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MP3: MC Solaar – La Concubine De L’Hémoglobine from Prose Combat

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MP3: Gojira – Clone from Terra Incognita

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MP3: Katy Perry – Hot ‘N’ Cold (feat. Yelle)

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MP3: Plastic Bertrand – Le Petit Tortillard from An 1

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MP3: J.P.M. and Co – Plus jamais ça from Psychoses Freakoid 1963-1981

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MP3: Ludwig Von 88 – Baby from La révolution n’est pas un diner de gala

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MP3: Joseph Canteloube – Baïlèro from Chants d’Auvergne

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MP3: Edith Piaf – Padam…Padam…

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MP3: Daft Punk – Phoenix from Homework

So I’m heading off to Paris for a week of R&R.  Updates will be a tad sparse while I’m out.  But I figured I’d leave you with a smorgasbord of French flavors that span decades, styles and genres.

From the smooth, somnambulic flow of rapper MC Solaar, to the brutality of modern metalheads Gojira, and  punk  both modern (Ludwig Von 88) and early (Belgian Plastic Betrand). From doggedly cultish and eclectic offerings of classic outsider/weirdo producer Jean-Pierre Massiera and the oft-esoteric electronic superstars Daft Punk, to the painstaking collecting and arranging of French folksongs by Joseph Canteloube and plenty of mainstream offerings from the iconic Edith Piaf and to recent international star Yelle.  French artists provide some great offerings for musical canon.

A semaine prochaine!

Yelle was positively magnetic.  An effortless and endearing performance that all peddlers of pop should rightfully take notice of.  Not content to merely go through choreographed dance routines and over-the-top, carefully orchestrated sexual sub-and-super-texts, she came across as more than genuine, effusing a true  sense of joie de vivre that was as infectious as it was effective.  She seemed at home on the stage, romping to and fro, covering nearly every inch of the stage and keeping plenty of contact with the audience, frequently serenading lucky members of the first few rows.  Her charming and sassy saunters, come-hither dances baited with bits of coyness broke down barriers right and left, swiftly morphing the crowd into a sea of good vibes and fevered dancing.

Her live performance consists of Yelle singing, dancing and even occasionally drumming or breaking out into air guitar, a moment more than reminiscent of the naivete of bedroom adolescence.  The energy is amplified by a live drummer and electronics (courtesy of Grand Marnier), both of whom do double-duty as crowd hypers.  She already has a sizable stable of bangers, crowd-movers and floor-shakers from 2007′s Pull Up.  As expected, “A Cause des Garcons” and “Je Veux Te Voir” hit the hardest in a fantastic set that found a perfect balance between French electro and saccharine pop.

Also notable were Yelle’s openers.  Both Funeral Party and kap10kurt delivered high-impact sets.  Funeral Party’s dance-punk often hit high-quality grooves in the vein of the Faint, but kap10kurt took the prize as best opener with their more undiluted take on electro, spliced with a moderate dose of 8-bit samples and loops courtesy of a synth-tar.  The highlight of their set was the live looping of an audience member’s vocals into the chorus “It’s electric.”  But enough hot air, click through to see the photos from the night!

Read the rest…

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MP3: Yelle – Les Femmes (Acoustic & Live on Fair Game)

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MP3: Yelle – Tristesse / Joie (Acoustic & Live on Fair Game)

Yelle plays 9:30 Club tonight, with Funeral Party (LA) & kap10kurt (NYC).  I dug up some live session acoustic renditions of two songs that have boiled my expectations to fever pitch.  The acoustic version of “Tristesse/Joie” is a lingeringly downtempo, smoke-filled lounge gem. Don’t forget to check out our interview before you head down tonight.

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MP3: Yelle – Tristesse/Joie

Yelle is France’s latest international export.

Dripping with pop and style and inescapably catchy music, she is everything that a pop star should be.  She puts the majority of American pop to shame, like an adult telling the kids to go home and do their homework.

Her densely layered, electro-infused pop is hardly the disposable kind that is churned out over modern American airwaves, which probably explains her meteoric ascent.  In a scant few years, she has broken into innumerable music markets around the world.  She finally brings a full-fledged tour to the States, dropping by University of Maryland College Park’s WMUC and DC’s famed 9:30 Club on Monday, Oct 11.

I was lucky enough to have a few minutes to pick Yelle’s brain.

Aural States- Describe your background and history with music? You come from a musical family, correct? Read the rest…

So French pop-seamstress Yelle is coming to the area.  2 appearances next Monday, one at University of Maryland College Park’s radio station, WMUC at 5PM, then the late show at 9:30 Club.

I am unbelievably pumped for this.

Yelle “C’est l’Amerique” Tour 2008 – TEASER from Yelle on Vimeo.

I’ve been combating my recent stress (and distress) with some fantastic new tracks. Thought I’d share a sampling. The first are a pair from an upbeat descendant of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. They are called the Rumble Strips and hail from the UK, and even made a bit of a remix of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” injecting some of their characteristic energy and throwback sound as a bubbling influence just underneath the surface.

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MP3: The Rumble Strips – Time

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MP3: Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (The Rumble Strips remix)

The last track is an electro-dance-fever inducing remix by Tepr of “A Cause Des Garçons,” a track from French superstar-to-be Yelle.

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MP3: Yelle – A Cause Des Garçons (Tepr Remix)

I have a crush on a little French fille named Yelle. This is both a musical crush and a physical one. Emotionally…not so sure. How do the French just get electro and synth so much better than us?

Check video after the jump. Here are some tracks off her upcoming LP Pop Up, to be released this week!

Yelle – A Cause Des Garçons

Yelle – Je Veux Te Voir

Yelle – 85a

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Yelle is the name of a French electro-pop vixen that has made some deadly-catchy dance music. Check some videos after the jump, and maybe some fanboyish rantings later in the week.

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D’accord! Encore, s’il vous plait! Vive le Freedom Toast.