Emmanuelle Seigner

November should bring us the second album of Emmanuelle Seiger, after her first (English) cd with Ultra Orange. But now Roman Polanski's, Em's hubby, is in danger of being extradited to the USA (because of some sex thing, ah, those crazy 70s eh), her album may be postponed. Shame. First single Dingue has a nice rocking feel (bit Emma Daumas-ish, if you ask me), and producer/arranger Tore Johansson told me, when I interviewed him about something else, that Roman is on the album as well. Could be interesting. Em's sister Marie-Amelie will release a second album as well this year, via Mymajorcompany.

Emmanuelle Seigner - Dingue

Christmas project

If you read this blog for several years, you know about the Christmas Project. Special X-mas songs, recorded especially for this blog. See earlier editions here, and here. I invited several artists to participate, but if you want to contribute a French Christmas song, be my guest! Deadline is December 10. It can be a cover, or an original song. Let me know if I can count on you: guuzbourg(a)gmail(dot)com.

Sélection de Lundi: April in Elinor

During the recording sessions for her first solo album Paris in April in 1994, Elinor Blake finally transformed into her second self: April March. Though the title of the album and the choice of songs - from Hardy's Temps de l'Amour to Gall's Laisse Tomber - tell everything about the hommage concept, the sound, produced in Glendale, Tarzana, and Hollywood, is unmistakably more KROQ rock station than Radio France, and still deeply rooted in Elinor’s retro garage affections. Brainwash Part II, a cover of Gainsbourg’s Chez les yé-yé, redefines Serge’s light proto-funk francais with droning fuzz guitar, while Moto Shagg, the English language version of Dani’s innocent La fille à la moto, is fueled-up with hotrod spirit, drive-in doll attitude, and sharp 60s psychedelia, and immediately brings that old Russ Meyer tagline to mind: Don’t race the fastest pussycats. Vrrrooooom!

April March – Brainwash Part II
Serge Gainsbourg – Chez les yé-yés

April March – Moto Shagg
Dani – La fille à la moto
Juliette et Ces Baguettes – La fille à la moto (video)

Girl Grunge & Indie Bonus: Miss April on backing vocals for primordial garage gals The Haves, as well as on Yo La Tengo’s Emulsified, a grand cover version of the original by pre-badass supergroovsters Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers.

The Haves – Coal Black
Yo La Tengo - Emulsified

For more Elinor, see here.

Les Sambassadeurs

I think we did pretty well in Amsterdam, with our little band of Gainsnord-singers. But in Sao Paulo, they did very, very well. On September 3rd, Serge was honoured by Brazilian bigband Orquestre Imperial, lead by J-C Vannier. Vocalists on that night included Jane Birkin, Caetano Veloso and his son Moreno Veloso. This blog is pretty excited about the concert, the setlist included lessr knows songs like Baudelaire, Cannabis and Fuir le bonheur. You can download an (illegal) recording of that show here. Not radio-quality, but good enough. I like the songs that have a Brazilian vibe added, like Couleur Café, Requiem pour un con and Les Sambassadeurs (obviously). Interesting fact that Luciane (also from Sao Paulo, but she missed this show!) told me was that the military junta in Brazil started censoring the radio áfter they heard Je t'aime... moi non plus. The censorship hit artists like Caetano (who had to leave the country) very hard. I guess this concert was also a way to say 'sorry' (although both Jane and Serge aren't to blame).
Gainsbourg was honoured before in Brazil, see this post.

Caetano Veloso & Jane Birkin - Je suis venue te dire (Live)

Gainsnord videos!

More? HERE
All videos filmed and edited by Lars. Visit his blog!

Sacré Français

This Sunday, the charming Alexandra Vassen will play a big number of Gainsnord songs in her Sacré Français morning show. Natasha was interviewed on the project (because I did not dare to speak French on the radio, *blush*). You can tune in via www.purefm.be, 11.00 hrs Bruxelles time.

