I know how difficult it is to find great music in the French language.

Even in France you’ll find the majority of songs on the radio are sung in English. In 1996 the situation reached a point where the government felt the need to decree that 40% of all music played by radio stations be sung in French. At the time this was met with protestations that the lack of quality francophone music would make such a demand too repressive.

And what’s worse, the most popular classic French singers are, to my ears at least, awful. And the classic French chanson, sung in this staggeringly annoying style is very popular for reasons I suspect I will never understand.

If one day, like I did, you decided to fill your MP3 player with francophone music in order to become more fully immersed in French language, you would be easily forgiven for giving up on the idea very quickly after searching iTunes and Amazon for suitable albums.

There a loads of great francophone bands out there but surprisingly few resources to help you find them, and naturally even fewer if you are restricted to searching sites written in English.

So with the sole aim of doing my little bit to improve the situation here is a list of some of my favourite francophone albums. I have avoided listing multiple albums by the same artist unless there is a good reason (as with La Ruda) as I figure once you’ve got a foot in the door you don’t need me to give you the band’s entire discography.

There is a rough order to the list – it starts with my very favourite albums, but I’m not going to pretend I agonised over the position of every entry!

49
I love this album. Traditionally a ska/reggae group, this album is a departure from Bablylon Circus’s previous albums and has a very different feel from their previous album Dances of Resistance – where DWR is raw, LBE is smooth, where DWR is earnest, LBE is joyful. They are both great albums but La Belle Étoile is the album which made Babylon Circus my favourite francophone group. And having seen them live three times in the past year I can tell you that they are also one of the best live acts in the world today.
70
Each time I listen to Les Saisons S’tassent I wonder why I don’t listen to it more often. Wonderful clean guitars and a rich melodic bass. Highly recommended.
54
This album took a little while to grow on me but as is so often the case, it really got under my skin. A mixture of creeping and energetic rock, clean and distorted guitar, and a great rock vocal, there’s really not a bad track on the record.
63
There’s a show called Acoustic on TV5 Monde, the only French TV station we get in the UK. More than half the time the artists are quite forgettable, but every now and then someone brilliant pops up. With his backing singers and dancers, The Soul Wash Boys, Ben L’Oncle Soul’s stage presence is impressive but more importantly, the music is superb.
41
This is rock in the more balls-out sense than Eiffel with rampant, heavy punk guitars and excitable drums throughout. As well as the male vocals there is a beautiful female voice provided by Marie-Ève Roy, often providing harmonies but occasionally singing solo as on the track Dommage Collatéral. Although they don’t have a keyboardist as a band member, the album uses piano parts to great effect.
68
This is an EP rather than an album. Five great energetic rock’n'ska tracks straight out of the top drawer.
36
Formally La Ruda Salska, every La Ruda album has a different flavour. You’d struggle to believe that the band that created the pure rock of 24 Images / Second is the same band who recorded the ska-filled Passager du réel. Grand Soir is somewhere between the two – a kind of clean guitar rock and roll with prominent brass section on top of a ska bass.
67
Voted the best French reggae album at the 2009 Reggae Awards. Checking out iTunes I notice that Funambule is the most played on the album and that’s as good a track as any to call my favourite, but going through the tracks I really can’t find one that lets the side down. All good.
71
Unavailable in iTunes, Amazon, or any other major MP3 store, you can listen to samples of this album at Xtrib.com. How such a great album has not found itself into the mainstream of digital downloads I simply don’t know.
35
As far as I know, Canadians Immaculate Machine have only ever recorded six songs in French, and they are all here on this six-song album. Each of these tracks was originally recorded with English lyrics on their 2005 album Ones and Zeros. Alternative/Indie Rock/Pop, I’m not sure what you’d call it, but it’s pretty fresh stuff. Two frontmen, one of them a frontwoman, sharing the singing chores and often harmonising.
14
As mentioned previously, La Ruda are the only band that I’ve included twice in this list. 24 Images / Second was one of the very first French language albums I bought and the one that lead me to believe that great French music did exist. A great rock album.
59
The first of two power-pop candy-rock albums in the list. And the first of two artists who graduated from the school of TV talent shows (the other being Ycare). Marie-Mai came from the Canadian Star Académie and has so far produced three studio albums. Nothing overly sophisticated – crank up the guitars over some pop melodies of you go – but it sounds good to me.
73
The same sort of thing as Marie-Mai but with the voice of someone on forty-a-day. The only complaint I have is the utterly unneccesary overuse of auto-tune on the vocals. Why do that to her voice? This is so common now in modern pop music that I suspect young kids now probably can’t even hear the robotic overtones.
57
