Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine: Acoustic session

A session by Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine for Acoustic, the music programme on TV5Monde.

Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine has had a long career since the late 1970s as a songer-songwiter, from his 1978 debut Tout corps vivant branché sur le secteur étant appelé à s'émouvoir, a collection with a typically lengthy title.

His most recent album was 2014's Stratégie de l'inespoir album, some of the titles from that album are performed during the session

Songs in this session included Stratégie de l'inespoir, Fenêtre sur désert,    Angélus, a French cover of the Cat Stevens song Father and Son, retitled Père et fils and La Ruelle des morts.

There are also brief interviews with Thiéfaine by presenter Sébastien Folin.

Baden Baden: Virgin Radio session

A new album has been  released this week by Baden Baden, and a great live session by Virgin Radio
features the band playing up close.

The track Hivers comes from the album Mille éclairs, a collection that features their two previous singles J'ai plongé dans le bruit and A tes côtés.

Amazing to see a band with only three members make such a full sound in such a small place.

By rights they should be filling the largest concert halls, and I'm sure that can only be a matter of time.

Meanwhile, the band are touring and play at the café de la danse in Paris on March 25.

Simon Nogueira: How I See Paris

It's always fun to watch a Parkour video, especially when it gives an entirely new perspective to  Paris.

This video features Simon Noguei on the rooftops around Place d'Italie, and it's appropriately breathtaking.

 While the GoPro footage - Noguei apparently held the camera in his teeth - becomes dizzying after a while, the final shots are quite simply stunning.

The video's been online for just over a month, and it certainly deserves to be seen by more people.

Music for the video is by hiphop/electro act Dooz Kawa, with the track Utopistes debout, a track from their Narcozik #1 EP from 2013.

Hindi Zahra: Any story

A new single by Hindi Zahra, with the track Any story.

Zahra's first album Handmade was released on Jazz label Blue Note in 2010, reaching the top 20 in France.

The album won the  Prix Constantin for Best Album in 2010, and went on to win the  Victoires de la Musique award for the best World music album the following year.

A special edition of her debut album, featuring unreleased songs, was released in 2011.

Her new album is expected to be released on April 15

She's touring to support the release of the album with dates in Istanbul and a few in France, including a show at La Cigale in Paris on May 20.

Father John Misty: Blogothèque session

Not a French artist by any means, but a tastefully made-in-France session by Father John Misty filmed in a Paris restaurant.

The song I went to the store one day comes from the second album by former Fleet Foxes member Joshua Tillman under his Father John Misty nom de plume, entitled I Love You, Honeybear.

Tillman's has had a low-key solo career since 2004, releasing his debut  and its follow-up himself.

His 2006 Minor Works collection was his first to be available commercially, his two earlier works getting a subsequent proper release as well.

From 2008 - 2012 he played drums with Fleet Foxes, although continuing to release solo work.

In 2012 he released his first album as Father John Misty, entitled Fear Fun, on Sub Pop records.  I Love You, Honeybear was released earlier this week.

The session was recorded at Le Bon Georges restaurant, on Rue St George in the 9th arrondisement of Paris.

It certainly provides a tasteful backdrop for this session.

Brigitte: J'sais pas

A new video by Brigitte, for the track J'sais pas.

Very much a 70s disco feel to the tune from Sylvie Hoarau and Aurélie Saada, experts in exploring and exploiting French retro kitsch that they are.

The track comes from their A bouche que veux-tu album, which was released last year. t's their third album, their 2011 debut  Et vous, tu m'aimes ? selling over 200 000 copies.

The new video, directed by Aurélie Saada, follows one for the track À bouche que veux-tu that was also directed by Saada.

Brigitte are touring extensively in France in coming months, with shows in Spain, Belgium and Switzerland.

They play two nights at L'Olympia in Paris on May 5 and May 6. They've got some festival dates over the summer including the Solidays festival on June 27 before undertaking a tour of France's bigger venues in November, including the Zénith in Paris on November 21.



 

The Dø: Keep Your Lips Sealed (remix)

A new remix of the track  Keep Your Lips Sealed by The Dø, as the pair release their Shake Shook Shaken album in the USA and in the UK at the end of last month.

The album, the third by Olivia Merilahti and Dan Levy, came out in France towards the end of 2014, with the original version of Keep Your Lips Sealed ahead of it.

It's quite a radical remix, particularly with the rap by US rapper Goldie Slim.

The album reached the top ten in France, and they have three nominations for this year's victoires de la musique awards, best rock album of the year, best female artist (?) and best video for the track Despair, Hangover & Ecstasy.

Club Cheval have previously remixed the likes of Usher, Rihanna and Nero, as well as Vitalic and Birdy Nam Nam.

The Dø play at Koko in London on March 19