New Amylie video

Amylie - Au creux de ta main

Funny video

Keep watching until the end!

Paaaaaaaaaaaaartay!

This Friday, me and Natasha will play the funkiest, the rockiest, the bestest French music there is, was and will be @ the Rentrée a l'école party. Fellow vinylspinners Cowboy & Henk are present as well. Gotta come early, for Amsterdam's De Nieuwe Anita fills up pretty quick (and closes early). Natasha has some more parties up her sleeve, as you can see (or click here). Martin Hemmel and maestro Minimatic are a-coming too! In October, I am dj-ing often in the deep south of Holland. Maastricht, to be exact. On October 9, I'm playing jazz and funk (and some French ditties) here, and on October 24 it's even more jazz here.
Gainsnord is coming to Maastricht as well. On November 20, me and grandmaster Pierre Elitair are spinning the Frenchiest flavours @ Café Ipanema. These guys will spice things up with, eh, spicy flicks.

Gigi, the follow-up

You remember Gigi, don't you? The Black Flower? Gigi Gaston, that Bulgarian born beauty who became a huge star in the 1960s in France, with unforgettable songs like Je suis perdue, who led a life filled with tragedy, cruelty, stardom, sex, money and murder. She disappeared in 1973, after she was acquitted after that Italian murder trial, you surely remember that? No? Well, of course you don't. Gigi Gaston only exists in the mind of Josh Gosfield, an artist who made up her life, her songs and her pictures. On October 22, an exhibition on Gigi 'The Black Flower' Gaston opens in the New York City gallery of Steven Kasher. There you can dream along to the greatest yeye-singer that never was. But she lives, if you want it.

Gigi Gaston - Je suis perdue (If you think Gigi sounds a heck of a lot like Holden's Armelle Pioline, you're right)

Gainsnord presentation pictures

See for more pictures of Yaso (above), Janne, Marc, Geraldine, Irene, West Hell 5, audience shots (you?) HERE

Benjamin, Catherine, Christophe & A Loulia

So much great French music is out now, or will be released very soon. There's new albums by Mickey3D (see below), by M, by Murat and by Miossec (what's up with all those M's?). The latter has his seventh cd out, Finisteriens. He made it with Yann Tiersen and it's a firm stew of songs that reek of Northern France - full of waves, fish, fierce winds and weathered faces. I'm posting the single, A Montparnasse. You can spot that signature piano by Yann immediatly. Talking of signatures; I was surprised to find out that my friends of A Loulia (they appeared on Filles Fragiles #2) covered a signature track by Miossec - Brest. Great version! See a video of A Loulia's version here.
Thanks to SOM, I got the new single by Catherine Ringer, the much loved and respected singer of Les Rita Mitsouko. She overcame the death of her (musical) partner Fred, and will release a new album before Christmas. The first single sounds promising.
Last but not least: Benjamin Biolay. His album is called La Superbe, and it certainly is. A double album (released in October), sporting his (here we go again) signature soft whispered songs, some Britpop-ish stuff, electronics, songs sporting fast, loud guitars and Argentinian rap (!), and girls, making me sigh. Like the duet with Jeanne Cherhal (pictured).

Miossec - A Montparnasse (see video)
Miossec - Brest
A Loulia - Brest
Catherine Ringer - Je kiffe Raymond
Benjamin Biolay & Jeanne Cherhal - Brandt Rhapsody

Sélection de Lundi: Elinor Blake

Before April March refined her francophile schtick with 1995’s Paris in April, afterwards became a Burgalat protegé and finally a Quentin Tarantino favorite, she was – still Elinor Blake then – part of a quite different scene. In 1988, she recorded the 7-track EP Spring Fever under the moniker of The Pussywillows, with her friends Lisa Jenio and Lisa Dembling. Spring Fever, recorded for the Telstar label in Hoboken, NJ, featured pure 60s retro girl pop in the vein of the Shangri-Las and the Chiffons. Live and studio-wise, the three ladies were accompanied by the likes of Elinor’s then-boyfriend Mike Chandler (Raunch Hands/ The Outta Place), Gun Club guitarist Ward Dotson, and Deb O’Nair, the ravishing blonde organist from NYCs neo garage punk legends The Fuzztones.

