Lovely to see an appearance by The Limiñanas earlier tonight on French TV chat show C à Vous.
It's hard to imagine in the UK an early evening light entertainment show aimed at the widest teatime audience putting on such impressive musical acts.
The Limiñanas have recently released their latest album, Shadow People and while the kind of act that have a cult following and critical acclaim, they're a long way off from the mainstream.
That being said, their 60s psyche infused pop goes down a treat and there really is no reason whatsoever for them to have the widespread acclaim they deserve.
The performance sees a guest appearance by actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner on vocals.
The Limiñanas are touring extensively, and play at Rough Trade in London tomorrow. They're back to France for dates around the country and play at Le Trianon in Paris on March 29.
Another great appearance on last week, with Moodoïd performing Au Pays Des Merveilles de Juliet
on the France 5 evening chat show.
Moodoïd are one of the recent French acts I've had the pleasure of following over the past few years, from underground act to their debut album, and now hopefully some mainstream success. It's certainly well deserved.
The song is a cover of a track originally by Yves Simon and it features on Moodoïd's five track Reptile EP that came out in November, alongside two versions of the title track and the songs Miss Smith and Planète Tokyo.
Moodoïd made a welcome return to live appearances last month, with a show at La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris as part of the Les inrocks festival.
There are no plans for any other live dates at the moment, but I'm sure the prospect of more gigs cannot be far away.
Last week saw French rap pioneer MC Solaar appear live on French TV evening chat show C à vous.
Solaar recently released a new album, Géopoétique, ten years after he last released an album, 2007's Chapitre 7. If there were any concerns he'd lost his touch over the past ten years they were quickly put aside.
Géopoétique gave him his first number one album in France since 1997 and has been one of the key releases of this year.
Solaar's always been head and shoulders ahead of the others an it's a remarkable appearance on C à vous, showing rap's widespread appeal in France isn't limited simply to fans of the genre.
A very strong performance from Ibeyi on France 5's C à vous show earlier this week, with the track Deathless.
Ibeyi are the kind of act that thrives in the French music scene. The sisters might be French by birth, but they were raised partly in Cuba, and influenced by Yoruba and Santeria.
Their music takes the best elements of this powerful mixture and presents it with the best modern production into something quite unique.
Their album Ash, their second, was released in France at the end of September, reaching the top 20.
Ibeyi have dates around Europe in early December, and go on to play some shows in South America before returning for more European gigs including London on February 28 and at the Olympia in Paris in October.
A live appearance on French TV show C à Vous from Benjamin Biolay, a musician who has the kind of ubiquity in French music that Mark Ronson has elsewhere.
The performance of iEncore Encore! features an appearance by Chiara Mastroianni who appears with him on the album Volver, released earlier this year.
Mastroianni is perhaps better known as an actress, the daughter of French acting legend Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni.
She was married to Biolay from 2002-2005 and they released the album Home as a duo in 2004.
Biolay's Volver album sees him continue to explore latin music, and features appearance by other singers including Catherine Deneuve and Mala Rodriguez.
I managed to miss out on quite a few very fine live performance on C à Vous over the past few months, and I'm tempted to spend some time checking them out and putting together a page with a few of my favourites.
An appearance on France 5 TV show C à vous for Shaka Ponk, following the release of their new album The Evol,
Shaka Ponk are one of France's most distinctive rock acts, taking elements of punk rock, dance, funk, hip hop and world music, making the kind of colourful and energetic racket that can't help but entertain.
They've been around since 2004, and have the kind of following that propelled their last two albums, 2014's The white pixel ape and The black pixel ape - which were released simultaneously - into the top ten.
In many ways they take up the challenge set by bands like Mano Negra, producing a music that reflects the cultural kaleidoscope that is present-day Paris.
As a live act Shaka Ponk have a formidable reputation, and are touring arenas around France from the end of January and play Bercy in Paris on March 23.
Lovely to see Jane Birkin make a live appearance performing on French TV show C à vous at the end of last month.
