Audrey

Audrey d'Ithaque apparently knows how to moonwalk. She taught herself watching Michael Jackson on tv, and listening to his songs on the radio. I'm not sure if still she knows how to walk that walk, her song Des Hauts & Des Bas does have the right rhythm. That song is from her first selfproduced ep, released in 2003. Audrey is from Besançon, born in 1978 and studied the piano. She's a musical omnivore, a part from Jackson she digs hardcore hiphop and drum 'n bass. When you hear her own music, it's easy to compare her to Björk and Emilie Simon (there's a live album by Emilie coming out, by the way). Audrey has an oh-so-lovely lolita-voice, that (to me) is fitted better in her older tracks than the more electrofunky direction she took with her new stuff. But L'Aveu makes me think of spring real hard. More Audrey on MySpace.

Audrey d'Ithaque - Des hauts et des bas
Audrey d'Ithaque - L'aveu

Francoiz

Visitors of the recent Yann Tiersen-concert in Amsterdam told me a lot of people left - they surely had not heard Yann's latest offering, the very hard-rocking album On Tour. Only a few songs reminded the fans of Tiersen's Amélie-fame. For those fans, David Delabrosse might be a good alternative. His first soloalbum 13m2 was released last year (he used to be in a band called Delabrosse), and it was produced by Yann Tiersen. Its gentle, folky, at times it reminds me of Dominique Ané's best work, but also of Tiersens filmmusic. For 13m2 Delabrosse invited some guests, among them Francoiz Breut. The girl from the north county is a regular on this blog, but it's been a while since we heard from her. A month or so ago I bought this, a children's book illustrated and told by Francoiz, also released last year. L'Étoile du Nord is a duet, might even be about her. Who knows. A good interview with Breut from 2004 is here. [Merci JW]

David Delabrosse & Francoiz Breut - L'Étoile du Nord

Valerie

"It is 1976. We take the Concorde from Paris to New York. The pilot reminds us somehow of Alain Delon, and he greets Valerie with a knowing wink. The next morning, Valerie doesn’t wake up as usual in her Upper East Side Apartment, but under a blossoming cherry tree in Central Park. She is wearing her evening dress, barefoot. Lying next to her in the grass : an empty pillbox, a bottle of champagne and singer Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane." This is the atmosphere producer Waldeck and singer Valerie Sajdik want you to keep in mind while listening to the second Saint Privat album. The psychedelic element isn't as big as you would except, no images of white rabbits sprang to my mind when their coverversion of Somebody to Love came on. The mood is breezy, sunny (with bossanova and latin touches), loungey. No wonder: Klaus Waldeck used to fish in the same musicpond as fellow Austrians Kruder & Dorfmeister. Valerie has a nice, highpitched voice, lolita-ish but maybe lacking of real personality. Still, both songs posted here are right up my alley. Bach en dub, from the debut-album, is vèry orange-coloured seventies.

Saint Privat - Une Dernière Cigarette
Saint Privat - Sans Remords (both from Superflu)
Saint Privat - Bach en dub (from Rivièra)

Souvenir (64)

No, this isn't the 64th post about Souvenir, 64 is the name of their brandspanking new album. The Spanish duo (Jaime and Patricia) have always had a knack for danceable music (take Cherchez la Femme from 2003's Recto/Verso album) but this time their cranked up their beatbox to the max. To quote from the bio: "64 integrates elements from the past 30 years of electronic and dance music (techno-pop, new wave, 80’s dance music) and combines them with the band’s very personal language. The result is a collection of dance hits packed with memorable melodies which are brilliantly guided by Patricia’s beautiful vocals and Jaime’s surf guitars." All of a sudden, it makes great sense why they covered Corynne Charby's Boule de Flipper a while ago. On 64 Souvenir found the formula to update the eighties, without nudging or winking or being ironic, but keeping the playfulness ánd their personal style intact. More new songs on Souvenir's MySpace.

Souvenir - Allô, Allô

Valérie

Don't you just hate that? You discover a band, they make great music but when you decide to queue up to become a fan, they close shop. That's what happened to me with Autour de Lucie, a seminal 90's rockband in France with a husky singer (Valérie Leulliot) and jangling guitars. Legend has it that when he met Valérie, producer Ian Capple (who worked with Bashung, and produced AdL's Faux Mouvements-album) saw her as the epitome of 60s female artist. The blonde locks, the voice, the sad look in her eyes, great combination. If Françoise Hardy had been born in 1967, like Leulliot, no doubt she'd been in a band like Autour de Lucie. Valérie was destined to become a mediadarling: she's the daughter of a famous tv-presenter and a radio-celeb. She started off as a solo-singer, but wanted to be in a band. Autour de Lucie, read their story and how they became one of France's most succesful export-acts here.
Autour de Lucie called it quits in 2005 (members started working on their own projects, a nice euphemism for pulling the plug), leaving behind a handful of albums, my fave being their last, La Grande Évasion. Sunny pop with loud guitars, a hint of electronics, nice lyrics and That Voice. It took Valérie about a year, then her soloalbum was ready. I nearly missed that too, if it wasn't for a great review on French Touch. No loud guitars on Caldeira (released last month), it's more hush-hush, with piano, acoustic guitars and some synths. If you'd never heard about Val, or Autour de Lucie, this is a great day to get acquainted.

