FRENCH NEWS - in English of course. Politics, sports, reviews, travel, a slice of life in France and stories you might not necessarily be able to find elsewhere on the Net.
Friday's French music break this week is sheer delight and a real treat.
It's the title track "À bouche que veux-tu" of the the new album released this week from the duo Brigitte.
Brigitte (screenshot from official video of "À bouche que veux-tu")
The group are the "indie folk musical duo" of Aurelie Saada and Sylvie Hoarau and, it quickly becomes clear that "indie" label is highly appropriate in the sense that their music is hard to categorise.
Their Myspace bio - yes some artists still seem to be using it - describes them as "A throwback to the flower power era, '60s revivalists...combining lounge-pop, retro folk, and French cabaret to produce an authentic hippie-chic sound."
And that, if anything, seems a pretty accurate description.
Their music (and their videos) is (are) highly stylised, melodic and yes, retro without a doubt.
But the duo are also very "modern"...if that makes any sense (and when did you last read a musical review that did?)...offering a distinctive sound that won't leave you indifferent (in a very positive way).
Take a listen for example to two of their best-known past singles, "Battez vous" and "Oh la la" and you'll quickly become hooked.
Brigitte already have one Victoire de la musique award under their belts for Group or Artist Stage Révélation of the Year in 2012 - and this album, and the accompanying tour should ensure they'll be in the running once again next year - perhaps for one of the major gongs..
You can catch the pair on tour throughout France, including two dates at Olympia in Paris in May 2015.
So without further ado, here's a taste of what you can expect...Brigitte with "À bouche que veux-tu".
And as a bonus, the official version followed by an acoustic one.
Friday's French music break this week comes from a group with the (um) glorious name of Lilly Wood and the Prick.
Great name for a band don't you think?
Er. Pass.
Lilly Wood and the Prick: screenshot from "Where I Want To Be (California)" official video
"Middle of the night" is the first single to have been released from their latest album "The fight", a fine follow-up to their debut "Invincible friends"
Online information about Lilly Wood and the Prick is a bit thin on the ground.
That fount of all knowledge, both correct and incorrect, otherwise known as Wikipedia, doesn't have a great deal on them. In fact their English entry is - well sparse to say the very least - which means you have to go a-huntin elsewhere.
Their website is a little disappointing although is has links to their Myspace account and the inevitable Facebook page complete with upcoming dates.
So who are they?
Well, they're a duo: singer Nili Hadida and guitarist Benjamin Cotto.
The pair write all their own material.
Their sound is distinctive and categorised - always a bit of a danger when trying to pigeon hole artists whose music defies labels - as folk Electronic / Folk / Pop.
One thing's for sure - they cannot be mistaken for any other French act - in fact you would have a hard time knowing they were French - more on that in a moment.
Hadida and Cotto were apparently introduced to each other back in 2006 by friends in a bar in Paris and began working together within 48 hours.
"We barely each other at the beginning," Hadida told Nagui, the presenter of France 2's music show Taratata.
"But through music we've had a chance to get closer and really understand how the other person ticks."
Hmmm. Great story isn't it? And the two seem pretty sincere. There again, who cares whether it's entirely true as their music ain't half bad.
Their big break - in terms of wider recognition came at the 2011 Victoires de la Musique awards (the French equivalent of the Grammys) when the pair walked away with the prize of Best Newcomer (le groupe ou l'artiste révélation du public) ahead of Ben l'Oncle Soul, Camélia Jordana and Zaz.
Now don't worry if your French isn't very good. The group sings exclusively in English - probably down to Hadida's international upbringing and influences (she was born in Israel, raised in Paris and has lived in London and California).
There's definitely a commercial appeal to their music and unlike some other "foreign groups" writing and singing in English, their lyrics actually make sense.
Hadida's voice is distinctive, and what's more the pair can perform live.
There's no playback or flashy gimmicks necessary as witnessed by this appearance on Le Figaro's music show "Le Live".
Their music is simple without any pretensions although Hadida admits that some of the songs, much like the group's name, are meant to provoke.
Ah yes.
About that name...
"Nili isn't necessarily Lilly and nor am I the Prick. In fact it could be the opposite," Cotto said with a degree of humour in an interview with By the Way blog.
"Seriously though the name is more about a group of words which (to us) sound good together and it's in keeping with how we want to progress: the magical aspect reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland mixed with something a little more down to earth."
Yes. Well.
Maybe they'll think about changing their name should they ever become successful outside of France.
One thing's for sure, whatever they're called, the pair produce some excellent music.
Here's the official clip of "Middle of the night".
Friday's French music break this week is from a young singer with the sweetest of voices.
Joyce Jonathan (screenshot from official clip for "Je ne sais pas")
Joyce Jonathan's "Les souvenirs" is from her debut platinum album released last year "Sur mes gardes" and although it has never been released as a single, has recently received quite a bit of media attention.
That's largely down to a television reality show, L'amour est dans le pré - the French equivalent of Farmer wants a wife.
In the last series one of the farmers "looking for love" played Jonathan's song in the hopes of wooing his heart's desire.
It didn't work, but the moment was magic and touching (well soppy would perhaps be more appropriate) and Jonathan herself was surprised the track had made such an impact with viewers.
"I didn't see the programme when it was first broadcast because I was performing. But my sister called me and to be quite honest I was thrilled that the song had been used in the show," she said.
"I had no idea Jean-Michel (the farmer) listened to my music," Jonathan continued, giving the game away perhaps that although coming to the end of a 100-date tour, she, like many French, had tuned in regularly to see the latest ups and downs of those lonely hearts looking for love on the farm.