The Pussywillows – Come on Now
The Pussywillows – The Boat That I Row

The cute American baby pop of the Pussywillows was soon replaced by the more punkish attitude of Elinor's next project The Shitbirds – oscillating between the spirit of the early Pandoras and her alter ego's efforts with The Makers in 1997 –, and another band with the similarly alluring name The F-Holes, who sadly remained unrecorded.

The Shitbirds – I Want You
April March & The Makers – Try to Cry

Elinor’s ex-Pussywillows collaborator Lisa Dembling resurfaced with the lovely named Sexy Death Soda, while Lisa Jenio today plays with the Candypants, under the stupendous motto: With five people, it’s fantastic.

Candypants – Nerdy Boys

Berry en direct

Franss went to see Berry today @ Paradiso. He came floating back on cloud nine. Read his review below:

Did you like Berry’s Mademoiselle album? If so: you ain’t seen nothing yet. I mean, we all have this album in our heart as a wonderful album by one of the artists you discovered through this site. One of the favorite filles, singing softly, and whispering smooth songs.
But then, you are missing something. Today, she sang in Paradiso in Amsterdam, Hollands only true pop-temple. I expected she’d play upstairs but it turned out she played the Main Hall.
Only little more than 100 visitors saw a wonderful concert. Very relaxed, wearing a simple white t-shirt, Berry (accompanied by two guitarists) gave us something you don’t get with the album: That smile! Aaah.. It isn’t for nothing this site is called fillessourires.com. That brilliant 'sourire' that really makes you melt, it is an extra you don’t get with the album. She was so much enjoying herself and mesmerized everyone with that smile. All the songs from the album were played including a beautifully subtle Plus Loin. The highlight for me was a very sexy and sultry version of Chéri (imagine her sighing the “encore”’s at the end…). One new song was played, Voila l’été, a cover of the Beatles’ Here Comes The Sun. After an enthusiastic applause she returned with a surprise song Capri. Most people in the audience knew this song only from Hervé Villard, (but visitors of this site already knew it of course…)
So, if you like Berry go see her live! You’ll like her even more!
(photo by Pierre Jean G/Pierre-jean.net)

Gaisnord presentation

It was a blast, really. If you were there, you experienced a tight beatband (West Hell 5), gorgeous ladies (Janne, Geraldine, Yaso, Flux, Flora Dolores), a poet (Serge van Duijnhoven, named after Gainsbourg), a charming Wallon (Marc of Suarez), one heck of a violinplayer (Melika) a Dutch house-legend (Eddy de Clercq) and the transtastic Yovanna. The latter spiced things up in a very Madame Arthur-ian way (as you know, Serge worked for the famous Parisian gay cabaret, plus he and Jane went there on their first date). I cried, I laughed, I was embarresed, I danced. It was everything I hoped it would be - and very, very Serge. Janne is pictured on the right, for more pictures by Igor Freeke see HERE. Thanks also to Marco & Natashka for spinning the black circles, and the scopitones. Here's a taster of what you missed yesterday, a live recording of West Hell 5 featuring the supersexy Flora Dolores on lead vocals and the fragile Flux and yours truly on backing vocals, recorded earlier today @ ShoutingBoots. (Thanks Jaap, thanks Lars)

West Hell 5 feat. Flora Dolores - Qui est "in", qui est "out"

Mickey 3D

A real stunt? To write a song about a Dutch soccer legend and top the charts in France. French indie entrepreneurs Mickey 3D did so in 2004 when they paid homage to seventies football striker Johnny Rep – already their second no. 1 hit after 2003’s eco-guitar-pop-gem Respire. With their brand new, meanwhile sixth album La grande évasion 3D masterminds Mickaël Furnon and Aurélian Joanin return to the soccer theme with La footballeuse de Sherbrooke, as well as to their trademark recipe: partly melancholic, partly upbeat alternative pop, superbly arranged and interspersed with singer/songwriter attitude, chanson-style. Not a single weak tune here, my favorite one right now being Yula (Ma Fiancée Galactique) – a quiet, tender earworm you won’t get out of your head anymore.