She covers Gainsbourg's La Chanson de Prévert in an orchestral setting.
The new arrangement comes from her new album Birkin/Gainsbourg: le symphonique, featuring new versions of some of Gainsbourg's classics.
Some were songs originally performed by Birkin, some by Gainsbourg, others written by Gainsbourg for other artists. Some of the songs covered are better known than others, such as Requiem pour un con or Valse de Melody, while there are some lesser-known gems like Exercise en forme de z or Pull Marine.
His work always seems to work well when re-made in a new setting, whether the dub versions of his work that came out a few years ago or Birkin's Arabesque collection, which saw his work performed with a North African flavour.
All reflected well on the source material, the new settings opened them up to a new interpretation of the work.
I've found myself going back to work like the Gainsbourg dub collection and the Arabesque album repeatedly over the years since they came out. I reckon Birkin/Gainsbourg: le symphonique will also stand the test of time.
Birkin plays live in Paris on April 12 at the Auditorium de Radio France, with a show in Warsaw on April 19 and another in Monaco on May 11.
A great appearance on French TV by Superbus, with a visit to the evening chatshow C à vous.
I missed it when it went out, but it's still worth a watch even a few weeks later.
They performed their single Strong and Beautiful.
The band , now a four piece, are promoting their new Sixtape collection which was released in June. They've been making a few TV appearances on the back of their new collection.
They've been on the show before, but this marks their return following singer Jennifer Ayache's solo interlude.
Superbus have a series of live dates across France in October and November, with a show in Paris at Le Trianon on October 29.
Murat recently released his latest album Morituri last month, French Lynx is the opening track of the new collection and emerged as a single in February.
Murat's last studio album was 2014's Babel album, a critical and commercial success for the singer who's been releasing work since the mid 80s.
I've been a fan of Murat since I first heard him in the early 90s and he's always been a class act. His new collection continues to add to that reputation.
A performance on French TV evening show C à Vous by Jeanne Added, with the song A War is Coming.
The performance follows the preformance at the Victoires de la Musique awards at the end of last week.
Jeanne Added were nominated for the best breakthrough album award, which eventually went to Hyphen Hyphen.
However, Jeanne Added made a performance at the show with the track Look at Them, which to these ears was one of the highlights of the event.
It will have no doubt introduced Jeanne Added to a wider audience, and I'm sure they'll certainly have won themselves quite a few new admirers. An appearance on evening TV just a matter of days later will add significantly to the well-deserved attention they'll be getting.
Jeanne Added played a massive number of live dates across France and beyond in 2015, and the schedule for 2016 looks equally busy.
An appearance on French chat show C à vous by French electro house duo Synapson with the track Fireball.
The duo of Alexandre Chiere and Paul Cucuron are best know for the track Djon maya maï, a remake of a song originally by Victor Démé which reached just outside the top ten in France in 2014.
Their Convergence album was released in October 2015, with the track Fireball released as a single in January.
Synapson released their debut album Stendahl Syndrome in 2012.
Synapson play a sold-out show at La Cigale in Paris on April 7 as part of their current series of live dates.
An appearance on French TV by Hyphen Hyphen, popping up on evening chat show C à vous with the
shone The Fear is Blue.
I featured them last year around the time of the release of their Times debut album, so it's a real pleasure to seean emerging act them make an appearance on the mainstream media.
The track features on the band's album which was released in September.
Hyphen Hyphen have extensive live dates scheduled, with shows in France and elsewhere from February until the summer when they play festivals including Les Vielles Charrues in Carhaix, Brittany.
A live appearance on C à vous by Florent Pagny and Anggun, with the song Nos vies parallèles.
The track comes from Anggun's new album Toujours un ailleurs, which came out last week.
It's the sixth French language album from the Indonesian-born singer, who moved to France to pursue her career in the 90s.
She's one of the most successful Asian artists in relation to the western audience, and France has adopted her as one of their own.
Pagny, now something of a veteran figure, has been a massive seller since the early 90s, with his most recent album 2013's Vieillir avec toi, a number one album in France.
