Chic Gamine: Closer

Canadian act Chic Gamine are one of the varied acts playing at this year's Rencontres Trans
Musicales de Rennes event next week.

The band make jazzy harmonies sound effortless, and while they may at first seem to be a modern take of the classic 60s girl group, there's much more to them than simply being a retro act.

They have been around since 2007 when singers Ariane Jean, Andrina Turenne and Annick Bremault recruited drummer Sacha Daoud and fourth singer Alexa Dirks.

Their self-titled debut was released in 2008 in Canada, which won a Juno Award for Best Roots Album the following year. A second Canadian album was released in 2010, with a second Juno nomination, also for Roots Album of the Year.

Their album Closer was released in March this year, their first release in the USA, and the band played at SXSW festival in Texas earlier in 2013.

While their style might seem at odds with some of the more contemporary acts in the bill, the charm of their vocals will certainly win them admirers.

Catherine Ringer: Plaza Francia

Nice to hear about the return to the stage by ex Les Rita Mitsouko singer Catherine Ringer.

She's playing a couple of live dates with members of the Franco-Argentinian group Gotan Project.

The trio,  under the name Plaza Francia, are staging shows in Sannois and in Clermont-Ferrand.

Plaza Francia is an actual public space in Buenos Aires, Gotan Project being a band very much at the forefront of taking traditional Argentinian-influenced music into the 21st by combining tango and latin grooves with modern electronica.

Ringer was half of the Les Rita Mitsouko with her partner Frédéric Chichin until his death in 2007. Since then she has worked as a solo artist

She recently performed a version of the Charles Trenet song Je Chante on a France Inter radio show marking the centenary of the birth of the legendary French singer/songwriter.

She toured extensively following the release of her last album, Ring 'n' Roll in 2011. This new project hopefully marks the beginning of a new stage in her career.

Acid Arab: Berberian Wedding

Another look ahead to next week's Les Transmusicales de Rennes festival, with the act Acid Arab.

Using the framework of modern electronica, the French act takes the sounds of north Africa into a new dimension.

Acid Arab consists of DJs Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvalho, whose mission is to take eastern music from North Africa, the middle east, Egypt, Turkey and India and blend it with modern electronic sound and purpose it for the dancefloor.

Previosuly a band like this might have been filed under 'world music' and have only found a  small but dedicated audience, but the international appeal of electronic music catapults them into a much wider context.

Recently they even played Tel Aviv, showing that music really doesn't have any borders.

Their dabut album Acid Arab Collections was released earlier this month, and features songs by Omar Souleyman, pilooski, étienne Jaumet, Professor Genius, Renart and others.

Ben L'Oncle Soul: Hallelujah !!! (J'Ai Tant Besoin De Toi)

A great slice of retro soul stylings from Ben L'Oncle Soul, with the clip for the track Hallelujah !!! (J'Ai Tant
Besoin De Toi).

Strange how it's such a convincing take on the classic sound that you hardly notice that it's actually in French on first listen.

The artist known to friends and family as Benjamin Duterde released his debut self-titled album in 2010.

That album saw him nominated for an armful of awards, wining the  Revelation Scène award at the Victoires de la Musique awards in 2011.

He followed up his debut with a live album and DVD entitled Live Paris in 2011.

He is no stranger to the UK, having appeared on Later with Jools Holland in 2011.

He's got a series of live dates across Europe lined up, including a show in London on December the fourth.

Johnny Hallyday: Born Rocker Tour

A clip from the new Johnny Hallyday live collection has been released to promote the release of Johnny
Hallyday's Born Rocker Tour DVD and CD.

The release commemorates his shows this summer that marked his 70th birthday. Hallyday played a show at Paris Bercy, part of a short tour, on the say of his birthday, and also a more intimate show at the much smaller Théâtre de Paris later the same night.

The standard edition is two DVDs of the Bercy show with a CD of the two bonus songs, a Blu Ray has the Bercy show, a collector edition has the Bercy show on DVD and CD as well as the bonus tracks and four live tracks from the Théâtre de Paris gig.

The deluxe edition of 3 DVDs and 3 CDs  features audio and video of the Bercy gig as well as of the Theatre de Paris show, and a couple of unreleased studio tracks.

This year has already seen a Johnny Hallyday live release, with the On Stage double CD (Three discs if you include the bonus three track disc.)

However, the new release differs significantly in that Born Rocker Tour is essentially a video release with the audio of the shows more of an add-on.

On Stage was  an audio release without a DVD, although there was certainly a demand for footage of shows like his historic gigs in the USA, London and elsewhere.

Also, On Stage was a document of a tour, with songs from venues across France  and Geneva, this new release focuses on one particular gig, or at least on one particular day.

There's plenty for fans of Johnny to listen to on this new collection.

Johnny's got some dates in Asia in December, with gigs  in Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong before Christmas.

Joris Delacroix: Air France

Over the next few days I'll be featuring some of the artists who are playing at the  Rencontres Trans
Musicales de Rennes event in France next month, a gathering of some of the best new and more established aritsts from France and beyond.

 Joris Delacroix, a DJ and producer from Montpellier works in electronica that moves a dancefloor without compromising its sophistication.

He's been active for a few years, working originally in a club in Montpellier his own material attracting attention of the likes of Roger Sanchez.

His debut album Room with View was released in 2011 on Woh Lab.

His track Air France been around for a while, featuring as it did on that album, but the new video gives it (quite literally) a breath of fresh air.

Organising the choreography in a wind tunnel no doubt posed a special set of challenges for the video director.

It would be interesting - if unlikely - to see folk attempt some of the moves on the dancefloor.

The five track Air France EP is released in full on December 2.

Dub Inc: Il Faut Qu'on Ose

A video for an acoustic live version of the track Il Faut Qu'on Ose, a track from the Paradise album by
Saint-Étienne reggae act Dub Inc.

Reggae has always been the most inclusive of musical styles, adapting constantly and fitting perfectly with other music genres. Rap and a very French accordion sound are incorporated here effortlessly.

It's very much part of Dub Inc's open minded attitude, a band that performs in French, English, Arabic and  Kabyle, a regional language from Algeria.

Dub Inc have been around since 1997 and have released five studio albums,  Diversité in 2003, Dans le décor  in 2005 and Afrikya  in 2008.

The act became known as Dub Inc from 2006, and under this name they've released  Hors contrôle - their most commercially successful release so far - in 2010 and their most recent Paradise in October this year.

They've built up a huge following principally on account of their live shows, and have become one of Europe's leading reggae acts on their own terms, releasing their material themselves without much involvement of traditional media.

Dub Inc are on tour in France at the moment, with a date at the Zénith in Paris on December 20.