
Two filles that have been featured here before, Sophie and Olivia. The latter is a regular on FS, yet it's been several months that we talked about the blackhaired beauty ( here ). As said before, a LOT of tributes were released this year, for Jacno, Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg, Boby Lapointe and Alain Bashung. Now, there's one for Gilbert Bécaud . Not many girls aboard, alas, but our Olivia delivers a very strong track. Original version here . Ne m'oublie pas, sings (La Grande) Sophie, a welcome reminder. Sophie once sang like a police siren, but [...]

Buck 65's Talkin' Honky Blues was nothing less than a revelation in 2003: There was rap again, whitebread hip-hop even, thrown in a centrifuge together with folk flavour, reverbs of Cash-ified country and Salinger echoes of adolescent blues, refined with a hoarse, rusty voice that certainly didn't come straight outta Compton, but out of Mt. Uniacke , some distant hicktown in Nova Scotia, Can. Rich Terfry/ Buck 65 was already a vet way back then, now celebrating 20 Odd Years with his aptly titled new record. Actually, it feels like a perfected roundup of his earlier efforts, [...]

Guestpost! Mordi on Emmanuelle Seigners sister. It's always mentioned that Marie-Amélie is the sister of actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner , but with this this new album, Marie-Amélie has the right to be known on her own as an independent artist. A follow up to her mostly lacklustre first album Merci pour les fleurs, Dans un vertige leaps out of the speakers with the first track On se regardait . Her vocals are filled with feeling as the song builds and the drums kick in and result in a nostalgic heartfelt track [...]

The upcoming album from Nouvelle Vague promises to be brilliant, Marc, Olivier et les filles take on French 80s hits. The tracklist was published here before, now it's time for the first single. Adrienne Pauly , she of the provocative hit Je veux un mec , sexes up Les Rita Mitsouko's indestructible Marcia Baila. A song that was covered many times, not always in the right way. Even craterface Ricky Martin recorded a version, that's not as bad as one would expect. See a French interview with Marc Collin and Adrienne about [...]
Fairly new video from the gorgeous Olivia Ruiz, a single taken from her Miss Météores album, that now has a live-companion (cd and dvd) as well. It doesn't differ that much from her earlier live effort, she turned up the volume a notch though. And instead of covering Monroe's My heart belongs to daddy, she now does Diamonds are a girl's best friend. To give you an idea, here are the live versions of J'traine des pieds, from Chocolat Show and Miss Météores live. Olivia Ruiz - J'traine des pieds (from Chocolat Show) Olivia Ruiz [...]

Miss Météores, Olivia Ruiz' latest album, is re-released with bonustracks. Gawd, how I hate it when they do this. And record companies still wonder why people think they're money greedy basterds who don't care about the fans? Hah. Anyhoo, the bonus tracks are mostly demos ('versions maquette') and a few new songs. My guess is that Buck65 worked with Ruiz on Bunny Maloney (he did the electronica on single Elle panique), and the track with Christian Olivier sounds very Amélie Poulain, but isn't that good as the duet on the regular album. Olivia Ruiz [...]
One of the best things I have found about playing Fussball throughout the years, is that you end up with a wide spectrum of buddies. City folk, farmers, millionaires, bums, guys who are younger than you, older than you, and everything in between. The basis for you getting on so well with them, usually comes [...]
Mew - Repeaterbeater Ah, I love our little Society ..... Got a little thread where everyone keeps posting music videos they find. Here's just a few to start your Friday. Signs & Wonders - Animal Kingdom Olivia Ruiz - Belle à en crever Editors - Papillon Sunset Rubdown - Black Swan Dappled Cities - The Price deadmau5 - Ghosts N' Stuff [...]
Mashups including Grizzly Bear vs. Lily Allen, Brother Ali vs. Flying Lotus, Gogol Bordello vs. Amanda Blank & many more!

Photography by your boy, Tsuru! TSURUFOTO is now on Etsy! Howdy my friends and welcome to a very special presentation from TSURURADIO! The incomparable TsuruBride & me, her faithful bag boy, are about to head up and out to Chicago's Renegade Craft Fair featuring TsuruBride! for the weekend!!! [...]
Olivia Ruiz was vorig jaar één van de fijnste ontdekkingen van die zomer. De frisse klanken van haar tweede plaat La Femme Chocolat sloegen bij mij meteen aan en het was vooral het gebruik van wereldlijke instrumen-ten die van dit album een topper maakte. Voor wie zich niets meer vande berichtgeving herinnert zon jaar geleden, nog even een kleine quo-te over Olivia Ruiz: ,,Dat deze Fran...

I've just kicked off my music-related arthouse flick marathon with this bizarrely enchanting & entertaining animated movie, The Triples of Belleville, (also known as Belleville Rendez-vous, or in its sexy native tongue, Les Triplettes de Belleville). Currently on my list, I have La Vie En rose, those two Daft Punk feature films, Heima and then possibly Once. No, wait, come back! Don't worry, I'm not always this artsy-fartsy, offbeat 'indie' type! Just occasionally...Anyway, the movie brought me back to an old idea for a mix of mine, which is a collection of songs from various French chanteuses. Now when it [...]
Dat deze Franse schone ooit meedeed aan wat bij ons Idols heet, had iknooit kunnen denken. Meteen was ik overdonderd door de in Marseillewonende zangeres Olivia Ruiz (geboren als Olivia Blanc). Bij ons staat demuziek van Idols-finalisten steevast bekend om pure commercialiteit -nummers die goed in het gehoor liggen, maar allesbehalve interessantzijn. Wel, bij deze dame ligt dat anders. Zij weet d...
So here you go. It's the "end of year wrap-up" special here at benlovesmusic.com. We've got a few fun things planned for today. So enjoy. Other People's Lists! (Who they are, Where they are, How I know them, What they do) Bo Goldburne, Boston, Geeky Red Sox Love, High-Powered Music Executive: Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance These guys are so English , and that is what makes this track [...]

Just got back from Paris, and my 40-minute interview with Carla Bruni. Yes, she's as beautiful in the flesh as she is on pictures. Yes, she really has that husky voice. Yes, she's as chaotic and unmanageable as she appears in earlier interviews - no need for a questionnaire, Carla decides what to tell and when to tell it. Unfortunately, the interview did not take place at her appartment, as promised, but at a posh hotel (Hotel Square, near the big radio building), because her little boy was ill. We laughed a lot, she sang some lines of other songs [...]

What's the most beautiful French lovesong ever written? La Chanson des Vieux Amants by Brel, you say? Excellent one. Lemon Incest ? Awkward one. Jamais Je Ne T'ai Dis Que Je T'aimerais Toujours by Jeanne Moreau (or Anna Karina)? Beautiful one. But my favourite (well, for the moment at least) is Message Personnel . Titletrack of the album by Françoise Hardy, written by her and Michel Berger. It hangs between denial and devotion, and sung in an understated, yet emotional way. For the movie 8 Femmes , Isabelle Huppert did a wonderful version, [...]