If you haven't already, please be sure to visit Filles Sourires and check out the excellent Christmas Project that Guuzbourg has put together. Almost all the songs were recorded especially for Filles Sourires, which means it's the first time they've been heard anywhere. The only track that's not new is Watoo Watoo's, but it's still a very worthy inclusion that suits the mix nicely. All up, that's nine Christmas-themed songs featuring, bien sur, lovely female vocals in French, with an interesting array of styles represented. What a treat!
Of the new songs, my favourite (at least today) is probably Hektor's cover of Les Wampas' 'Ce soir c'est Noël'. This is a sophisticated, satisfyingly fizzy piece of electropop, with some chunky electric guitar riffs that stop it feeling too lightweight. I love the cute-but-slightly-aloof voice of frontwoman Carine Péralba (pictured), whose delivery here has a deadpan quality to it that suits the feel of the song.
Watoo Watoo's gentle pop never fails to impress me, and their 1999 song ' Les Visiteurs de Noël' is another highlight for me in this collection.
Head there now! -> Fille Sourires Christmas Project
I'm hoping to get in a little bit of Christmas blogging this year, but I can't be sure I can do much, as I have to take it easy right now. But I didn't want to miss the chance to tell you about Last.fm's campaign to get a decent song to the top of the UK charts this Christmas. Understandably, they are fed up with the fun being zapped from the long-standing tradition of the Christmas No. 1, with it now being dominated by the Simon Cowell & Co empire of TV talent shows.
Fortunately, Last.fm users have voted for a very deserving band. Lucky Soul are the best pop band around at the moment. They make stunning, heartfelt romantic pop songs full of a zillion hooks, with melodies that soar and swoop in all the right places. I can't get enough of their album The Great Unwanted, as well as the B-sides I bought from Emusic. Hooray for bands that are filled with so much pop genius that B-sides are not merely for lesser leftovers, but for equally brilliant creations!
Bust, the magazine that brings you femme culture in a fun, creative and smart way, now has a brilliant new online feature: free, legal mp3s of music featured in their issues. Go here to grab the downloader and instructions (Update: now defunct). The current taster features The Gossip, Two Ton Boa, Guy Sigworth, Flin Flon and The Receiver. My picks: the incredible 60s/70s folk songstress Karen Dalton's take on the traditional 'Katie Cruel' (French pop fans may be familiar with Marie Laforêt's version), and The Pipettes' 'Pull Shapes' video, which lovingly recreates the Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls party scene.
Thanks to everyone who's visited Spiked Candy for bringing me up to over 500,000 page views! One thing I'd love is to get a little more feedback on my posts. I don't mean to be needy in our relationship, but sometimes a girl needs to know if her first-time-posted-online ultra-rare video/picture/song excites you as much as it does her! The blog continues to be a labour of love, but I'd also like a little more of an idea of which posts you enjoy the most. A big thank you to those who do take the time to comment, email or Myspace message me.
A special shout-out to all my last.fm friends - you really help keep the blogging and music discovery journey rewarding. Last.fm members and readers of this blog - if you're yet to stumble across my last.fm group, here it is: Spiked Candy Last.Fm Group.
Lots of planned posts in the works... in the meantime, any special requests or stuff you'd like to see/hear more of? I'll be moving from Blog-City soon, and I'm happy to start the extended leaving party now!
Heading this list are a trio of Swedish pop girls - Kin, in her uniquely cute and slightly batty way, asks Santa what it takes to make his 'nice' list; El Perro Del Mar brings to her Christmas tune her signature style of creating a haunting, melancholic atmosphere using cheery 60s girl group sounds; and Bobby Baby surprisingly refreshes a tired old standard, making it pretty and icy, yet somehow warm and cosy too.
A guest post from Tag:
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Sometimes I feel like someone's made a record with me in mind. Not in an angst-bitten way, analysing lyrics and convincing myself "it really speaks to me". I mean something that matches my own personal brand of perfection. A song I'd want to marry. Gothenburg's Sally Shapiro has made such a record. A record produced in the blissed-out Italian disco tradition, with a melody to match Abba's most bittersweet moments, delivered by a singer so possessed of wide-eyed lovesickness, she makes Annie sound like a veritable vixen. It's called "Anorak Christmas" which should make me wince with cloying indie associations - but it's just right. It could sound contrived, coquettish, but it simply sounds like a girl who's fallen rapturously in love at some midwinter discotheque, emerged into the snow and went straight home to put her feelings down, hesitantly but honestly.