Valérie Leulliot - Les Falaises
Valérie Leulliot - Un Point de Chute
Valérie on Dailymotion
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Autour de Lucie - Tournesol (from L'Echappée Belle, 1994)
Autour de Lucie - Chanson sans issue (from Immobile, 1997)
Autour de Lucie - Le Dernier Mot (from Faux Mouvement, 2000)
Autour de Lucie - Nos Vie Limitrophes (from La Grande Évasion, 2004)

Regine vs Isobel

Régine Chassagne is the wife of Win Butler, both are singers with Canadian grandeur-rockband the Arcade Fire. Much is ado about their just-released new album Neon Bible, and about the tour. Currently they are in the US, and several blogs posted a New York concert during which they did a rocking cover of Poupée de Cire. Arcade Fire's version reminded me of the one by Belle & Sebastian, sung by Isobel Campbell (at the time the girlfriend of B&S-bandleader Stuart Murdoch).
When it comes to looks, Isobel wins hands down. And when it comes to the melody of the song, the guitarplayer of Arcade Fire should've practiced more. Like the trumpetplayer of B&S did. But when it comes to singing, well, you decide.

Belle & Sebastian - Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son
the Arcade Fire - Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son

See Belle & Sebastian do Poupée on YouTube.

Marc Collin

When both Misterblog and Roar commented about Suburbia and Spring in the Marina Celeste-post, I had to check out these bands. Spring was a shortlived French band fronted by Alex (pictured), a darkhaired beauty with a offkey, but sexy voice that was born in Madrid. They released quite a lot of music via Spanish Elefant Records. Gentle, well-crafted popmusic with various references, from The Beatles to bossa nova. They collaborated with fellow Frenchies Indurain, a duo consisting of Jerome Mestre and Marc Collin. The latter had played in various Versailles bands, like Orange, with guys that would later form Air, or become known as a soloartist (Alex Gopher). Alex-from-Spring was once in a band called Rosa Luxembourg, also from Versailles. When Spring fell apart, Collin worked with Alex in Suburbia, a more danceable project. Think of mix between St. Etienne and Kylie Minogue (alas not in French).

When I tracked down the Suburbia-album, I thought it would be nice to do a big post on Marc Collin - with Serge and Benjamin Biolay a guy that pops up very frequently on this blog. A nice occassion is the recent release of Nouvelle Vague's contribution to the LateNightTales-compilation series. As you know, Collin is one of the masterminds behind NV, for LateNightTales they had singer Gerald Toto do a bossanova-version of Dexy's Midnight Runners' Come On Eileen.
Before Nouvelle Vague, Collin started Ollano in 1996, a triphopjazzy project with singers like Sandra Nkake and Helena Noguerra. The only Ollano-album is still a gem. More proof that Collin knows how to set a mood comes from his imaginary-soundtrackalbum Les Petroleuses (with music inspired by John Barry, Morricone and Gainsbourg, and featuring vocals by Camille, who later sang on the first Nouvelle Vague album) and the actual soundtrack for the movie Les Kidnappeurs, that was also used for Divine Intervention.
But Collin likes to turn up the bass as well. He worked with Avril, was part of Dirty Jesus (Collin does work alone, but usually is half of a duo) and together with Ivan 'Blackstrobe' Smagghe he is Volga Select. Dirty Jesus stands for deephouse, Volga Select likes it darker.
Collin produced many artists, most of them released fine music. But sometimes his internal quality control fails him - otherwise I can't explain the two godawful covers he produced for Clémentine on her Lumière album. So instead of a bossanova'd version of The Beach Boys' Kokomo, I rather give you Beth Hirsch's Camden. A tender ballad with a twist. But not a twisted as the distorted, aggressive electrowave of Sir Alice.

Nouvelle Vague - Come On Eileen (Dexy's Midnight Runners-cover)
Suburbia - Nightfall
Indurain - Night and Days
Ollano - Le Silence
Marc Collin - Nicole (feat. Camille)
Marc Collin - Theme from Les Kidnappeurs
Dirty Jesus - Don't Fuck with my Shit (Late Night Cruising Mix)
Volga Select - Why You Were There
Beth Hirsch - Camden
Sir Alice - Super Hero