Mickey 3D – La footballeuse de Sherbrooke
Mickey 3D – Yula (Ma Fiancée Galactique)

Emilie Simon

Dreamland, the first single from the new album by Emilie Simon, was a warning: Kate Bush had always been a big reference, but now she tried to out-Kate her heroine. I've heard the full album The Big Machine, and it's the biggest disappointment this year. Gone is the iceblue atmosphere of her debut, she tries to really sing instead of just whispering softly in my ear and the music is the idea-free, Depeche Mode-light. Don't get me started on the lyrics. To sing in English wasn't a good idea on Végétal, though I liked her versions of Come as you are, and I wanna be your dog. But this is truly horrible. One song has a few French lines, but that's not helping either. Bye Emilie, nice knowing you.

Emilie Simon - Fools like us (from Dreamland)
Emilie Simon - Dame de Lotus (from Végétal, for old times sake. See the beautiful video)

Winner! (3)

Anna Maria, regular guestposter from Sweden, wins a copy of Gainsnord with her entry on her fave Serge song:

Anita Lane, Nick Cave's old flame sang a lovely version of Overseas telegram on chief Bad Seed Mick Harvey's Serge tribute Intoxicated Man. It's in English but Lane's vocals are very suited to Gainsbourg's material. She's got that breathy close-mike Jane Birkin approach that works so well and makes this one of my favourite Gainsbourg covers.The strings are bursting with yearning as are the vocals on this version. You can really believe she misses her man. Lane’s take on other Gainsbourg songs including Je t’aime... moi non plus with Cave have also been inspired and infused with that unique Serge spirit. I think this particular version of the song would be well suited for a film soundtrack. She makes albums far too seldom, only having made two solo records and appeared on two of Mick Harvey’s Gainsbourg tributes.

Mick Harvey & Anita Lane - Overseas Telegram

Gainsnord on iTunes

As of today, you can buy Gainsnord, the tribute to Serge Gainsbourg by bands from the Lowlands, on iTunes. In every country, from the USA to Japan, from Norway to Spain!

Birkin's daughter, nsfw

UPDATE: alas, the video was removed. As soon as it reappears, I will re-link.

Is it Baudelaire she's reading? Appolinaire? No, it's Bashung (thanks to the commenters). Why's Givenchy involved? Dunno. All I know is that Lou Doillon, half-sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg and daughter of Jane Birkin, is baring her soul, and a lot more. (Via)
UPDATE: HERE is all the info about this arty video. It was made by Karim Sadli.

Alain Bashung - Venus

Tom Barman does Serge @ DWDD

Yesterday was a blast @ DWDD. Tom Barman and Guy van Nueten performed Serge's Le poinçonneur in full for the audience only. Here's a great clip. And yes, Le poinçonneur is available on Gainsnord!
Contrary to popular belief, Tom and Guy will NOT peform at the cd-presentation @ Paradiso.

Tom Barman @ Guy van Nueten - Le poinçonneur des Lilas (Live @ DWDD)

Sea, sex and sun (remix)

Hot & sweaty version of Serge's Sea, Sex and Sun by Eddy de Clercq and friends. Bossafied version available on Gainsnord. More on this remix here.