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My note: Sally so beautifully makes it her own, it's surprising to find out the song's actually a cover. Here's the original by twee synthpop artist and fellow Swede Nixon:
Buy: Disco Romance
Mordi, of the inimitable BlowUpDoll, has created a blog specially devoted to all things Claudine Longet called Love Claudine. It's a feast of lovely pics and rare songs for both Claudine fans and those wanting to find out more about the 60s French chanteuse and one-time wife of Andy Williams.
Margo Guryan, who wrote two songs performed by Claudine, once described her singing as "rhythmically challenged", but also compared her to such wispy-voiced luminaries as Astrud Gilberto and Jane Birkin. So you get some idea of the kind of offbeat appeal Claudine embodies.
The latest Love Claudine post is the track 'Mucho tiempo más'. Bel Divioleta, one of the lovely voices of Spanish indie girl pop band Las Escarlatinas, included a version of the song on her recent release Espejos (late 2005 in Spain, but this year elsewhere, I believe). Enjoy:
Buy: Espejos from Darla Records
Links: Bel Divioleta, Las Escarlatinas, Siesta Records, Cuddle Up With Claudine
*Update: Alan has a cover of the English version ('Long Long Time') by another Siesta artist, Miss Bosforo, up at La Cancion de Prevert.
NZ retro-pop genius. Buy everything of theirs you can find - both albums and their EPs. They pull off my favourite pop trick, which is making albums of highly catchy songs, all with the same elements you love, but with enough inspiration to make each song melodically strong and quite different from the next. No filler, in other words.
Buy: Mars Loves Venus
Myspace seems to screw up any downloads that have more than one word in the title, so once you've downloaded these, you'll have to rename them and add .mp3 at the end in order to play them.
'Take Some Time' is from Rose's beautiful album Cast Away The Clouds, which you can buy here for just $10.
Buy: Cast Away The Clouds, Portola.
I think I've hit on a plan to let me keep blogging without exhausting myself and then subsequently losing interest. I'm going to keep things as simple as possible with just pictures and the song and probably not buying links, although I feel a bit guilty leaving those out. But you should be able to find any albums from the vendors in my sidebar. If you've searched high and low and can't find where to buy something, you can always ask and I'll help you out.
Please use the comments section to ask me any questions. I've taken down my email address, but if you still have it, please don't use it to ask me questions you can easily find answers for on a search engine. I'm also unable to send out anything individually, even for a trade. Nor am I taking requests or band submissions. Unless you're a band in my myspace friends and you want to send me free stuff? Eh? Eh? Can't blame a girl for trying.
I'm excited to be adding Radioblog*, which I discovered on the gorgeous blog Pop 'N Cherries. I've been trying to find a free way to do something like this for ages, but had no luck so it's a happy discovery indeed. This is my exception to my no requests policy; you can ask me to post an mp3 if you like anything on there. And I'm hoping that will make the blog a little more interactive and I'll get some more feedback on what people like. Remember, feedback keeps your widdle bloggers happy and makes them want to go on! Even just a 'thanks' or 'you rule the school' or even 'you suck!' (no just kidding, please don't) is great to hear.
I did think of starting up a forum where readers of this blog and the others that post French 60s stuff regularly could talk about what they love and any new discoveries, or trade stuff, but again I'd be biting off a bit more than I can chew. But for anyone who'd be interested in such an idea, please join the last.fm groups I have, French 60s and Ye-Ye Girls and maybe you could liven those up a bit. Even if you don't use the other last.fm features, the forums have the potential to be a great meeting place for fans.
And don't forget Spiked-Candy Last.fm Radio is still chugging away, churning out lots of aural treats and free to listen to. If the player has let you down before, try the beta for the upcoming release. As long as you have a decent connection, it should work a charm. And I know the 2 separate downloads for the Audioscrobbler plug-in and the Last.fm player are confusing to some; this download has them both in one and guides you through everything you need to do.
Merci, and I'll be back with some tunes very soon :).
Credit: Picture of France Gall, Johnny Hallyday et al from Douce France... Gall
*Songs I posted on Radioblog are now in this 8tracks playlist:
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France Gall
1947 - 2018Click the image for all posts on France Gall dating back to 2005.
Recent tribute posts can be found here.
