Aidan Curran posted on December 21, 2008 18:00
If Christmas comes, can the end of the year be far behind? Well, no - it'll be a week later, like it always is. And if there's one thing that music lovers associate with the end of the year, it's spending New Year's Eve at the same old local with the same old people and pretending you're having a gas time. Sorry, two things: that and... end-of-year polls! Yes we can!
The results of the CLUAS annual poll will be announced very shortly. Warning: the CLUAS electoral commissioner, fresh back from the ballot boxes of Zimbabwe, has ruthlessly stamped out all messing and multiple voting and what have you. He may have been distracted somewhat when he found Miss Zimbabwe waiting in his hotel room dressed only in 'Vote Mugabe' stickers, but he won't be fooled again.
Our own humble blog (as humble as a Kerryman living in Paris can ever hope to be) will also be having its annual Best French Music poll. Sometime after Christmas, in the last week of the year, we'll list our choice of the ten best French songs and albums of 2008.
Thanks to everyone who has mailed and commented so far to tell us what they liked and hated and went 'meh' to. Have a browse through our 2008 posts and feel free to mail us at the address on the right or leave a comment at any of our old posts.
(We note that 'Saturdays = Youth' by M83, as well as being a front runner in our Ligue 1 domestic poll, is also in the Champions League international CLUAS poll. What are the chances of Anthony Gonzales doing the double?)
Here's a recent French single we like very much - 'This Is It' by Benjamin Diamond (left). Unbeknownst to you (or perhaps beknownst, if you're a pop trivia fiend), you've already been dancing to the sound of Diamond, real name Benjamin Cohen. He was the vocalist on 'Music Sounds Better With You' by Stardust, the UK-chart-topping collaboration with Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk.
Diamond has just released 'Cruise Control', an album of slightly cheesy electro-ballads. Imagine David Guetta trying to seduce you; that's the general vibe. That said, 'This Is It' is a quality bit of slow-set pop.
There's no video for 'This Is It' yet, so you'll have to visit Benjamin Diamond's MySpace page to hear it. So that gives us a chance to revisit one of the rare French tunes to be a hit in the UK charts - the rather tasty 'Music Sounds Better With You' by Stardust:
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