Anaïs: Quizas (Martini Dry)

A new track by Anaïs has emerged, with the track Quizas (Martini Dry) coming out as a download following her album last year.

 The track is cover of an old Cuban song, made famous by the likes of Pérez Prado and Julio Iglesias.

 It follows her album A l'eau de javel, her second studio album, which was released in March last year. The album featured her interpretations of songs from the 40s to the 60s, covering them with humour and style. Several tracks, including Je n'embrasse pas les garçons et Danseuse privée (a cabaret take on Tina Turner's Private Dancer) were released as singles over the course of the year.

 The new track is an out-take from the recordings, according to legend it was stolen by the Russians, then re-discovered in Cairo before being stolen by the Russians again, and finally being reclaimed by the American agent Dan the Automator who remixed it with a cocktail shaker.

While I have my doubts about the truth of this, it remains well worth a listen.

 

Anaïs: Le Tango Stupéfiant

A great piece of electro-cabaret from Anaïs in a new video for the song Le Tango Stupéfiant.

The song is a cover of the song made popular by Marie Dubas, French music hall singer of the 1930s and 40s, who was one of the artists who inspired Edith Piaf.

The track comes from the Anaïs album A l'eau de Javel, which was released earlier this year. The album, the second solo studio album by Anaïs Croze, is a collection of standards from the 30s to the 60s re-interpreted in her own unique style.

Anaïs is a hugely talented artist, who has the ability to move effortlessly through musical genres but manages to maintain a distinctive voice in whatever context.

I've always liked Anaïs since her The Love Album came out in 2008, for the simple reason that I was sent a review copy and loved it, but struggled to convince my day job website to run a review. So I thought it might be a good idea to start a blog or something at some point...

Anaïs has been nominated for a couple of awards, had a platinum album (her debut album, the live recording The Cheap Show) and a gold album (The Love Album), and I suspect we may yet see even better things in the future.