Opposite Sex

We usually keep it plushy, soft-focussed and hoarse on this blog. But every now and then, we take a walk down the stairs, to the humid cellar, where things happen outside of the sun. Where bands like Liminanas play, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Granville. And New Zealand trio Opposite Sex. Alas, singer Lucy Hunter doesn’t sing in French, unless you count “au revoir, la rat…” as French (that should either be ‘La Rate’ or ‘Le Rat’). But hey, her voice is deliciously breathy, the music’s banging and clunking like a garbage truck (I mean that as a compliment) and when you call a track Mary Lu, you sure know your Gainsbourgian speak. Lucy also played the trumpet solo at the end of Connan Mockasin’s Serge-ish ‘It’s Choade my Dear’ as well as keyboards on other tracks on Connan’s album ‘Forever Dolphin Love’.
This is music that hides from the light, that breeds in the dark. Opposite sex, indeed.

Trois minutes à Dystopia

  • Posted on 17/10/2012
  • /Under Video

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.

Green Disco Machine

  • Posted on 14/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

It’s a tough job to track Tony Green (photo: Tony, France Joli and Gene Leone at Alpha Studios, Philly, 1979) down on the net. Not only because of his stage name, but also because he’s obviously quite a reclusive guy. Actually, Tony – born Antonio DiVerdis Mazzone – was kind of the Canadian counterpart to Giorgio Moroder in the late 70s and a famous regular at New York’s Studio 54, where he certainly also crossed paths with Margaret Trudeau, the free-minded spouse of then Canadian prime minister Pierre T. (»I met her. You know, ›Hi‹. There she is.«). Green, whose recording career began in 1969, wrote and produced more than a dozen of international dance hits for Freddie James, France Joli (a.k.a. the Canadian Donna Summer), or the legendary U.N. Before his heyday, Tony Green recorded the ultra-rare French language dancefloor disco smoothie Amoureux, released as a 45 in November 1978. Despite the infectious character of his grooves, the Montréal-based disco god of the late 70s and early 80s always has been very private. »I kind of kept to myself«, he told Kelly Hughes of discomusic.com. »I was a real loner. I still am.«

Tony Green – Amoureux

Françoise/ Serge

  • Posted on 14/10/2012
  • /Under Video

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.

Elizabeth Shepherd

  • Posted on 14/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

1974’s Pourquoi tu vis (Porque te vas) by Jeannette is one of the touchstones of doll-fronted pop – it was covered and sampled many times. Canadian jazz-pianist (she plays Wurlitzer, Rhodes and ‘tuned mixing bowls and muted pestle’ as well) Elizabeth Shepherd adds her version to the list, and it’s a good one. Shepherd’s known for her fierce, funky tracks and her hoarse voice. The fact that Elizabeth was pregnant during the recording of her fourth album ‘Rewind’ adds to the charm. ‘The fears and anticipation surrounding imminent motherhood were largely impetus to make this record’, she writes in the liner notes. ‘Rewind’ is covers album. Shepherd: ‘I chose to do songs that I have learned and loved and grown with over the years.’ Songs by Cole Porter (Love for Sale), Cannonball Adderley (Sack of Woe), Kurt Weill (Lonely House) and two chansons; the aforementioned Pourquoi tu vis and a Les Amoureux des bancs publics by Brassens. A very big plus of/on this album are the phat basslines by Ross MacIntyre. One of the three bassists on this album, but he’s the one who really adds to the songs.

Elizabeth Shepherd – Pourquoi tu vis

This song is also added to my New French Pop 2012 playlist on Spotify.

Baptiste Trotignon, Melody Gardot

  • Posted on 14/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

Mashing-up Brel’s Ne Me Quitte Pas and Gainsbourg’s La Javanaise, it can be done, and it sounds great. French jazz pianist Baptiste Trotignon expertly ties these well-known chansons together on his new album. Ne Me Quitte Pas starts gentle, then Baptiste gets mental. Or desperate – just like NMQP. Then, he finishes in a melancholy mood, that fits La Javanaise, after all a song that’s about a love affair that lasts just one song. It all sounds very left bank. Serge and Jacques knew each other well, and toured together. I’m reading the English translation of Gilles Verlant’s indispensible Gainsbourg-biography, in which he tells stories of Brel charming every girl in the little town he, Serge and a small troupe of variety-artists passed through, with Serge taking note(s).
Trotignon covered Gainsbourg before, together with Aldo Romano he mashed-up Valse de Melody and Je t’aime… Mon non plus. On his new album, Song Song Song, Trotignon has another FS-regular as a guestvocalist. Melody Gardot is breezes (or should I say, breathes) through Mon fantôme. Nice.