Winner! (2)

And Matthias wins a free copy of Gainsnord because of this post on his fave Serge-song:

In my present mood, my favorite Gainsbourg song is undoubtedly Ce Mortel Ennui from his debut Du chant à la une, released in September 1958. Libération said that the guy on the cover of the nine track longplayer had the face of a killer. I wouldn't agree, but perhaps Serge had the heart of one. The whole album is full of asshole coolness, machismo erection blues, and a slow burning jazz groove that feels like the hero of Boris Vian’s „I Spit on Your Graves“ spending a late evening in St. Germain watching all those skirts go by. Lots of great songs on the record, but the sick-of-it-all attitude of „Ce Mortel Ennui“ surpasses them all. The fuck-you-frame of mind, the misogyny and universal boredom are already foreshadowing the later Serge, drowning slowly in that endless current of body fluids and red wine.

Serge Gainsbourg - Ce Mortel Ennui (Video)

Winner!

Jerome is the first winner of a free Gainsnord copy. His entry on his favourite Gainsbourg-song:

First, the beat goes endlessly like an old clock with its pendulum swinging in a silent and deep atmosphere.
Then comes a clear synth melody pattern with the echoes of the missing loving One gone for ever resigned...
The begining of the autumn on a cloudy but calm end of the afternoon after a typical 30 minutes violent storm that we, once in a while, have in the south of France, brings you in that kind of mood...
It feels like things are going to be what they are going to be anyway... You don't feel sad, you are deeply moved by a sweet sorrow that doesn't show to others but that is slashing you from the inside like a papercut which is only hurting when you're thinking about it...
And you're thinking about it on purpose...

This song is Dépression au dessus du jardin, the Live at Casino de Paris version is deeper to me, and the version from the movie Charlotte for Ever with the screams and the lightswitch clicking when Stan is loosing himself is a masterpiece in matching sounds/images and feelings.

Feel free to feel the sorrows by listening to it over and over and over... Serge knows how to create these feelings... Definetely.

Serge Gainsbourg - Depression au dessus du jardin (Video)
See also versions by Catherine Deneuve and Jane Birkin

Sélection de Lundi: Radiah Frye

When tormented Italian-French superstar Nino Ferrer met lovely Afro-American model, dancer, and singer Radiah Frye, he probably fell head over heels in love. On his 1966 single Je veux être noir, Nino had already declared that he wanted to be black, and now he had a perfect playmate to tighten up his groove – exactly what he did on Nino and Radiah et Le Sud in 1974, a fine album with an even finer cover portrait on which Radiah exposed her impeccable body to the public.
Before she pursued a brief career as an actress in Spermula, Madame Claude, and Goodbye Emmanuelle (adults only, please; the latter two scored by Serge G.), Radiah again posed for a record sleeve with only the radio on. Her adequately titled, hard-to-get solo 7“ Play-boy Scout (1975) features a strikingly sexy babefunk version of Nino’s Italian garage rock shouter from his excellent 1970 album Rats and Roll’s.
Radiah is still around. Don’t forget to check her MySpace page, and her website as well.

Nino and Radiah et Le Sud – Mint Julep

Nino Ferrer – Je veux être noir
La Grande Sophie – Je veux être noir

Radiah – Play-boy Scout
Nino Ferrer – Playboy Scout

Gainsnord in the media

- Tonight, starting @ 01.00 hrs, me and the mighty West Hell 5 will talk (me) and play (WH5) in Adeline's great Nacht van het Goede Leven-radioshow.
- Starting this Monday, Gainsnord is Album of the Week on Dutch Radio 1.
- Listen to the album via 3voor12's Luisterpaal.
- Tuesday, Tom Barman, Eddy de Clercq and me are guests @ DWDD. Tom will play Le Poinçonneur with Guy van Nueten.
- Friday, it's the presentation of Gainsnord @ Paradiso.
- Saturday, WH5 and me will invade Shouting Boots- Also saturday, I will talk about Gainsnord @ Opium Radio
- You can listen to part one of Sylvester's very nice Dutch Gainsbourg-portrait for the Concertzender (part two next Saturday, with a focus on Gainsnord). And this too.
- Interview in free daily newspaper De Pers.
- 4 star review in Het Parool
- Great review @ FileUnder.
- Very nice review @ Caleidoscoop.

