Vanessa

Many have sung about St Tropez, from Petula Clark to Henri Salvador. Vanessa Chassaigne is adding her two cents, in the form of a great retro tune. You almost want to put on an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini when you hear it. I posted about V. before when she was performing as Louka (here), but she dropped that moniker. On her Myspace are more songs, and she's performing quite a bit. Nobody signed her (yet). Shame.

Vanessa Chassaigne - St Tropez

Carla Bruni

Again about the brilliant Boris Vian tribute album, because it not only looks great, it contains a bunch of fantastic songs too. Mme Sarkozy sings Valse des Mannequins, a text by Vian that was turned into a song by Alain Goraguer. It's not too friendly about models, and it has this striking line: 'Mannequin, jolie fleur d'un Paris sans coeur, tu as su trouve le bonheur, dans ton quartier tranquille.' It's obvious why Carla sings this text, and does it magnificently.
You can listen to a (Dutch) radioshow about Vian and his influence here (click on the speakericon).

Carla Bruni - Valse des mannequins

Sophie Hunger vs Noir Desir

Somehow, this song is very appropriate on this day. MJ RIP



Original version here
More on Sophie Hunger here

Kumisolo

Japanese fille Kumi Okamoto was part of The Konki Duet (posted about them here) and Crazy Curl, but now she's Kumisolo. Her album My love for you is a cheap popsong is out now, and features one French song (best song on the album, imho), on which she gets help from Momus. Another nice song is the Waitresses-cover I know what boys like. If you're into odd electronic Japense pop, this is for you. Kumi makes fun videos too, see here.
Speaking of Momus, on his blog he reveals that Kahimi Kari is working on a new album, with Jim O'Rourke! Yay!

Read an interview with Kumi here.

Kumisolo - Confiance Absolue
Kumisolo - I know what boys like

Camille does Boris

Today, 50 years ago, Boris Vian passed away. I told you about the beautiful tribute-album (I received it today, it looks gorgeous), but thanks to SOM here's a live-recording by Camille, doing Vians La complainte du progres. Plus the original version. The song is about 'consuming ourselves to death'. Read (in French) some background on the song here. Camille's photo was taken by Kmeron.

More Camille: she's a guestvocalist on the new album by Kyle Eastwood, that was recorded in Paris. Yes, Clint Eastwood's son, and a very good bassplayer. It's the titletrack of his new album. He talks about it on his Myspace: "My initial idea for this song was a funk bass line that ended up becoming the intro piano motif. Then came the chord changes which Michael Stevens and I wrote the main melody over. Erin Davis had some ideas for the general drum groove and the rest came together in the studio. I really love Camille’s contribution to the song."

Camille - La complainte du progres
Boris Vian - La complainte du progres
Kyle Eastwood + Camille - Metropolitain

Paroles Paroles

Thanks to Peter for telling me about the new Zap Mama album, that features a cover of the campy Dalida/Delon-duet Paroles Paroles. Marie Daulne (= Zap Mama) duets with French actor Vincent Cassel, who, as you can see in the picture, is one of the luckiest men alive. For he's married to Monica Belucci. That's why he smiles like that probably.

Zap Mama & Vincent Cassel - Paroles Paroles

FYI: Dutch reviews for Gentils Garçons, and one English interview with yours truly, HERE

Franszelfsprekend

Dutch Maison Descartes (French cultural embassy, so to speak) held a poll to choose the bestest French (pop)song of the last 50 years. Tonight, the top 50 is revealed, but this blog got hold of that list earlier. It's less embarrissing as I feared it would be, but a list of the best French songs WITHOUT Leo Ferré's Avec le temps, or (songs by) Serge Gainsbourg or Benjamin Biolay kinda sucks (so do the two songs by Celine Dion that are listed, of course).
Here's the top 10:

1. Patrick Bruel - Casser la voix (video)
2. Alderliefste/Ramses Shaffy - Vivre (this is rework of Serge Reggiani's La Dernière Volonté by a Dutch band and a legendary Dutch singer)
3. Alizée - Moi...Lolita
4. Les Poppys - Non non rien n'a changé
5. Kate Ryan - Generation Desenchantée
6. Khaled - Aicha
7. Yves Duteil - Prendre un enfant par la main
8. Jacques Brel - Ne me quitte pas
9. Celine Dion - Pour que tu m'aimes encore
10. Patrick Bruel - Je te le dis quand même

Also included are France Gall (Ella, elle l'a, 15), Axelle Red (Manhattan Kaboul, 25) and Françoise Hardy (Tous les garçons, 40). Duteil, Brel and Bruel all have songs listed in the top 50. I posted my French post-80s top ten here.