Gained some fame in England after releasing a translated version of Miss Maggie in 1985, a comedic attack on our then Prime Minister. Often political, with shades of England’s Billy Bragg, Renaud has a distinctive voice which is refreshingly unlike those of most classic old-school French singers. I can understand if on first listen you’d want to run a mile from this style of singing, so annoying as it often is. For some reason Renaud breaks the mold and produces really good records, and Rouge Sang is one of the best.
50
Not quite as silly and not quite as rocky as Les Trois Accords but nonetheless tongue-in-cheek light-relief rock. For me the best song on this album is Mon Pére Etait Tellement De Gauche “My dad was so left wing” which I translated a while ago – an acoustic guitar and cello number with daft lyrics such as “My father was so left-wing we had loads of accidents, he systematically refused to give way to the right.”
75
If you want to be correct, this is Néo-trad – short for Néo-Traditional – a style of music, we’re told, that arose in Quebec around ten years ago. If you want to describe it in more meaningful terms, it is essentially modern folk/rock/electronica. But there’s no electronica on this album.
23
The lyrics are awful, the music is simple, the singing is horrific, but for some reason I can’t stop listening to them. Very funny if you’re in the right mood – unlike the French sense of humour that I’ve never really tuned into, juvenile jokers from Quebec do make me laugh.
76
Ycare gets three country icons for being of Lebanese origin, Senegalese birth and French adoption. I only include the Lebanese link as he is so often referred to as a Lebanese artist. A great album full of thoughtfully arranged acoustic guitar-lead rock songs. Having finished fourth in the French version of Pop Idol Nouvelle star you might not expect anything other than a formulaic release aimed at the mass market. That is not the case at all.
78
The band list their influences as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden. Those influences are far more evident on this album than on their 2003 release Le Chemin. And if it helps, the track currently playing in the background, Respire is currently reminding me of Placebo. They’ve also cut back a lot on the electric keyboards on this album. Although Le Chemin was very well produced and sounded great, there was something missing, something forgettable, which I think 300 Lesions puts right.
72
Folk/Gispy I guess you’d call it. Very fast paced acoustic alternative rock with a line up consisting of sax, violin, double bass, accordion, guitar, piano and drums.
37
Not every track on this album is a gem, but there are some songs that are so good and fit into a genre that I don’t think any other album on this list can claim. It’s rap with a softer edge, with heavy use of orchestral arrangements and often story-driven lyrics. The opening track Roméo et Juliette blew me away when I heard it for the first time, but it was songs like the more upbeat Gilles écoute un disque de rap et fond en larmes and the piano-filled C’est du lourd (both translated on this site), that make the album one of my favourites.
74
I heard this R&B/Soul/Pop album for the first time a couple of months ago. I really loved it at first, but I’ve not listened to it as much as I thought I would. There are a few top tracks though such as Pleine Lune and Onze Minutes which make me want to bring this album to your attention.
4
You’ll be hard-pressed to find much information online about the Tal Descrèves. Just one album, released in 2007 and fewer than 300 friends on MySpace she appears not to have much of a presence at all. I’m not sure if this is the case in her native Belgium, but I can’t help thinking this album deserves to be more widely known. OK, perhaps there are no really outstanding tracks, but it’s gotta be worth bringing to the attention of anyone looking for female-fronted rock ‘n’ roll.
42
When I first saw BB Brunes performing on tele, I was quite astonished to find that the lead singer was a man. He doesn’t sound like one. This is energetic, straightforward three-piece indie rock with influences we can assume from bands such as Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines.
7
Superbly produced, clean guitar with prominent bass tracks. Pep’s is short for Florian Peppuy and this was his fourth album release.
16
A couple of dodgy tracks stop this album from being higher up the list, so in order for it to make the list at all there have to be a couple of belters. There are and they come within the opening three songs. Ça sent l’été and Ça me vexe are fantastic songs – if the rest of the album had been as good as that it would be a near perfect rock record.
64
This is a tricky one – sometimes iTunes randomly plays me of Bénabar’s songs and I get pulled right into the lyrics, often cracking a laugh. He is a very talented lyricist who steers clear of being annoyingly profound, prefering to work on more light-hearted subjects. His upbeat, lively numbers are great and humourous, his slower, more rambling songs can sometimes be difficult to take. I include him here because as a lyricist he’s probably the best in the list.

Babylon Circus, Bristol UK, Halloween 2009.
A little clue as to which band produced the best album of 2009.

To start the new year here is my list of the ten best French language albums of 2009.

Broadly speaking we have one hip hop, two rock, three ska, one reggae and three humorous, which are predominantly rock-based.

There were several albums that I was expecting to put on this list but discovered were in fact late 2008 releases. It all goes by far too quickly for me.

