Yet another French artist, but perhaps a little less known than Camille: Emilie is (seemingly) known in France (having received awards for her music and whatnot), but hasn’t had a great deal of worldwide exposure. Anyhoo, I found Emilie Simon through last.fm’s artist recommendations for Camille. Strictly speaking, the two artists have very little in common (apart from the fact that they’re both ladies and they both sing in French) as Simon’s music is a pleasing blend of rock, electronic and downtempo, all in the one bag.

Emilie Simon is the name of her debut record and it is quite the corker. She even sings a couple of tunes in English, so you can go ahead and sing along (if you know English and you don’t know French of course). Highly enjoyable tunes include Secret, Lise, Il Pleut and To the Dancers in the Rain. However, as is tradition for my posts, go ahead and check out the rest of her lovely debut album, as there is plenty of goodness under her pretty back (don’t take that the wrong way).

Unfortunately, her website seems to be rather borked at the moment, so I have no idea if she has media or not!

Eagle-eyed readers will have seen this band here before, but I re-wrote it so you can’t get mad. Porlolo has released a new album, Storm & Season. I had previously only heard one track off this album, Scratch My Back, which you will like if you like (or at least appreciate) good music. It’s nothing really special, creatively speaking, but it’s just so damn perfect in every sense of the term. As for the rest of the album, if you like mellow country (such as Magnolia Electric Co., who she might sound like if she had more twang) or some folk, you will probably like the whole album. That is my reasoning, anyway.

There are more songs linked on the band’s Myspace, which I would have added myself if I could get the damn links. Regardless, if you like Scratch My Back, go there and listen to Saw Your Head for a different kind of awesome.

Downloads

From Storm & Season
Scratch My Back – (MP3, 3.5 MB)

If you are a fan of Gogol Bordello, you will be a fan of Leningrad. They are largely the same; Eastern European music with high energy levels. Of course, Leningrad sings in Russian, but to borrow my own, increasingly cliched vernacular, you don’t have to understand the language to understand the music. I can’t say I’ve appreciated much of the ska lyrics that are sung in English anyway, so why not do it in Russian? The results are so goddamn amazing that I’d rather listen to them than write this post that will never do them justice anyway. While their music is outstanding, the icing on the proverbial cake is that they have eight albums up for free. I suppose you should listen to these songs first, before you go downloading willy-nilly. If you are interested in either punk or ska, I cannot recommend this band enough.

Unfortunately, the site apparently doesn’t allow direct linking to their files, so you will have to conquer their MP3 directory all by yourself! I will be so kind as to recommend some songs, of course; try Menya Zovut Shnur, Huynija, and Raspizdijay off of Dlya Milionov.

Although I’ve never really been introduced to The New Pornographers in any way, I find myself very much intrigued by the solo efforts of Neko Case, a member of the aforementioned band. While TNP play what I’m told is straight out indie rock, Neko Case’s work consists of some lovely alt. country stylings, reminiscent of Songs: Ohia and Haley Bonar combined with a very…I dunno, “less than modern” voice (her singing reminds me of the Belinda Carlisle tune Summer Rain, but that’s just me). Don’t take “less than modern” in a bad way though: her voice perfectly compliments the tunes and the lyrics, all of which smack of exceptional goodness.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is her latest release and boy howdy it sure is a zinger! Now, there’s probably no way my drunken ramblings could possibly inform you of her goodness, so luckily I have some media for you. I’d also go ahead and check out John Saw That Number, The Needle Has Landed and Maybe Sparrow before you dive in and get the rest: I’m told by some that she’s hard to get into, but I don’t really know what they’re on about…

Downloads

From Fox Confessor Brings the Flood:
Star Witness – (MP3, 7.3 MB)
Hold On, Hold On – (MP3, 3.9 MB)