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November 30, 2009 at 12:24 pm |
A couple of weeks ago I bought Diam’s latest album
S.O.S., released on November 13th this year.
I have only one other Diam’s album, the 2006 Dans ma bulle and essentially S.O.S. is pretty much more of the same, that’s to say, very solid hip hop with the occasional track that stands out.
In fairness, I think there are a few more stand out songs on this album than on Dans ma Bulle and I think Coeur De Bombe is one of those tracks.
Interestingly it is the only track that I put in my “favourite french songs” playlist while I was listening to the album for the first time although I certainly don’t think it is the strongest track on the album.
In any case, it’s the song I am going to translate in this post!
There is a usage of the verb
tomber “to fall” which means “to bump into”, as in
Je suis tombé sur mon ami. I’ve left the translation of
tombé sur une bombe in the chorus as “fell on a bomb” as I think the image is preferable to any other translation.
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November 23, 2009 at 11:20 pm |
I recently heard a song by Isabelle Boulay on a French radio station. I was suprised how grabbed I was by her voice given that her music is not generally of the genre that immediately catches my attention.
As I do in these circumstances, I went in search of the samples that accompany MP3 downloads these days and found the album Nos Lendemains (Our tomorrows) in the UK iTunes store.
I was not suprised to find that her previous album De retour à la source was nominated for the Canadian Juno Award for francophone album of the year in 2008 which was eventually won by Daniel Bélanger who was one of the earliest singers I translated on this site.
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November 8, 2009 at 10:27 pm |
I can’t tell you how much
this guy reminds me of myself about twenty years ago. He’s even using the same Gibson guitar I was grinding at the time and would’ve used to record almost exactly that video had YouTube been around in 1989. Thankfully it was not.
The song he is attacking is the song I’m going to translate today.
Marie Mai first gained fame as one of the finalists of Star Académie, a Québécois version of those shows such as X-Factor, Pop Idol, etc… that we have all come to know and [hate/love/ignore]. A talented singer who would be unlikely to make the cut on an English version as we seem to prefer to pick people that we can use for headline-fodder rather than finding real singers.
Marie-Mai’s latest album,
Version 3.0 (a gag first pulled by Garbage in 1998 with their second album
Version 2.0) was released at the end of September. I downloaded it from Amazon today and listened to it for the first time.
Her style is very much in the same arena as that of Avril Lavigne and although I’m not sure if I should admit it, I have to say that I do kind of enjoy this sort of rocky pop when it’s done well. Albeit in small doses.
The 2007 album Dangereuse Attraction opened with a very strong track called Mentir. As you may already know I keep a play list of songs to help me make it through my gym sessions and Mentir is a song that has been in that list for a while.
Version 3.0 does not start as well as Dangereuse Attraction, although the first two tracks are still pretty good. However track three C’est Moi descends into a realm of pop music with which I’m not really very comfortable – Cher-style voice screwery and other electro-effects – nothing horrific but enough to turn me off. Track four Garde Tes Larmes “Keep your tears” starts off in much the same vein although quickly improves with a chorus that is amongst the best on the album.
Next up is what I consider to be the strongest song on the album Secrets. It then all cruises along until Plaisirs Amers where we once again have to listen to voice-fiddling but this is balanced out with hints of some heavier guitar riffs which come excitingly close to leaning towards the metal that I often go into dark corners to listen to.
Rebâtir Notre Histoire is probably the weakest song. It starts pretty badly then tries to improve but then gives up.
The album finishes with the English language song Do You – half rock, half dance – decent enough but essentially just more of the same. This is, for me, the biggest problem with the album. Although perfectly solid with a very fine singer and some decent tracks, everything’s a little samey whereas I felt that Dangereuse Attraction had far more variety and interest.
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September 17, 2009 at 5:00 pm |
For some reason I had written this album off in my mind as being far too cheesy and a bit too “eighties”. Wandering through my iTunes collection today trying to avoid work, it caught my eye and I kicked it off. Currently playing in the background, this album from 1990 is way better than I remember it being. Or maybe it’s just my hangover talking.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s rocking me sideways, but I certainly thought it was worth bringing to your attention. Which is, after all, what I’d like to think I’m here for.
Anyway – there you go – something to check out.
It’s baking here in London – I’ve just been driving with my elbow out the window (I opened it first) and with this song belting out as I got home and figured that was a good a reason as any to choose it as the next translation. And happily the title is Ca Sent L’été which means “feels like summer” – too hot if you ask me, but then I’m British.
You’ll learn some good vocabulary here on the subject of stuffing your face with food…
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