Quite daring to mix that 90s boy group “rock” with Je t’aime, but DJ Zebra gets away with it. Ravishing shots of Serge & Jane as well.
L
Raphaëlle Lannadère (for she is L) was ‘biberonée’ with Barbara and Billie Holiday. I’m struggling to find a similar English expression: spoonfed might be accurate. A biberon is a pacifier. Imagine that, sucking on a device to get two of the most melancholic singers into your system. Why isn’t something like that available?! We can put people on the moon, for crying out loud! Anyhoo, the first full album by L (not the greatest nom de plume in history, if you ask me. What’s wrong with Raphaëlle ?) is out now. She was featured on the former FS-blog (here), on this album are a few reworks of her first EP. Like the excellent Jalouse. There’s still a great deal of saudade in her music, that brilliant Portuguese word that cannot be translated, you have to feel it. In her bio, names like Genet, Arnaud and Bataille are mentioned: not the happiest of poets. She writes her lyrics first, than searches for the right music on her piano. She writes about nostalgia, estrangement and heavier things. Not really music to enjoy in the sun. Maybe they should’ve released this in fall.
L – Romance et serie noire
Pop Bâtard XIX: Je veux te baiser
“He said: I’d like to offer you some flowers.” DJ Le Clown’s take on French TV’s most famous moment. Adults only, please.
Pop Bâtard XVIII: Requiem of the Times
High-class bootlegging by DJ Zebra who also created Middle of the Line and the brilliant Trou du Cul.
Pop Bâtard XVII: Burn Da Funk
French bootlegger Fissunix, who brought the world indispensable mash-ups like Gangsta Barbapapa, is surely an entrepreneur sauvage – see his website as well. His most daring, dubious and deranged venture to date might well be the fusion of Deep Purple’s 1974 bluntrocker Burn and Gallic house chefs Daft Punk’s 1997 club classic Da Funk. Recommended by FS powerbroker Roy Black with the following words: “Sick, and therefore somehow … erm, contagious.”
Brouillard et Lumière: Thomas Fersen
Bloodsuckers, ghosts, werewolves, witches, an Egyptian mummy and a pirate named Bluebeard: the new, eighth album by acclaimed Parisian singer/ songwriter Thomas Fersen is all about magic realism, and much less scary than the assembled nightmare characters suggest at first sight. In fact, Comte Dracula here features as a romantic fool, and the song also tells the story of „une fille dont le sourire pointu est plus cruel que celui de Nosferatu“. Full of rich imagery, laid-back irony, twisted tendresse and mature melancholy, Je Suis au Paradis might be Fersen’s most accomplished work since 1997’s Le Jour de Poisson. The after-hours frisson of Paradis teaches a simple, but effective lesson: You can’t have light without a darkness to illuminate.
Bonus: From the fine A Boris Vian compilation, Fersen’s heartbreaking rendition of Barcelone.
FS Rerun: Radiah Frye
When tormented Italian-French superstar Nino Ferrer met lovely Afro-American model, dancer, and singer Radiah Frye, he probably fell head over heels in love. On his 1966 single Je veux etre noir, Nino had already declared that he wanted to be black, and now he had a perfect companion to funk up his groove – exactly what he did on Nino and Radiah et Le Sud in 1974, a fine album with an even finer cover on which Radiah exposed her impeccable body to the public.
Before she pursued a brief career as an actress in Spermula, Madame Claude, and Goodbye Emmanuelle, Radiah uncovered herself on a record sleeve playmate-style again. Her hard-to-get solo 7“ Play-boy Scout (1975) features a strikingly sexy babefunk version of Nino’s Italian garage rock shouter from his 1970 album Rats and Roll’s.
Radiah is still around, but few people know where. Sadly, her MySpace page hasn’t been updated for ages, and her website has vanished from the web.
Nino and Radiah et Le Sud – Mint julep
Nino Ferrer – Je veux être noir
La Grande Sophie – Je veux être noir
Pop Bâtard XVI: Never Mind, Serge
Tom Haggen – despite the English name quite obviously a Frenchman – is relatively new to the Gallic mash-up scene. His sexy blogsite presents some pretty entertaining fusion experiments, among them an extravagant amalgam of Serge’s ironic 1966 yéyé classic Qui est in, qui est out and … well, the chords (F5–B♭5–A♭5–D♭5) that changed the world for a few minutes 20 years ago – Teen Spirit being the anti-perspirant that Kurt’s then-girlfriend, Tobi Vail, used to wear at the time. Kurt always claimed that he had had no idea the brand even existed; so better check your spouse’s handbag before sloganizing the revolution.
Tom Haggen – Smells Like t’IN!!! Spir’OUT!!!
ZAZ
A limited special edition of ZAZ’s debut album was released, with four extra live-tracks. Two acoustic versions of her own songs, and two covers. One by Gainsbourg (a better version then this one) and one by Carlos Almaran. This Panamian songwriter is the father of Historia de un Amor,a song that was covered many, many times. I love what ZAZ did with both tunes. See a video of Z singing Ces Petits Riens here, and her singing Historia…. here.
Zaz – Ces petits riens
Zaz – Un historia de un amor
Jerome van den Hole featuring Camille
YES! Camille is back, AND she sings in French! She duets with Jerome van den Hole on his upcoming debut-album. VDH first single was kinda nice (video) but this track with Camille is of the same quality as that brilliant track with Raul Paz (this one). Van den Hole, he says his name is the same of a Dutch sprinter, recorded his album with Philippe Zdar (of Cassius-fame, he also produced Phoenix). He states he likes NTM as much as Kings of Leon, and apparently loves heavy, heavy piano on his songs. Have not heard his album yet, but this could be something special.
Jerome van den Hole + Camille – Debout