In the next post I’ll highlight some of the releases that we can look forward to over the next year. While 2009 has been a great year for ska, there is promise from bands such as Vulgaires Machins that we’ll have some top quality rock to get our ears around in 2010.

56
I couldn’t leave a Trois Accords-shaped hole in this list.

Like all their albums, this release contains some of the worst singing you are ever likely to hear outside of the X Factor but sometimes the inanity of a record such as Dans Mon Corps is exactly what the moment calls for.

Dan Mon Corps came out in October and sees the band from Quebec in just as ridiculous and joyful form as ever. The track Croquer des cous is one of my favourites but gives the game away that these guys, despite their attempts to pretend otherwise, are in fact pretty talented punk/rock songwriters and musicians.

66
I would have liked to have included Diam’s S.O.S. here but her incessant talking, worse, her incessant whispering between tracks drives me bonkers.

I also considered Diam’s close friend Sinik’s album Ballon D’or in its place. I had wanted to translate the song 4-4-2 from Ballon D’or shortly after the world cup draw a few days after the release of the album at the end of November.

L’ecrasement De Tête is more intersting and enjoyable than either Diam’s or Sinik’s latest releases which is why I have chosen it here.

50
These guys were the subject of a post in October where I was in the happy position of being able to quote an Only Fools And Horses sketch. Their album art was plastered over Paris metro stations advertising their current tour when I was over there at Christmas.

Their music is also fairly humorous and lighthearted but less shameless than either that of Les Singes Savants or their Canadian counterparts, Les Trois Accords, despite having represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.

42
I didn’t care very much for BB Brunes’ first album, Blonde Comme Moi. While it had its moments, I found it largely rather empty. I had however been looking forward to their second album, Nico Teen Love ever since hearing the preview tracks on their website. It is altogether a more interesting and accomplished offering.

There are clearly strong influences from bands such as The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys (Black and Blue is almost obscenely Monkeyesque) and when you start listening to the key riff in Bouche B you will be forgiven for thinking you are listening to Queens of the Stone Age. At one point there is even a blatant, though probably unintentional, Pulp riff.

Although there are 15 tracks, over half of them are under three minutes and none of them are over four minutes. I listened to this album for the first time on my iPod while on the treadmill and it did a fine job of keeping me running. It’s rare that I outrun an album and have to “rewind”, but that’s what happened.

51
Being an ex Star Académie contestant, my very bones tell me that I should avoid Marie Mai’s music. However, I like pretty much everything this Québécoise has ever recorded including this, her third album, released in September. She is an excellent singer and packs her albums full of pacey, energetic pop rock with the kind of distorted guitar backing that air guitarists fantasize about in front of their bedroom mirrors.

67
I don’t know why but as the years roll merrily forward, I have started to get into Reggae in a way that I had never felt the need to do previously. I’ve always been a ska fan but only recently has this crossed over to the full blown reggae beats of an album such as Broussaï’s Perspectives. As well as some great songs, the production quality of this album is fantastic. Every instrument and vocal sounds crisp and clear on top of the dominant bass.

54
This album was the subject of my last post which was a long, long time ago on December 6th. With no release from one of my favourites, the Québécois Vulgaire Machins, in 2009 (they have finished recording and are currently mixing their new album), Eiffel released one of the few solid French language rock albums of 2009.

68
Now we’re at the business end of the top ten, here is a EP that I adore. Five fantastic thumping ska tracks, each one a belter. One of the best EPs ever released.

36
For most of 2009 I didn’t expect to find an album that would prevent Grand Soir from being my favourite album of 2009. La Ruda have consistently produced great albums ranging in style from the hard rock of 24 images/seconde to the pure ska of Passager Du Réel. Grand Soir in my mind is their best release yet.

49
Not only did Babylon Circus produce the best album of the year, they were also in my mind the best live band of the year. So good in fact that after seeing them live for the first time in London in October I went to see them again a week later before they left England.

La Belle Étoile was their first release for five years and was a quite a different offering from the previous albums. This album would make my top ten albums of the decade. In any language.

Those that know me know that I recently turned thirty. Those that know me slightly better know that I even more recently turned thirty-six.

Although I’m well aware that I am fighting a losing battle, I do spend a lot of time in the gym and the only reason I am able to do so is that I have great music to listen to while I am pounding away on the treadmill.

My French Gym playlist currently contains around thirty tracks. From this selection here are the top ten songs that are so good that they can often cause me to ramp up the speed on that evil rubber mat that moves under my feet.

I compiled the list before checking which ones would be available for an Amazon widget. Turns out they all were except Pensées malsaines which is fair enough – La Ruda already have a song in the top ten.