More to follow...

New Olivia Ruiz video

and check out these Emilie Simon videos too.

Ödland

Ödland is a German word for Wasteland, but the realm this band comes from is ruled by Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat. Actually, Ödland are from southern France, featuring Lyon-based pianist Lorenzo Papace and singer Alizée Bingöllü, an actress and fille sourire for sure, though quite a special one, sounding like a cross between Vanessa (you guess which one) and the ghost of a well-educated little girl from the 19th century. Ödland’s music is labeled as folktronica on the net, whatever that may mean, but it’s surely much more, interweaving highly alluring chamber music with the spirit of British bonbon artpop babes Lollipop Train, amalgamating ragtime splinters, animals’ voices and innocent whispers into something half chaste, half supersexy, playful and beguiling all the way. Just the right path to dreamland on some of these nights - but do not download without a surrealistic pillow.

Ödland - La chanson du parasite
Ödland - Les yeux de l'oiseau

Melanie Pain

When it comes to Melanie Pain, I never get tired of telling people that I dj'd with her (and Phoebe) on New year's eve, a few years back. Mel was playing Nouvelle Vague-ish stuff (originals, mostly), and wore a string of Christmas-lights around her neck. Which gave her an angelic glow. I was mesmerized, just as I am every time I hear her sing. Mel's album My Name came out earlier this year, but fell on deaf ears. Luckily, they changed the cover and added some bonustracks, which means that the label still believes in the strength of the album. Which is nice (and right). One of the bonustracks on My Name is a Blur-cover. This may look a bit cheap (and too Nouvelle Vague-ish for some), but I think it's a nice addition. Still, Little Cowboy and the beautiful duet with Julien Doré are the highlights.

Melanie Pain - Girls and boys
See original version here.

Four Years of Filles Sourires

Time flies when you're having fun. Today is the day I started this blog, four years ago. Next week, my fourth official compilation cd will be released, Gainsnord. As you know, that is a cd with covers of Serge's songs by bands from the Lowlands. To celebrate the 4th year of FS, here's a mix of all the original songs by Serge (and Françoise, and Jane, and Juliette). Thanks everyone for your contributions, your comments, your kind emails over the past years, and the appreciation of great French music (sung by girls, preferably)! Special thanks to Maks, Sky and SOM (who will start posting soon) for the companionship, and to Mordi, who inspired me to start it all.

By the way, you can still win a Gainsnord-copy. Send me a guestpost of about 150 words on your favorite Gainsbourg-track (cover, or original). Three lucky contestants get a free cd! guuzbourg(at)gmail(dot)com.

Also, read this very good column by Nick Hornby on mp3blogs, and music obsessives. Very recognisable.

Download Gainsnord Orignals Mix here.

Tracklist:
Serge Gainsbourg - Chatterton
Serge Gainsbourg - Sensuelle et sans suite
Serge Gainsbourg - Sea, sex and sun
Jane Birkin - Une chose entre autres
Serge Gainsbourg - Shush Shush Charlotte (*)
Jane Birkin - Jane B.
Serge Gainsbourg - Danger (*)
Serge Gainsbourg - Initials BB
Serge Gainsbourg - Couleur café
Serge Gainsbourg - Pauvre Lola
Françoise Hardy - Comment te dire adieu
Juliette Gréco - Les amoours perdues
Serge Gainsbourg - Ford Mustang
Serge Gainsbourg - Qui est 'in', qui est 'out'
Serge Gainsbourg - Scene de bal 1 (*)

(*) = Danger was the inspiration for Benjamin Herman's track on Gainsnord (called Indian Hay), while Shush Shush Charlotte provided the groundwork for Zeker Weten's Hoe moet dat nu. Scene de bal 1 from the movie Les Coeurs Vertes is the original version of Je t'aime... moi non plus.
The illustration is by Rob Davis.

