Even a tame mainstream ditty like Duffy’s Warwick Avenue suddenly works when fused with Serge’s Je t’aime. Kleptomaniac: Phil RetroSpector. Art form: Mash-up, of course. Verdict: Perfect crime. Check his site for more.
Bâtard Pop XXIV: Womanamour
Dra’man, bootlegger francophone extraordinaire, with a superb mash-up of Serge’s L’anamour and Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry. Not to be missed.
Perverse Manon, Country Style
Though being one of the finest bands ever to follow the paths of the Byrds and especially Gram Parsons into so many jingle jangle evenings, Motor City’s Volebeats are still virtually unknown even to most country rock aficionados. On their 2004 outing Country Favorites they also proved a surreal kind of humour covering songs by Parliament, Abba, Slayer or Barry White twangy-style. Their version of Serge G’s Manon, erstwhile title song of the stylish Deneuve flick Manon 70, transports the original’s ragged ambiguity clandestinely to the Seen It All Bar – that place where all the pale riders gather when they come to Paris, Texas.
Bonus: Serge’s original, of course, plus Marina Celeste’s breezy, ultra-sexy Brazil style version from her Cinéma Enchanté album. Hush, hush, sweet Manon.
Serge Gainsbourg – Manon
Marina Celeste – Manon
Extrabonus:
Giovanni Mirabassi – Manon
Lulu Gainsbourg & Marianne Faithfull – Manon
Un uomo di 76 anni
Smoke a dozen packages of Morte Sicuro per day, and maybe you’ll sound like Italian cantautore Paolo Conte someday. The former lawyer with the gravelly voice wrote Italy’s not-all-too secret national anthem Azzurro in 1968 for Adriano Celentano, before he became a superstar himself with Gelato al limon and, of course, Via con me (»s’wonderful, good luck, my babe«) in the early Eighties, combining jazz and cabaret style with melanconia, eleganza, senso and disinvoltura. Occasionally, Conte also sings in French, as on his 2010 album Nelson – a true padrone of chanson.
Paolo Conte w/ Laura Conti – C’est beau
Paolo Conte – Enfant prodige
Lui et Léa
»It’s the whim of a spoiled kid.« French writer Frédéric Beigbeder (»Mémoires d’un jeune homme dérangé«, »99 francs«) is editorial director of the freshly relaunched LUI, the unmistakably Parisian pendant to Playboy and »Le magazine de l’homme moderne«, as it was called way back in the 60s to 80s. Then, they had Romy Schneider, Mireille Darc, Sylvia Kristel or Jane Birkin. Now, the brand new first volume of the mag, offered for the dumping price of 2,90 Euros, features actress Léa Seydoux, along with a lot of worthwhile reading. And Beigbeder has a new byname you’ve already guessed: L’homme qui amait des femmes.
Cocoboy – La Playmate de Samedi Soir
Alexander von Mehren
Remember Tricatel, Bertrand Burgalat’s label? The technicolorized music on this label is the best reference, I’d say, to Alexander von Mehren’s music. From his bio: “Alexander von Mehren is a 29 years old pianist, songwriter and producer from Bergen, Norway. He started playing the piano at the age of four and began receiving classical piano lessons when he turned seven. During his ten years of classical training, von Mehren gradually developed an interest in alternative music and started writing his own compositions, especially inspired by French, German, Italian and British library music, 60s/70s soundtracks, alternative pop à la Stereolab and The High Llamas and the Chicago-based post-rock scene.”
One of the top tracks on AvM’s album is Champs-Elysées. I’m not sure who the girl is that Alex is duetting with, he did not respond to my tweeted question. An educated guess says it’s Nathalie Nordnes. See here.
UPDATE: Alexander did respond and yes, it’s Nathalie. See here
Alexander von Mehren – Champs-Elysées
Riff Cohen
Oriental trash pop. Les Calamités, bellydancing. Keren Ann with a mohawk. If your curiosity is tickled by these descriptions, be sure to try Riff Cohen‘s blend of fuzz-drenched, French tales of 1001 Night. She’s from Israel, studied music in Paris and is very proud of her Tunesian roots. Her album’s just out, I missed out on her first single, A Paris earlier. Shame. Riff’s voice is highly charming, her songwriting’s a bit naive or, one could say, close to 60s YeYe. Most songs on Riff’s album are in French, some in Hebrew, other in Arabic. At times, I thought back to Sapho, the Moroccan-French singer who also blended North-African influences with French-oriented pop in the 80s and 90s.
I’m expecting that, because of Riff’s exciting mix of styles and her looks, she could do well outside of France.
Interview in Haaretz HERE. Another nice interview HERE. Video for J’aime HERE
Mélodie française
Australian bands covering French classics, wrote a post about Mélodie Française on this blog earlier . Thanks to FS-reader Marjorie, I got the full album. It’s not bad, not bad at all. Sure, the Aussies sing French with an accent, but I’ve heard worse. Big Scary do a great version of Je t’aime… changing the notes a little but keeping the right atmosphere. So does Kate Miller-Heidke in her version of Hardy’s Il n’ya pas d’amour heureux. Soko backing up The Walking Who in an echo-heavy Mini, Mini, Mini (orig. by Dutronc) is cool, the odd one out is a French version of Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang. Icing on the cake is The Jezabels version of Morgane de toi (‘Madly in love’), a song by Renaud. I’m not that familiair with Renaud’s body of work, Morgane… surely is a modern classic with a very distinct guitar melody. The Jezabels add sexiness to an already explicit song, in my book a great achievement. I don’t know if Melodie Francaise is available outside of Australia, but it’s worth tracking down.
Mood Vibrations
Traveling Birds is the second album by Swiss-Belgian duo Lottchen, jazz singer Eva Buchmann & vibraphonist Sonja Huber (plays marimba, too), oscillating between super laid-back poise and fluffy end-of-summer dreamscapes. Though off and on a bit too artsy for their own good, there’s undoubtedly a master touch to feel here. Lottchen’s version of Camille’s Quand je marche effortlessly beats the pants off the chichi original, and the album’s opener, a spellbinding interpretation of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s classic Waters of March, is nothing but pure class. And, gee, that’s some cool egg shaker at the end of the song.
Lottchen – Quand je marche
Lottchen – Waters of March