Boris Vian

The great thing about tributealbums is that they a) can get you interested in the source, and b) that you can compare the originals with the covers, and see just how creative some artists can get. On n'est pas là pour se fair engueler is the title to a just-released 2cd featuring Boris Vian-covers,and songs based on Vians manuscripts. Vian died on June 23, 1959. Contribuants are (take a deep breath) Jane Birkin, Olivia Ruiz, Arthur H, Katerine, Jeanne Moreau, Emily Loizeau, Carla Bruni, Juliette Greco, Lio, Mademoiselle K, among others. I was not really familiair with the great Vian, I know Serge called him his biggest influence, and Vian said some very nice things about Gainsbourgs first recordings. he acted in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (click), and his songs were covered by a lot of artists. The new tribute is dazzling, it features a very, very drunk (sounding) Katerine doing Je Bois, a very inspired Olivia Ruiz duetting with -M- and Jane Birkin, a very sweet sounding Emily Loizeau and a hard-rocking Mademoiselle K. Juliette Gréco sings an great version of Le Déserteur. Carla Bruni is excellent too.
Here's two examples:

Emily Loizeau - Ses baisers me grisaient
Jane Birkin - Bientôt

Melaaz

Summertime, the living is easy. Fish are jumping, and the sun is high. Along that line. I just felt like posting this great laidback French reggaetune, that I rediscovered while selecting records for my dj-gig this Sunday @WickedJazzSounds. The original version is of course here.

Melaaz - Non Non Non

Bicyclettes & vélos

Question: are there more songs about bicycles in French that I did not put in this mix? There's Donges by Jeanne Cherhal, and songs by Bourvil about biking. And ofcourse Tour de France by Kraftwerk. If you know more, drop 'm in the comments!

Chez Cuervo

It takes a while to load, but then you get a very sexy ad for Cuervo tequila, to the soundtrack of Minimatic's remix of Serge's Chez les Yeye. See here.

Yelle vs Robyn

Great idea: have two electropop-divas cover each others song. iTunes initiated it, and they chose Robyn and Yelle to for this Foreign Exchange project. Yelle made a little more effort than her Swedish counterpart - the beat for Robyn's version of Because of Boys (her translation of A Cause des Garçons, that was a cover already, see here) was used for her song Cobra Style.
Who would you like to exchange songs?

Yelle - Qui est cette fille (original here)
Robyn - Because of boys (Yelle's version here)

La Gaité/Klaske

Trio La Gaîté are this years winners of the (26th) Amsterdam Concours de la chanson, a talent hunt for young Dutch chanteurs and chanteuses. Yves Duteil and Liesbeth List were in the jury - they praised the originality, freshness and upbeatness of Dafne, Sabien and Margriet. Who met on the steps of Paris' Sacré-Coeur, there they first sang an old French ditty. To be honest, I never paid much attention to the CdlC; although I appreciate that they urge young Dutchies to sing in French, they also tend to linger in the past. Contestants sing songs by Piaf, Aznavour and the like. But this year (and, so I'm told, also in other recent editions) contestants chose more recent material. Like runner-up Klaske, who very bravely covered Ta Douleur by Camille. Winners La Gaîté chose a song from Pauline Croze's debut-album, Tita. Thanks to Sylvester, who also made the picture of La Gaîté, here are live-recordings from the CdlC.

Klaske - Ta Douleur (see original version here)
La Gaîté - Tita
Pauline Croze - Tita

Amandine Bourgeois

How can you NOT win, with a name like Amandine? She won Nouvelle Star in 2008 (she auditioned by singing Les Rita Mitsouko's Andy!), and now, right before she turned 30 on June 12, her debut album was released. Most songs were (co-)written by Amandine, but Joseph D'Anvers, Rose Keren and Jeanne Cherhal also wrote songs. Ariane Moffatt (!) wrote single L'homme de la situation, see clip here. The album is very upbeat and reeks of summer. If you like Claire Denamur or Jeanne Cherhal, this is a treat.

Amandine Bourgeois - L'homme de la situation

Coralie

Dj Trouble, she of Jersey City's WMFU-fame, has Coralie Clement on her radioshow this Thursday. Between 11.00 and noon (Jersey time). You can listen live via internet.

UPDATE! Lynn emails: She was a no show! Supposedly she got lost....lots of phone calls from her handler after the fact claimed she took a cab from the upper west side of NYC and didn't realize that our studios are on the other side of the hudson. very disappointing to all. I will go see her perform tonite, but it's not quite the same. So i played the benjamin biolay cut from gentils garcons instead!