"It's also obvious that he must have listened to the whole album as the track has never been released as a single," she added.
"I don't know whether the song helped him in his attempts to court Nathalie (it didn't) but I'm happy it was part of his story.
The 21-year-old is one of those acts that owes her rising popularity to, first Myspace, and later the fan-funded music label My Major Company, which gives everyone the chance to invest in up-and-coming artists.
Her voice is clear and delightful. Her style is folk-pop, so very much up-to-the-minute in what's popular.
And "Les souvenirs"?
Well it's pretty enough, but perhaps the lyrics were a little too slushy and lovey-dovey for Nathalie (remember the woman who rejected Jean-Michel's advances).
Friday's French music break this week is Zaza Fournier's "Vodka fraise".
Zaza Fournier (screenshot from "Vodka Fraise" official video)
It's actually a recommendation from one of France Today's most faithful readers, Debbie from Dordogne.
In a recent email Debbie said of Fournier, "She's the best thing to have happened to French music since Lilicub." For those not in the know, they're a group formed in the early 90s and whose biggest hit to date has been "Voyage en Italie".
Well, who could ignore such unbridled enthusiasm? So a quick search on YouTube for Zaza Fournier produced her latest single, "Vodka fraise."
Actually there's not much else available, as the least that can be said about Fournier is that she is far from being prolific.
Since 2008, the 26-year-old has produced precisely two albums and the same number of singles.
"Vodka fraise" was released in March and is the first (and if the trend continues, potentially the only) single from her album "Regarde moi" which appeared in May.
In a 2009 interview with the magazine Ici Londres, for those French living and working in the British capital, Fournier spoke about her beginnings busking in Paris and how she had almost "fallen into music" before realising the importance it had become in her life.
"I started playing in the streets in Paris and at the time I had no ambition. I simply found it more interesting trying to sell sandwiches to pay for my studies," she said.
"The more I sang, the more I understood I needed to continue doing it and gradually I was invited to play in bars and small venues for about 18 months."
There then followed the self-titled first album, described by the French weekly news magazine L'Express as that of a young woman who "combined rock and multimedia" and whose songs had a "fluorescent retro taste."
Huh?
It gets better for the second because she apparently manages to "alternate smooth, swaying sounds with those of a twisting dashing pop music."
So much for music critics who sometimes sound as though they're writing from where the sun don't shine.
That's a sentiment with which Fournier might perhaps agree as, again in that 2009 interview, she responded to parallels that one French magazine had made between her and Edith Piaf.
Presumably the journalist had been trying to linger on that "singing in the street" start.
"Piaf is part of my musical memories and I've listened to her music time and time again," said Fournier.
"I'm fascinated by her voice, her body, her stage presence and force but nobody can be compared to Piaf, and although I find it flattering it's also absurd."
You tell 'em girl.
The truth of the matter is that Fournier is an artist who clearly doesn't fit neatly into any particular mould and it would be useless to try.
Her character is one she has created but which is also apparently "spontaneous and instinctive", but there's also no getting away from the fact that her persona and her music are highly stylised.
As far as her influences go, well they're as wide ranging as you would expect them to be from someone who is so singularly distinctive from anyone else around on the French music scene and include - as she says herself, Barbara, Jacques Brel, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Rockabilly, Brigitte Fontaine, Christophe...there are a lot."
Melissmell provides Friday's French music break this week with "Aux armes", which reworks the national anthem, La Marseillaise, into a powerful protest song.
Mélanie Coulet - Melissmell (screenshot from acoustic version clip)
The transformation is not entirely inappropriate perhaps given that when Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle wrote the original in 1792, it was as "Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin" ("War Song for the Army of the Rhine").
Tune into the French radio station Europe 1 of an evening and you'll be able to listen to the excellent Pierre-Louis Basse.
His two-hour programme Bienvenue chez Basse (available on podcast) is as eclectic and as fascinating as the man himself; culture, politics, society, sport - you name it, he discusses it with invited guests.
It's the sort of programme you really want to sit down and listen to.
Little wonder then that he also plays the kind of music that really grabs your attention.
And such is the case with Melissmell's "Aux armes," a song Basse has played with enthusiasm almost every evening and which the station has also finally picked up as well worth promoting to a wider audience.
Melissmell is essentially the singer and songwriter Mélanie Coulet, but alongside the 30-year-old with the extraordinary voice (more on that in a moment) are four other groups members: Stéfano Bonacci on guitar, Thomas Nicol on the cello, Claude Dos Santos on the bass and Jérôme Spieldenner on drums.
"Somewhere between nursery rhymes and realistic songs, electric hymns and a passion (for playing) with words and the ailments that make France a country of contrasting liberties," is how the group describe themselves on Myspace.
Perhaps that reads somewhat too seriously but heck, there'll always be a place for Indie music especially when it comes as classy as this.
No disrespect to the other group members, but it is Coulet or Melissmell herself who steals the show so-to-speak and whose voice is an instrument that transports you.
It has a quality and grain reminiscent of the late, great Janis Joplin, with subtle shifts of power, a range with perfect nuances and a theatrical aspect that makes you think of Jacques Brel.
Extraordinary.
As befitting such a great song, there's more than one version of "Aux armes" available on the Net and here are a couple you should absolutely listen to.
First up, the studio version on YouTube complete with animation.
And then an acoustic one - less rocky of course - in which Coulet is accompanied by cello and guitar; simple but magic. Watch her facial expression and how well they mirror the meaning of the lyrics.
Also check out some of the interviews Coulet has given (available on both YouTube and Dailymotion) - a fascinating insight into what makes her tick and her influences.
Finally don't forget to take a look at either the official site or Myspace for when and where you can see them in concert.
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