about heartbreak. It’s the first time Hunger recorded the song, but she played it live earlier.
Sophie Hunger – Ne me quitte pas
Siouxsie, Robert Smith, Bruce Cockburn
I’ve been collecting odd Christmas tracks for about ten years (and blogging about it on this blog), and every year I’m surprised about who recorded what. I mean, check this video. 80s Gothic queen Siouxsie Sioux plus part time Banshees-member Robert Smith miming miserably to original French carol ‘Il est né le divin enfant’ (He is born the divine Christ Child). This was a b-side to the Melt!-single in 1982.
And what about Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, best known for his both brilliant and furious If I Had A Rocket Launcher? On his 1993 ‘Christmas’ album he sang ‘Anges Dans Nos Campagnes’ (Angels we have heard on high), a carol dating back to the 18th century:
Bruce Cockburn – Anges dans nos campagnes
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Il est né le divin enfant
C’est Chouette 2012 Yearlist (7)
Doubtless there have been more captivating years in French music, and actually, it was more a year of single songs than of entire albums. It was a sexy landscape anyway, full of signs and wonders, and populated by so many people finding their voice. Maybe for you as well.
10. Raphaël, Super-Welter. Raphaël’s Chanson pour Patrick Dewaere is one of the most heartbreaking French songs ever. It’s not on this album which obviously deals with his new faible for boxing. Now he sounds like the missing link between Lou Reed, Bowie and Bashung.
09. Françoise Hardy, L’amour Fou. Always hated her nice girl schlager attitude. She was so much older then, she’s younger than that now.
Françoise Hardy – Rendez-vous dans une autre vie
08. Olivier Bloch-Lainé, Mercredi. I listened to this one about a year ago for the first time, at Vaea’s flat in the Marais, and it has never left me since. Fuck 2012. It’s 1976, so ultra-tender like it’s never gonna be again.
07. La Femme, Paris 2012. Surfin’ the asphalt jungle, riotous, juvenile and way cool. Along with Mathieu Boogaert’s Avant que je m’ennuie and Sebastien Tellier’s Cochon Ville video of the year: Say au revoir to the Eiffel Tower.
06. Dionysos, Bird’n’Roll. Mathieu Malzieu doing the Phantom of the Time Warp Picture Show, rollercoaster sonique style, and of course the French never understood what rock’n’roll is about (me neither). The right approach for a grand spectacle.
05. Juliette Gréco, Ca se traverse est c’est beau … Direction liberté. A saint who hasn’t forgotten about la revolution. Adult cinéma including the finest hommage to proto-surrealist poet Guillaume Apollinaire ever written.
Juliette Gréco – Mirabeau sous le pont
04. Daphne, Treize chansons de Barbara. Norman Lebrecht once stated that French chanson legend Barbara was »all about the unsaid«. Daphne’s album is nothing less than a highly intimate approach to the spirit of the animal triste.
03. The Limiñanas – Crystal Anis. From Perpignan, Dept. Pyrénées-Orientales: The Limiñanas (see album cover above) throw Morricone, Gainsbourg and Fabienne Delsol in the garage blender and shake it, psychedelic sex groove style. Cool as shit, and featuring the sharpest fuzz guitar around.
02. Bertrand Burgalat – Toutes directions. Maybe BB follows one or two routes too many, but the ride includes Bardot’s Dance, an extremely infectious 70s style electro/ disco sweeper, as well as the irresistible Sous les colombes de granit, easily qualifying as one of the premier chansons of the year.
Bertrand Burgalat – Sous les colombes de granit
01. Marie-Pierre Arthur – Aux Alentours. Catchy melodies, gritty riffs and sweet, at times angelic moods. Aux Alentours is a revelation, starting in Reference Alley, but heading straight to Reinvention Boulevard in that Grand State of the Art.
Marie-Pierre Arthur – Chacun pour toi
See you in 2013.
Sky
Les Breastfeeders Christmas Song
Download for free here.