New stuff

Aaaaaand we're back! Mallorca's a really nice place if you like sea, sex and sun (and rioja wine), so I did enjoy myself.
I my mailbox I found a link to the new Souvenir video, in which the lovely Patricia resembles Bardot in her ultra-sexy years (see here), and the new Emilie Simon single. Em always had a strong Kate Bush influence in her music, but in Dreamland she seems to imitate her big hero. New album The Big Machine sadly has no French songs. Damn you, International Career!

Emilie Simon - Dreamland

Still in French, thank Dieu, is superchanteuse Lio, who made her new album with help from Jacques Duvall and Phantom. New single Je Ne Suis Pas Encore Prete is out now.

Lio & Phantom - Je ne suis pas encore prete

In case you're wondering where my Iggy Pop post went, DMCA took it down (sigh). But the mp3 of Ig singing Je sais que tu sais with Lucie Aimé is still up. Right click, save as.

Summer Cycling Mix

Me & the mrs and our little sprout are off to a sunny island for 2 weeks. So here's a Summer Cycling Mix, featuring mostly men singing about riding a bike, about watching girls ride a bike, about cycling through Paris and about speeding. This lickle mix kicks off with the theme-music used on Dutch public radio during La Grande Boucle, aka the Tour de France. Enjoy yerselves, back on June 15.

Filles Sourires Summer Cycling Mix, download from HERE

Tracklist:

Rein van den Broek - Trumpet Cross
Eddy(la)Gooyatsh - Le Vélo
Joe Dassin - Au Vélo dans Paris
Plasticines - Zazie fait de la bicyclette
Benabar - Velo
Gil Chovet/Chris Hayward - a Velo
Gerald Genty - Mon Velo
Georges Moustaki/Vincent Delerm - Une fille a bicyclette
Yves Montand - A Bicyclette
Carine Erseng - La vitesse superieure

Nicoletta et Marlène

And the guestposts by Sky on Nicoletta keep on a-comin':

Nicoletta’s second cooperation with Francois de Roubaix was her vocal version of the master’s theme melody for José Giovanni’s 1969 noir policier Dernier Domicile Connu – featuring a stupendous, timeless leitmotif that was also used by the likes of Robbie Williams and R&B queen Missy Elliott.
The female lead in Dernier Domicile Connu was played by French actress Marlène Jobert (pictured), who already had starred in now classic movies like Godard’s Masculin féminin, Malle’s Le voleur, and René Clement’s Le passager de la pluie, alongside Bronson, Belmondo, and Jean-Pierre Léaud. In the 80s, Marlène recorded a handful of meanwhile much sought-after singles, among them Je ne pense qu’à toi (Les oisaux chantent faux), a cuddly post disco charmer, complete with sexy whispers and sultry sax. Très chaud!
Marlène quit the movie business in 1998, but her legacy lives on – in person of her daughter Eva Green who started her career with a quite risky role in Bertolucci’s geriatric ménage à trois meets incest fantasy The Dreamers and moved on to play James Bond’s love interest in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Before meeting Carla Bruni, Nicolas Sarkozy invited Eva to join him on his campaign trail. Here you can see why.

Francois de Roubaix - Dernier Domicile Connu
Nicoletta -Pour Qui, Pour Quoi
Robbie Williams - Supreme
Missy Elliott - All n My Grill
Marlène Jobert - Je ne pense qu’à toi

Nicoletta

Guestpost! Sky on Nicoletta:

France’s biggest-selling hit of 1971 was the dull folk-pop earworm Mamy Blue, sung by Nicole Grisoni alias Nicoletta. Despite the huge success, the beguiling brunette had already recorded a row of considerably more impressive tunes, among them the solemn Il est mort de soleil which made Ray Charles call her his „soul sister“, and her sublime technicolor version of Jacques Brel’s wistful Quand on n’a que l’amour – a mighty, but never exalted voice, and one of the finest grand-screen arrangements in the history of French song.

Quite hard-to-find is Nicoletta’s first collaboration with French composer genius Francois de Roubaix: her admirable vocal version of an equally striking soundtrack piece from Jean Herman’s rough, seldom-seen thriller Jeff. During the shooting in 1969, Alain Delon fell in love with blonde co-star Mireille Darc – an affair to remember, though surely not as breathtaking as Nicoletta’s chanson.


Nicoletta - Quand on n’a que l’amour
Jacques Brel - Quand on n’a que l’amour
Francois de Roubaix - Le Canal Gelé
Nicoletta - Jeff