10/10: Best French albums of the decade (3)

The roundup of the best French albums of the decade continues (all week!). FS-contributor Maks lines up his faves:

1 Arno - Charles Ernest (2002)
Hors categorie. Not only because of it's brilliant Elisa cover with Jane Birkin on it. The Belgium phenomenon and chanteur de charme who as easily sings about his rising sissoyen as he sings about love and death made with Charles Ernest a landmark for himself. My own private Gainsbourg is called Arno. And that's a compliment for both.

2 Marianne Dissard - L'entredeux (2008)
With a little help from the Calexico guys, Dissard (pictured at right) managed to record an album with a unique south of the border chanson-esque athmosphere that is about breaking up and coming together. Wandering through the deserts of the soul she made a musical soundscape as beautiful and nasty as life is.

3 Carla Bruni - Quelqu'un M'a Dit (2002)
Can't ignore Carla with this seduction pur sang. A girl, a whisper and a guitar never got so arousing. And - according to her later releases - it never will be.

4 Coeur de Pirate - Coeur de Pirate (2008)
How fresh can it get? Cute heavily tattooed blondie Béatrice Martin came up with this dazzling fresh debut. Only 19 years old at that time. Most songs piano-driven and cheerful as it should be when you're 19. Extremely contagious.

5 Vanessa Paradis - Divinidylle (2007)
Unequalled comeback album (Divinidylle was her first since 2001). An exquisite pop album that includes well-known Paradis ingredients as innocence, charm and a husky voice crawling around her catching songs. The French pop icon still gives me shivers thinking back at that night she played Bruxelles. Irrésistiblement!

6 Coralie Clément - Bye Bye Beauté (2005)
The 'rocky' side of Coralie Clément; a beautiful combination. An after midnight record, ideal with Gitanes and alcohol, no matter what kind of. The girl with probably the most sensitive sigh of all filles made imagination redundant.

7 Benjamin Biolay - Trash Yéyé (2007)
Oftenly called the new Gainsbourg, Biolay doesn't do anything to refute it. Opposite, with Trash Yéyé he made a masterpiece that Gainsbourg himself would have probably been proud of. A delicate cocktail of melancholy and dark emotions packed in superb songs.

8 Vive La Fête - Nuit Blanche (2003)
It's simple: Els Pynoo is sex and Danny Mommens put an eighties bassline underneath it. Some groaning, lingerie, synths and Chanel did the rest. If it's good, repeating to a certain level is allowed. Thé decade electroclash dance record.

9 Ariane Moffatt - Le Coeur Dans La Tête (2005)
An intimate, organic album. Moffatt plays with several styles on it. Some reggae influences as well as jazzy nightclub tunes, rap and 'normal' chansons, but always unmistakably Moffatt. Somewhat at a distance she always takes you somewhere you didn't expect to go, due to the very personal universe she creates.

10 Camille - Le Fil (2005)
While cruising the Carcassonne area with my mountainbike in 2005 for a week or so, this unknown fille kept on staring at me from billboards, bus stops and walls all over. Finally paused somewhere at a FNAC to check her out: best ravitaillement ever.