Baptiste Trotignon – Ne Me Quitte Pas/La Javanaise
Baptiste Trotignon & Melody Gardot – Mon fantôme

Sunglasses After Dark

  • Posted on 12/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

Super deep bass voice, platinum blonde hair and eyes behind black shades: No, that’s not a character from a Pulp Fiction spin-off. It’s German schlock phenomenon Heino, who sold about 5000 million albums nationwide, fusing Volkslied soul and clap-along Schlager melodies to a kind of post-Wehrmacht barbecue party hits, telling stories of blooming gentian, compliant Polish girls and the next hardcore drinking binge. In 1975, the singing baker and pastry chef did a stunning version of Charles Trenet’s all-time classic La Mer, including a stupefying string arrangement and an unforgettable girl chorus. Before extended listening, it makes sense to recall the title of Heino’s autobiography: And They Love Me Though.

Heino – Das Meer

Lizzy & the Orca

  • Posted on 11/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

And the flow of great artists from Montréal/Québec keeps on flowing. Lizzy & the Orca are fronted by Lysanne Picard, who has a pretty doodle-blog as well, who plays ukelele, guitar and cello. Partner in crime is Sébastien Ménard (glockenspiel, electric guitar). They play folk-tinged pop, with some country added. I really dig that steel guitar in Le Manteau Rouge. Their new EP is released, you can check their songs in French and English here. See Lysanne play an acoustic version here.

Lizzy & the Orca – Le manteau rouge

EllesOnParis

  • Posted on 10/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

The idea looks so simple: ask a bunch of songwriters to compose a song about every Parisian arrondissement, then have famous actresses, singers and filles sourires favourites sing those songs. A female ode to the eternal city… I wish I came up with the idea, but alas, it was Nicolas Boualami Gaubiac who deserves all credit.

The result is a project called “ElleSonParis”. And the result is as exciting as it sounds

The songwriters are big names like Alex Beaupain, Thomas Roussel, Philippe Bresson, La Grande Sophie and Alain Chamfort. And what about the line-up! We have Juliette Gréco (!), Jane Birkin (!) Charlotte Rampling and Hanna Schygulla on one side and Zaza Fournier, Adrienne Pauly, Agnès Jaoui, Elisa Tovati, Irène Jacob and more on the other.

“ElleSonParis” is a musical tour through the arrondissements of Paris. They pay tribute to the Paris’ neighborhoods, all with their different character and own history.
Some of the songs are a bit so-so (one is not better than the high school musical level, but I won’t tell your which one…), but in general it is very nice trip into the City of Light.

Jane Birkin sings a song for the 16th arrondissement. A sober song with some with piano (or is it a  harpsichord?) called “5, Avenue Marceau”. Just in case you wonder: that was the home address of.. Yves Saint Laurent. And Chez Régine? We’ve all been there, no?

Jane Birkin – 5, Avenue Marceau
Adrienne Pauly – Chez Régine

Hot for Teacher

  • Posted on 09/10/2012
  • /Under Musique

If you’re a teacher of French living in Germany, this is your chance to grab a free copy of an excellent compilation here. FrancoMusiques 2012/13 is the sixth collaboration between the Institut Francais/ French Embassy in Berlin, the Bureau Export and German schoolbook publishers Cornelsen, and another well-done one, mirroring the spectrum of modern French pop in a quite remarkable way, featuring chanson, francophone reggae, hiphop, folk, manouche jazz even. Most artists and songs have been already featured at FS, with a few exceptions, among them rap aficionados 1995 who beam you right back to that smooth old school flow of the best parties, and Breton musician Matthieu Aschehoug, front man of his band Askehoug – think Serge doing a Bertrand Cantat song with Jon Lord and Ian Anderson, and you’re halfway on the right track. Askehoug are playing Le Sentier des Halles, 50 rue d’Aboukir, 75002 Paris tomorrow, Oct 10. Don’t miss that guy.

1995 – La Suite
Askehoug – Meuf et Mec

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