frogsmoke.com

The Friendly Francophile at Filles Sourires celebrates the French National Holiday with a mix of music by, exceptionellement, French male singers. It’s one big file (64MB) in mp3 format. Find the download link here. Tracklist:
Si Facile - Salsedo
Si Tu M’Aimes - Arthur H
Rendez-vous Qui Sait (remix) - Benjamin Biolay
Merci Pour Tout - Tarmac
Les Limites - […]

French lefties are suffering from massive schizophrenia: even if they like Carla Bruni’s new album they have to say they hate it, because they can’t stand her husband.
Never mind! Bruni’s “Comme si de rien n’était” is a solid piece of work, and the first single from it (L’amoureuse) is a lovely song about a […]

French superstar Mylène Farmer is back. The enigmatic singer, who hardly ever gives concerts, never goes on TV, but sold 25 million records in 25 years, has just released her latest single, Dégéneration. As usual, Farmer turns it into an erotic piece of cinema. Here’s what I understand from it:
Mylène plays an extra-terrestrial woman, sent […]

French house band Daft Punk made the music, and somebody named charlesfondue mixed it with some vintage dance footage. The result is this 1:50 video that has been viewed over 1.4 million times on YouTube, and drew over 2,000 comments. Well done!

For a limited time you can get a preview of the French first lady’s new album. Bruni’s website at www.carlabruni.com offers two free hours to fans who want to listen to “Comme si de rien n’etait” (Simply), Bruni’s third album which hits music stores in France and elsewhere in Europe on Friday.
The 40-year-old wife of […]

Rupa Marya has parents from India, she herself was born in the Bay Area. Her parents moved to Aix-en-Provence when she was ten, there she started playing music. First in English, then in French. Because, in short, she found that language richer, more imaginitive. The name of her band The April Fishes is a play […]

Moutons is an enjoyable piece of animation work from the students at SupInfoCom (5:46).

Via Xenvideo

French singer Etyl has just released her latest album “Les souris”. This is the clip for the first single from the album, “J’me fais mal”, directed by David Blanchard.
Etyl on MySpace

It was expected. After the death of co-founder Fred Chichin last November, the remaining half of Les Rita Mitsouko, Catherine Ringer, has announced the end of one of France’s greatest musical acts of the past quarter century. She will continue to sing solo, but under her own name. In case you never heard of Les […]

Since it’s Valentine’s Day today I’m showing you some videos of French artists who claim they can’t live without love — and some who think love sucks.

Edith Piaf - A Quoi Ça Sert L’Amour (What purpose does love have). A rare performance of Piaf singing with Theo Sarapo, whom she married in 1962. Their love […]

American humorist David Sedaris talks about French doctors and language struggles.
From Wikipedia: David Sedaris is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist and radio contributor. Much of Sedaris’ humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and it often concerns his family life, education, drug use, homosexuality and his life in France with his partner, Hugh Hamrick.
View on YouTube […]

Parisian director François Vogel has been creating arresting visuals for the better part of a decade. This film Cuisine is an experimental work, created in his own kitchen. It was shot with a fisheye lens.
View on DailyMotion | Via growabrain

Every once in a while a new talent pops up that proves that French culture isn’t dead at all. Here are two videos of young Parisienne Berry, singing Mademoiselle and Le Bonheur. Her first album is due out later this month. She’s bound to become a great star!

Berry on MySpace | Via Filles Sourires

On April 1, American rock band R.E.M. will release their fourteenth album “Accelerate“.
For the countdown to the album launch, the band have set up a dedicated site (NinetyNights.com), which introduces a new video each night, during ninety days. All videos are in black and white, and are experimental mosaics of lights, shadows, and sounds. […]

It’s not a day for serious blogging, so I’m leaving it to some French artists to entertain you.
The first video shows Johnny Hallyday, who is concerned (at least he was in 1973) about the “forbidden Christmas” of lost children and dogs without collars. (You can follow the lyrics here.)
The second is French singer […]