Noël en juin
Very few new French Christmas songs this year, in fact I only spotted one: Noël en juin by La Position du Tireur Couché, a band I last heard of in 2005. La Position… is one of the bands on a vinyl-only (but also downloadable) Christmas album released by concert hall La Coopérative de Mai in Clermont-Ferrand. Street address: Rue Serge Gainsbourg! Also on that compilation (among others): Mustang, Cracbooms (with this cover) and The Wendy Darlings. Spotify-link here.
La Position du tireur couché – Noël en juin
Year lists (6)
Sylvester, host of Het Chanson on Dutch Concertzender, is an FS-regular. This is his countdown:
Father Christmas reigns more than ever in France. Patrick Bruel, Johnny Hallyday, Françoise Hardy, Nolwenn Leroy, Salvatore Adamo, Cali, Francis Cabrel, Julien Clerc and many other big names came with new albums in the last two months of 2012. Commercial yes, but artistically not bad. Especially one or two ballads on ‘L’Attente’, of the ageing Johnny (1943) – I wish he would finally give up ‘rock ‘n roll’ and become a full-time crooner. Also good old Adamo at the eve of his 70th birthday surprised with a charming disk: ‘La Grande Roue’, which only just fell out of my Top 10.
10. Dominique A. – Vers les lueurs
Quality songs, quality arrangements, quality band. Too bad I can’t stand the voice of Dominique Ané (1968), but songs like ‘Ostinato’ are irresistible.
9. Marie-Pierre Arthur – Aux alentours
The second album of this rough female bass guitarist and singer from Québec is has a difficult start, but becomes much better from track 4: ‘Pour une fois‘.
8. Stephan Eicher – L’envolée
Demure album of the renowned Swiss musical wizard, perfect for an evening alone, snowed in on the top of a mountain.
7. La Grande Sophie – La Place du fantôme
I like this album of refreshing pop songs, if only because it contains an homage to my favourite medium: ‘Ma radio’.
6. Juliette Gréco – Ça se traverse et c’est beau…
Beautiful concept-album about the bridges of Paris by the 85 year old legend, once the muse of Saint-Germain des Prés. Highlight: ‘Paris se rêve’, a duet with the rapper Féfé.
5. Zebda – Second tour
Successful restart of this multicultural band from Toulouse. Their lyrics are committed but not always directly political. ‘Les deux écoles’, for example, is about the fundamental choice many youngster face when they approach the age of reason: do I want to fill my brains, or my pockets.
4. Ridan – Madame la République
Another committed album which was issued at the eve of the French presidential elections. The single ‘Ah les salauds!’ was banned from French radio, because it left too little to our imagination: ah the bastards!
3. Barcella – Charabia
Cheerful second album of this 30 year old singer from Reims, whose real name is Mathieu Ladevèze. Great lyrics, great voice, great music, very good indeed.
2. Françoise Hardy – L’amour fou
At 68 La Hardy is still the wallflower she was half a century ago in ‘Tous les garçons et les filles’, but much too elegant to be pathetic. Lovely heartbreaking as ever on her latest album; my favourite is the title track.
1. Barbara Carlotti – L’amour, l’argent, le vent
Carlotti has a fantastic voice, which was professionally trained at a conservatory.
Although approaching 40, this is only her 3rd album, after a debut ep in 2005. It’s full of exciting, sonorous and slightly mysterious beauties.
You can hear my favourite tracks on Concertzender Radio: 29 December and
12 January
Year lists (5)
Sami (aka Hot Fidelité) is a man of few words, but excellent taste. His fave songs of the year are:
1-La Grande Sophie “Ne M’oublie pas”
2-Mina Tindle “Pan”
3-Liza Manili “L’Eclipse”
4-Barbara Carlotti “Occupe-toi de moi”
5-Melanie Pain “7 ou 8 fois”
6-Carmen Maria Vega “On s’en fout”
7-Pauline Croze “Heures creuses”
8-Françoiz Breut “BXL Bleuette”
9-Andromakers “La Mer”
10-Laetitia Dana “Courant d’air”