Eddie Voit Rouge by La Ruda|From the album Grand soir|
La Ruda get two songs in the top ten for being my favourite French band. This song was previously translated here.

L’homme pressé by Noir Désir|From the album En route pour la joie|
Not a huge fan of Noir Désir but this song is fantastic. Previously translated here.

Jusqu’au bout by Frédéric Lerner|From the album Ça passe ou ça casse|
A pop song but nonetheless very effective on the treadmill. Good old “I’m on a mission” lyrics as well for inspiration. Translated back in March 2009

Ça sent l’été by Mademoiselle K.|From the album Ça me vexe|
A song for everyone trying to run off all the ice cream. Previously translated here.

Ne pars pas sans nous by Immaculate Machine|From the album Les uns mais pas les autres
This just squeezed onto this top ten because I’m really enjoying this band at the moment. I’ve not yet translated this song on the site – the original version of the song, by the same band, was in English and is called Don’t Leave Without Us.

Hawaïenne by Les Trois Accords|From Gros Mammouth Album|
Very, very silly. Wonderful. I may translate this soon but not before I’ve translated Bing, Bing which begins “I smashed my car into a guard rail, I realise that’s a bit violent”.

La Rivière en Ava by Tal Descrèves|From the album Et Si Ce Jour…|
A song from a pretty damn good album by La Femme Rock & Roll.

Être un comme by Vulgaires Machins |From the album Compter les corps|
A very recent addition to my iPod and there are plenty more gym-friendly songs on the album.

Sixty Eight by BB Brunes|From the album Blonde comme moi|
Not normally my thing but BB Brunes make this style of music work for me.

Pensées Malsaines by La Ruda |From the album 24 images/seconde|
The longest serving member of my gym playlist. Translated back in June 2009.

I was supposed to be playing in the first round of my club’s annual tennis tournament today but as it happens my doubles partner is in Poland – something I did not find out until 15 minutes after the match was supposed to start.

As a result I am sat here in the bar and thought I would make a quick post of my top five French language albums. The problem is, as I have just discovered, five isn’t enough – I need at least fifteen to cover the variety of music necessary to feel happy with the list. So instead, I have flicked through my collection and selected ten albums that I would take right here, right now if I were heading off on an epic seven hour car journey (I live in England so seven hours is indeed epic, although I realise that many Americans will gladly drive seven hours for a taco (whatever the hell that is)).

So here they are, no in-depth analysis, not even ordered in terms of preference, just what I’d take with me in the car to keep me sane on my way to wherever I was going – just one album from each artist to try to add a bit of variety.

I’ve hammered my way through this post so it is quite raw and I haven’t had time to include MP3 clip widgets for each album but I will do so over the next day or two (where possible of course, Amazon doesn’t have everything unfortunately).

I’m still upset that there’s a couple of albums I’d be leaving behind…

Ça Me Vexe, Mademoiselle K.

Brilliant. Although it tails off a bit for me towards the end of the album.

Grand Soir, La Ruda

One of my favourite albums of all time. In any language. Perfect mix of classic 2 tone, ska, rock, folk and all manner of other stuff that I love. If they’d managed to mix some heavy rock in there as well, à la 24 images/seconde, well, I might have exploded with joy.

A couple of the tracks are a bit embarrassing to be heard playing with your windows down – “Is this a children’s song?” one of my friends recently asked – but an otherwise excellent album with some great singing, cello playing and general jazziness.

Bonnieux, Feet Peals

Very upbeat in the same fashion as a couple of English bands I really like – The Men They Couldn’t Hang and The Housemartins.

Blonde comme moi, BB Brunes

I’m not sure why I like this album – on first hearing it sounding a bit hollow and I’m not a fan of bands like The Strokes who also play in this kind of half-thrashy three-piece sounding way – but I do like it.

L’école du micro d’argent, IAM

My favourite French hip-hop album by far. I’m currently listening to and discovering a lot more French hip hop. I’ll let you know how that goes.

La saison des amours, Louisy Joseph

Brilliant on first listening – great deep bass R&B – but grew a bit tired of it quite quickly. Would be taking it with me on the journey because I haven’t heard it for a while.

Reggae/Ska. One of the very first French language albums I ever owned. A lot of English on here as well (and nearly English “There is so much things to do”), but it qualifies.

L’absolutely meilleur of Renaud

One of the few non-hip-hop artists from the French genre of singers who have never thought it necessary actually to sing that I really like. I’m afraid I’ve never been a fan of Serge Gainsbourg, the king of the non-singing, mumbling genre – I can’t even listen to him without getting tense.

Les Trois Accords, Grand champion international de course

You’ve gotta love these Canadian guys – come on, the very first line of the album is Je suis entré dans un garde-fou avec mon auto.