THIS is the little present I gave myself for 4 years of FS (and the release of Gainsnord)

Clichy Revisited

As Maks points out here, Vanessa Contenay-Quinones' gorgeous new video - not to miss, see below or here - is based on the Danish 1970 taboo-breaker Stille dage i Clichy, again based on Henry Miller's best novel which quite made my day when I discovered it on Dad's so very sober looking bedroom shelf at age thirteen, a pre-beatnik study already written in the early 40s though unpublished until 1956 (by "sex" publisher Olympia Press, for sure).
Actually, the movie isn't nearly as hot as Vanessa's voice, but features a remarkable soundtrack, Andy Sundstroem's hommage to the location nicely oscillating between Clichy and cliché, mélancolie style Parisienne. However, the icing on the nipple is Country Joe McDonald's (yes, he of the notorious Woodstock Fish cheer) title track, a laidback and tenderly explicit roundup of Miller's carnal accounts in exactly five minutes and forty seconds. Lots of sexy surprises, guaranteed, even if you already know what rhymes best with luck.

Andy Sundstroem - Clichy

Country Joe McDonald - Quiet Days in Clichy 1
Country Joe McDonald - Quiet Days in Clichy 2

Vanessa Contenay-Quinones

To watch and listen to for hours:





Vanessa Contenay-Quinones - Oddyssee

More on Vanessa here.

Sélection de Lundi: Natacha Le Jeune

The art of the vanishing act: Boyish Natacha Le Jeune entered the French music business as chanteuse of Parisian 70s retro rockers A.S. Dragon, who before had been something like a clone pet project of Tricatel owner Bertrand Burgalat. Dragon’s second longplayer, Spanked (2003), went widely unnoticed, though it contains Natacha’s probably finest performance: a touching pop rendition of Un hémisphere dans une chevelure (A hemisphere in her hair), the passionate seventeenth poem of Charles Baudelaire’s posthumously published collection Le spleen de Paris (1869). The same album also featured Mais pas chez moi, a quite catchy earworm that would have deserved to be a major hit. After another Dragon album, Va chercher la police (2006), Natacha quit the band and disappeared ... or rather transformed into Patti Smith & Iggy Pop, two-in-one style. Question: Fille? Answer: Grrrl.

A.S. Dragon, Un hémisphere dans une chevelure
A.S. Dragon, Mais pas chez moi

Order Gainsnord

If you heard the snippets of the Gainsnord cd here, and want to buy the album, you can pre-order via Amazon.de, Bol.com, Fnac.be, Velvet Music, Nlstore.nl, Concerto.nl, Sounds Venlo and probably some more webshops. We're still in talks of releasing a vinyl 12-inch with four songs, but nothing's solid yet.
The album will also be available via iTunes, probably in a week or two. Keep watching this space.

COMPETITION
As you can see on the right, my son Stijn presents Gainsnord, and it's just his taste (I never get tired of this joke). Yes, the cds have arrived. I am giving away 3 free copies. All you have to do is write plusminus 150 words about your favourite Gainsbourg-song, either sung by Serge, or someone else. Mail to guuzbourg(at)gmail(dot)com.

New Anais video

La Fiancée

Could this be the Year of the Claire? After Claire Denamur, here's another jewel in the crown of fragile French pop: La Fiancée. Don't know her last name, but she's called Claire and her EP is one hell of a way to start the new season. It's simply beautiful. Claire sings vulnerable, but not without strength. Her songs have angel choirs, thick Gainsbourgian basslines and subtle acoustic guitars. There's a sixties vibe, but it feels very now. Florent Marchet is on board as musical director and composer. Hope her album will drop this year. A very good year.
(Yes, she appeared on this blog before. Here)

La Fiancée - Cette autre