Liminanas

Yearlists (8)

bands_liminanasWhen starting to think about 2013, my first thought was that it wasn’t a good year at all. No highlights, disappointments, a meager year in the FS history.
I listened to everything again and started making a shortlist, with about 20 names.  And then the other year lists appeared. 42 different names (!) of which only 10 made my shortlist….
Maybe 2013 wasn’t that bad overall, and can we hail 2013 in the future as one of the most diverse years in FS history.

So apologies to Vanessa Paradis, Pendentif, and Laurence Hélie who were bubbling under, but here’s a yearlist with a lot of new names…

10. Carla Bruni – Little French Songs
Comeback album of the former French First Lady. All political fuzz set aside, it’s still Carla Bruni, people!
09. Marilou – Au Milieu De Mon Écart
08. Ottilie – La Histoires d’O2 – XIIII
Belgian singer with a  special album, that stayed a bit under the radar. See more here
07. Sarah Olivier – Pink Galina
06. Ariane Brunet – Fusée
05. Sophie Maurin – Sophie Maurin
04.Sally Folk  – Confection
03. Angèle David-Guillou – Kourouma
02. Riff Cohen – A Paris Surprising album. the title song (here) makes me happy everytime I hear it.
01. The Limiñanas   – Costa Blanca
Gainsbourg with guitars.. Wonderful album! (and in january they will come to Holland. Wonder how the will perform life!)
[couldn’t find a clip of their neiw album, so here is an older one!]



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.

Liminanas

If Serge Gainsbourg had written songs with The Velvet Underground, it might have sounded like The Liminanas. Somebody else wrote that, but it’s a great way to describe the sultry, fuzz-drenched basement-sound of the trio from Perpignan. Their second album Crystal Anis is out, and the second you hear the bass in Ballade pour Clive, you’ll get the Gainsbourg-reference. This is music to listen to with darkdarkdark-shades on, while Super8-porn is being shown on the screen in the humid cellar, the leather-clad crowd is getting anxious yet you’re keeping it cool. You might dance. Horizontally or vertical, maybe both. Gimme another shot, barkeep!
See a video for an English track from their debut album here.
Listen to their Beach Boys cover here

The Liminanas – Ballade pour Clive

Les Bellas

  • Posted on 05/01/2011
  • /Under Musique

Things are getting fuzzy here on FS. Fuzz-guitars, that is. Les Bellas hail from Perpignan, they released their debut last September. They have an interesting line-up: a female drummer (Marie), a female singer (Nadege, who also plays the trumpet) and Lionel (Marie’s brother) and Giom on the guitars. On their debut, they play two covers (by Wanda Jackson, and Gentlemen) but mostly sweet, buzzing songs of their own. Er, make that the past-tense, by the way. because Les Bellas aren’t around any more. They disintegrated when a record deal fell through, or something. Read about that here.
Shame, ’cause a song like Belladelic is great. Then again, members of Les Bellas now form The Liminanas, who released their debut in October. And they’re still around. And sing more songs in French. So there.

Les Bellas – Belladelic
The Liminanas – Je suis une gogo girl

The Limiñanas

  • Posted on 14/04/2010
  • /Under Musique

The Limiñanas are Marie Limiñana (drums) and Lionel Limiñana (guitar, vocals) who get help on their first single from’Mu’.  You can find great review of earlier singles on their Myspace, like ‘With grandiose production and simple, melodic hooks that would make Phil Spector blush in his jail uniform, The Liminanas have that special something that embeds their harmonious arrival quickly into your brain, sending a sinister vibe through the original ye-ye formula and coming out with remarkable results.’ Or:   ‘If the Velvet Underground had written songs with Serge Gainsbourg, it’d probably have sounded something like this trio from Perpignan.’  Je ne suis pas tres drogue sounds very Lio-esque to me, which as you know is a good thing.

The Limiñanas – Je ne suis pas très droguee