This year is already shaping up to be a great one for filles fragiles, with a number of albums coming out from favorites from years gone by. Perhaps a coincidence with Valentine’s Day, but I have found my first new love of 2014, Julie Brunet, aka Grenadine.
Julie’s been around for a while on the Quebec music scene, playing many concerts, having put out an EP in 2010 with help from Fanny Bloom. Julie’s first full album, “Grenadine”, just came out last month. Julie’s music is varied, but her style is simple, accompanied by guitar, piano and drums, with her voice front and center, unaugmented. She’s receiving some press coverage, here’s a recent interview, where Julie names Vanessa Paradis as one of her musical influences. (Not mentioned in the article, one odd tidbit is Julie has degrees in anthropology and archeology.)

One of the songs from the “Grenadine” album, “Je Veux, Je Veux” reminded me so strongly of a young France Gall, I wondered if it was a cover (it’s not). A free download of “Saint-Flavie”, from her EP, on Bandcamp (see below). Besides “Je Veux, Je Veux”, another favorite is “Petits Mensonges” – tough to choose, as I enjoyed them all.

(Thanks David for this guestpost!)

Nice one:

Another nice one:

How duo’s get together? Here’s one way: “Typsy Panthre began when Allison LaBonne saw John Crozier on the Minneapolis bus route 28D; New Year’s Day of 2008. A fan of John’s songwriting in the likes of Ninotchka, Ninian Hawick, and Muskellunge; and of his guitar work in a host of Minneapolis bands from the garage punk Wahinis, to the bossa-pop Legendary Jim Ruiz; Allison took a seat next to him.
John and Allison were members of the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, but at different times. Still before, John played guitar in a band (the Hang Ups) with Allison’s sweetheart. Now seated together, owing to the fact that John’s car had broken down and that Allison is a proponent of mass transportation; John inquired, “Would you like to sing on one of my songs?”
Emboldened by the gentle fog of a mild hangover and the dawning of a new year, Allison replied, “Only if we’re starting a band.” “Alright. What will we call it?” John queried.
She was unsure, and her stop was coming up; but Allison pointed out a caption of graffiti across the back of the seat in front of them. “Let’s rhyme it with this,” she divined. John laughed, which made Allison laugh; and ringing for her stop, she exited.
Thusly, in response to the sharpie-scrawled words “Miss me? Answer!” John soon uttered “Typsy Panthre;” and a band was born.” (From THIS website)

Since then Typsy Panthre released an album and a split 7-inch single. ‘Claudine’ is a new track (from a compilation of their label, Korda), my guess is that the song’s about Claudine Longet. It’s their first song in French. Which is nice. One friend of the band thought Claudine sounded a bit like Abba, and e-mailed the song to Abba’s Benny. Which is nice too.

Cada Magenta (or Carole-Anne and Daphnée to their friends and family – the Magenta comes from from the rather bright hair colouring that both girls used to sport) decided that they weren’t cut-out for a career in a punk-rock band and that taking the country-folk chemin was likely to be more rewarding.

Seems they made the right choice, for after some solid gigging in local clubs and bars, the girls have supported Lisa Leblanc and recently released their first record via their bandcamp page.

There’s a remarkable freshness to the girls’ sound and enough musical diversity on display to suggest that Cada Magenta have more than enough about them to dispel any worries about being labeled as yet another country-folk act. While the five-track EP showcases how at ease the girls are at crafting some pleasant harmonised country-folk ballads that should be appeal to aficionados of both Les Hay Babies and Les Soeurs Boulay; the “Trash-Folk” style of “J’aime pas ça la téquila”, with it’s not-quite synced harmonies adding a refreshing grittiness, while “À tous les soirs” offers a distinctive flamenco flavour, with both suggesting that Cada Magenta are quite comfortable tackling a range of differing musical genres.

As befits what is effectively a demo tape, there is a certain roughness to the recording. Actually this all adds to the duo’s charm and reinforces the belief that they probably aren’t that far from being the polished article.

Thanks Steve J!

You can now say that you have a favorite artist hailing from Mauritius. It’s the birthplace of Thallie Ann Seenyen, a singer/producer who sweetens her music with electronics and lots, lots, LOTS of strings. She sounds a bit like Massive Attack-collaboratrice Nicolette, laid back, ‘desafinado’ and sexy as hell. She worked with several dubstep- and triphopproducers (Myriad, Bustre, GVMX) and just recorded a cover of Dalida and Alain Delon’s Paroles, Paroles, one of her fave French songs she used to listen to with her sisters. This is a première, people!