Northern delight: Miss Li
Another example of a husky Scandinavian fille, Miss Li. A guestpost by our Northern correspondent Anna Maria:
Linda Carlsson, aka Miss Li is a hyperactive ray of sunshine. She released three albums in the space of one year, and conquered many Scandinavian hearts with her mix of pop, cabaret and jazz. She’s probably best experienced live, but her albums go some way of capturing that restless energy. Her latest album is called Dancing the whole way home. She’s not sung in French yet alas, but we can hope. This song is a catty delight about stealing your best friend’s guy. See a(nother) song here.
Miss Li – I’m sorry, he’s mine
Northern delight: Fredrika Stahl
Scandinavian girls. In the past several Northern gals were featured on this blog (like Moa Eriksson, Friday Bridge, Anna Ternheim) only because they sang in French. But recenlty I fell in love by singers like Anna Jarvinen, Anna Puu and Veronica Maggio, who sing in Swedish or Finnish, and there are a whole bunch of blonde beauties from the Northern parts of Europe who sing in English too. Help and tips are always welcome.
Fredrika Stahl is Swedish, but studied in France for several years and is a big name in the Hexagone. Her new jazz-pop album Sweep Me Away is just out and for the first time, it doesn’t include a French tune. Alas, because gorgeous Fredrika has a wonderful voice (a bit like Stacey Kent) and sings very seductively in French. From her first album I’m posting the Barbara-like Pourqoui pas moi. See the video for her new single here.
Fredrika Stahl – Pourqoui pas moi
Ongehoord goed (podcast)
KX Radio is a Dutch internet-only radiostation (owned by acclaimed dj Rob Stenders) that broadcasts shows by the creme de la creme of Dutch radio-dj’s, playing only the songs they like themselves. I started making podcasts for KX a few weeks back, that show’s called Ongehoord Goed (Unheard Goods) and I play my favorite non-English tracks. Anything goes, from bossa nova to cumbia to hiphop to rawk, sung in French, Finnish, German, Russian, Spanish…non-English, as I said. Here’s a link to the latest podcast, plus a tracklist. I will post links and tracklists of earlier shows later on this blog. The show’s hosted in Dutch, and yes, I’m not a natural when it comes to radiomaking. Enfin. Hope you like it anyhow. Pictured on the right is Swedish-Italian beauty Veronica Maggio.
Podcast Ongehoord Goed.
Tracklist:
1. Straatligkinders – Kaptein (South Africa)
2. Kurt Darren – Kaptein (South Africa)
3. Karpatenhund – Gegen der Rest (Germany)
4. Zee Avi – Katoi (Malaysia)
5. GaGa – Loco Loco (Holland)
6. Anna Vissi – Horvath (Greece)
7. Ben L’Oncle Soul – Soul Man (France)
8. Rocky Roberts – Stasera mi butto (Italy)
9. Oriental – Sen Gülünce (Turkey)
10. C-Mon & Lilian Vieira – Sintetica (Holland/Brazil)
11. Camur – Halim Öyle (Turkey)
12. Zaz – Je veux (France)
13. Ozomatli – Cumbia de las muertes (USA)
14. Souad Massi – Le bien et le mal (Algeria)
15. DAF – Verschwende deine Jugend (Germany)
16. Flight of the Conchords – Foux du fafa (New Zealand)
17. Veronica Maggio – Mandagsbarn (Sweden)
Happy Bastille Day!
It’s Quatorze Juillet and to celebrate I give you a couple of guys. With girls, added. First off is Ben L’Oncle Soul, who used to call himself Oncle Ben, until a brand of rice by one Uncle Ben protested. He’s signed by Motown France, and makes soul like Motown made back in the day. But in French. Most of the time. He debuted with an EP last year sporting just covers, Barbie Girl by Aqua and I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry. On his first album, there’s one cover (Seven Nation Army), the rest are brand new songs. I really like Soul Man, with those Motown-y drumrolls.
Radio Néo’s blog introduced me to Piero Moiolo, a singer-songwriter who played in ska-bands in the nineties, but now makes eloquent, charming folksy-songs (they compare him to both Joseph d’Anvers and -M-), the title track of his upcoming album Dans les squares en été is a terrific late summerevening song.
Finally Eric Belanger. From Quebec, yes, but no relation to Daniel Belanger. And no. he’s not this hockeyplayer. Eric’s a thoughtful singer-songwriter with a pretty voice. His new (second) album is just out, on which he duets with Marie-Andrée Landry. This song is a bonus track, but on his first album he kicked off with a gorgeous duet with the ultra-lovely Andrea Lindsay. Both songs are here. See a great animation video of Nous here.
Ben L’Oncle Soul – Soul Man
Piero Moioli – Dans les squares en été
Eric Belanger & Andrea Lindsay – Nous
Eric Belangers & Marie Andree Landry – C’etait pas vraiment nous
Barbara
Guestpost! Vanessa on the movie Mademoiselle Chambon, and the song by Barbara that is used in the trailer (and the movie):
“In the film ‘Mademoiselle Chambon’, an enigmatic and refined schoolteacher enters the quiet life of a mason, cracking the surface of his simple and idyllic world. Everyday life for Jean (Vincent Lindon) means work, caring for an elderly father (Jean-Marc Thibault) and raising their son, Jeremy, with wife, Anne-Marie (Aure Atika). But when he meets his son’s new teacher, Mlle. Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain) to discuss the boy’s work, something changes in him.
The difficulty of love between these two individuals creates a study of repressed passion and subtlety, of deep longing and missed opportunities. Watch closely and you’ll sense that the chemistry between Lindon and Kiberlain seems real, perhaps because they were married but separated at the time of filming.
Barbara’s “Septembre (Quel Jolie Temps)” plays melancholically over the trailer that contains no dialogue. The wistful strains of the song echo the conflict and desire between the two leads; they may be sharing a space but they’re careful to avoid each other. The long quiet between them is near bursting with what they don’t say and what they can’t do. On first listen, I thought the music came from two songs, which reminded me of the dual lives we sometimes have – the one the world sees us lead and the other that we wish we led.”
Barbara – Septembre
Poney Express
Remember Poney Express? Boys plus girl making countryrock with a French twist. This was their great ode to Paris. Imagine my surprise when I heard Palladium, a track from their upcoming new album. So synthesized, it sounds like an Alizée track. Or maybe more like Human League, because Martin Rushent produced. Ana and Robin added Michael from AS Dragon and Gerard from Vegomatic to the band. Another new track you can hear on Myspace is more in that country-folkish atmosphere – makes me very curious about that new cd, because I really like Palladium. Ana sounds sooo seductive.
Poney Express – Palladium
La Naranja Mecanica
Unless you live under a rock, you probably know the Dutch football-team plays the World Championship final on Sunday. I won’t post any of the Dutch WC-songs (if you’re curious, click), but rather one of the best chansons ever about a Dutch footballplayer (from the 70s and 80s, but still).
Parfait Summer
HERE you can find a mix (download from where it says HIER) with my favourite French summer songs of this year (some released last year, but soit) , it’s a reaction to this mix made by my friend Norbert Pek, that I can also recommend (download that one from HIER). Some tracks you may know and not every track on my Parfait-mix is in French, just to show you how rich French music can be. Raul Paz comes from Cuba, the girl from Dinner at the Thompson’s is American and Pony Pony Run Run just like to sing and sound like a British band, I guess. Have fun on the autoroute du soleil, or wherever you may roam. (Yes, I know the title is grammatically incorrect, but the series is called Perfect …, so there)