This article
was first published
on CLUAS in December 2006
French Letter: Best French Music of 2006
Aidan on France's most prestigious contemporary music honour...
1. Vanessa and the O's: 'Bagatelle' (from
the album 'La Ballade d'O')
2. Cassius: 'Toop Toop' (from the album '15 Again')
3. Emily Loizeau: 'Je Suis Jalouse' (from
the album 'L'Autre Bout Du Monde')
4. Emilie Simon: 'Fleur De Saison' (from the album 'Végétal ')
5. Plastiscine: 'Twist Around The Fire'
(from the compilation 'Paris Calling')
6. Superbus: 'Butterfly' (from the album
'Wow')
7. Phoenix: 'Long Distance Call' (from the
album 'It's Never Been Like That')
8. Charlotte Gainsbourg: 'The Songs That We
Sing' (from the album '5:55')
9. One-Two: 'Pretty-Pretty' (from the album
'Love Again')
10. Darkel: (from the album 'Darkel')
In
China (and our Beijing Beat colleague might check
this for us) apparently they curse you with "may you live in interesting times".
Here in France in 2006, times are very interesting - and you wouldn't miss it
for the world. The country has been shaken by protests, adrenalised and then
traumatised by the World Cup, smitten by Ole, Ole... and the
soundtrack has been fantastic.
Back
in March there were the (quintessentially French) street protests -
universities were shut down, riot police were on every corner and genuine social
upheaval seemed imminent or at least possible. It all eventually passed like a
summer shower. The anthem of those turbulent days was "La Boulette" by a
tomboyish rapper called Diam's, whose real legacy may not be social change but
popularising the chav tracksuit in France.
The unlikely adventure of the French football team (at Ireland's expense) ended
in ignominious defeat for Zinedine Zidane and his équipe, but Zizou may take
consolation from having inspired two of the biggest chart/ringtone
hits of the summer. Before the tournament, radios and cellphones both rang to
the Carribean yay'sound of "Zidane, il va marquer" ("Zidane's gonna
score"). After France's idol was outwitted by that Napoleon of crime Marco
Materazzi (deviously using the old "Your ma!" trick the rest of us stopped
falling for at age ten), the tune was reworked as "Zidane, il l'a frappe"
("Zidane hit him"). So France won after all, you see.
Steering away from music-as-sociology for a minute, there has been loads of
brilliant French music this year. However, very few French people know about it.
That is to say, alternative music is still a minority interest here, which means
that your correspondent spends much of his time annoying his friends with "What?
You haven't heard of Phoenix/Vanessa and the O's/Emily Loizeau..." and so on.
So, as much for them as for you, here's the French Letter 2006 Playlist - our
ten recommended tunes of deux mille six for you to check out via
internet, most in English but all brilliant and all très French:
Dreamy
Velvet Underground-style guitar pop from a Nico-esque French chanteuse
who teamed up with none other than James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins.
Warning: the ridiculously catchy chorus of 'Bagatelle' is the best kind
of earworm - you'll be singing it for years to come.
More info here.
For
their tardy follow-up to '1999' the erstwhile house duo went all R n' B-lite
(even roping in Pharrell Williams for a guest spot) but the slashing
guitars of this electrifying single sound like the Arctic Monkeys.
Really! More info here.
A
playfully cynical ode to jealousy by this Anglo-French piano-playing
singer, from a truly marvellous debut album of fearlessly simple,
unashamedly melodic cabaret pop that Regina Spektor fans will
appreciate. More info here.
The
'French Bjork' she's called by some, but this arse-kicking rock-out
gives that the lie. In fact, it's the first great French-language rock
song your correspondent has ever heard. Strangely enough, it comes from
a lovely electro-pop concept album about that old songwriting theme,
plant life. More info here.
Four
photogenic French girls with a neat line in jangly US college pop, the
pick of the self-styled 'Paris Calling' wave of new young
English-singing guitar bands.
More info here.
Brilliant
Blondie-esque disco-pop from an otherwise No Doubt-sounding band. Lead
singer Jennifer Ayache even sounds like Gwen Stefani, and she's just as
glamorous and sassy - a bona fide pop star waiting for the wider world
to find her. More info here.
Okay,
so they're probably not going to become world-famous, but their
charmingly odd mix of melodic MOR and too-cool-for-school new wave is a
perfect companion to the Peter Bjorn and John album. Go on, make 'em
famous!
www.myspace.com/wearephoenix
2006
was definitely Charlotte's year; only Madame Royal and Monsieur Zidane
featured on more Paris posters and French magazine covers than Serge's
girl. Outsourcing her album to Air and Jarvis (now a Paris resident too)
was a masterstroke - the result, atmospheric nocturnal pop, sounds
exactly how a Paris record should.
More info here.
Eccentric
electro-pop duos are something of a Parisian speciality. These two guys
and their catchy club-friendly tunes will comfortably see you through
the wait for new material from Daft Punk and Air. Speaking of whom...
www.myspace.com/powerpopuptothetop
...it
was a busy 2006 of side-projects for the Air-heads. Jean-Benoit
Dunckel's likeable Kraftwerk-leaning solo album wasn't as dark as his
nom de rock suggests - breathy romanticism set to bleeps and swooshes.
Business as usual for Air, then, ahead of their new record in March
2007.
www.myspace.com/misterdarkel
Contact
this column by email via frenchletter(at)cluas(dot)com
