RFI: Mylene Farmer

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I find myself addicted to the seven-minute version of "Libertine": anyone know more? specifically, anyone got recommendations for this artist? I know she had a lot to do with Alizee's "Moi ... Lolita", but was there ever any chance that she might have had a UK breakthrough herself, maybe in the "Joe Le Taxi" / "Voyage Voyage" era?

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 24 April 2003 03:31 (twenty years ago) link

No UK breakthrough. Libertine's her debut single, her other smash hit from the same era is 'Sans Contrefacon' (1988 I'd say). She went through some kind of cheap artsy phase after that, where she seemed to release singles as a mere excuse to produce 10-minute videos, which revealed a strong obsession for double identities, mirrors, dolls, daft eroticism etc.
Obviously this period saw her descend into commercial irrelevance.
Having moved to L.A, she then made a comeback in the mid-90s with a new sound, more rocking, a less precious persona and a slight S&M fixation. She's kinda been drifting since then..

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 24 April 2003 07:45 (twenty years ago) link

(Seeing as you guys seem to know this stuff, do you have any recommendations of French 80s europop along the lines of Desireless, Stephanie de Monaco, etc etc [I think this was the template for 'I'm not scared' by 8th Wonder/psbs)? [I downloaded some song by a group called Taxi Girl, which I thought was electroclash contemporary, but turns out to have been authentic 80s stuff...])

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 09:23 (twenty years ago) link

Taxi Girl is Mirwais' former band (he played bass)
French 80s euro-pop: check out Indochine (tho more on a new wave tip), the aforementionned tracks by Mylene Farmer, Lio, Etienne Daho (esp. his excellent debut 'La Notte, la notte')

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 24 April 2003 09:31 (twenty years ago) link

Jackie Quartz - Juste Une Mise Au Point
Corinne Charby - Boule De Flipper
Elsa - Nuit Tu Me Fais Peur
Françoise Hardy - Partir Un Jour (an 80s hit)
Sabine Paturel - Les Betises
Caroline Loeb - C'est La Ouate

All 80s French classics...

At the moment there's this girl called Melissa Mars who did a good single, sounding a bit italo, "Papa M'Aime Pas".

Why are you looking for music like that? Is it only for pleasure or for "research"?

― Etienne (Etienne), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:54 (twenty years ago) link

Thanks a lot guys. Just for pleasure - I really loved 'Voyage Voyage' when it came out, and had given up on ever getting a copy of it until mp3s came along, and am keen to hear more.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:56 (twenty years ago) link

Robin, Mylene recently put out a 2 disc best-of (by recently I mean sometime early last year or so), that is definitely worth checking out if you like the things you've heard so far. My favorite by her is still "Maman a Tort" but it would be. It sounds like every electroclash band ever, except French.

― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:19 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

I've listened to Sans Contrefacon about 500 times in the last month. Also, Mylene Farmer fans should check out Alizee's new song "J'en Ai Marre" (produced by Mylene I'm assuming) which might be the best song ever.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 28 June 2003 18:35 (twenty years ago) link

'J'en Ai Marre'? Is it a tribute to the Smiths guitarist?

― dave q, Saturday, 28 June 2003 19:36 (twenty years ago) link

LOL

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 29 June 2003 01:48 (twenty years ago) link

seven years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clvQDSWEQg0

Loving this. It's everything I ever wanted (but didn't quite get) out of Hounds of Love + the dramatic & foreboding synthpop of "It's a Sin" and it's in French and it has a great video and it uses the same "this is a blank formatted diskette" sample that Todd Terry used in "I'll House You"!

Is all her stuff this good?

― naus, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 08:41 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah I do love that song. It's one of here better ones imo but it's pretty representative - so I suspect you'd like her 80's albums

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 13:38 (thirteen years ago) link

Her most famous and arguably best song is 1991's "Désenchantée", which actually inspired Neil Tennant to write "Disapointed" for Electronic. Her singles are consistantly good from 1984 up to 1999, but have been going downhill since save a few exceptions ("C'est Une Belle Journée", "Q.I.").
Her videos have always been very elaborate affairs, like mini movies with big budgets and tons of extras, mostly dealing with dark themes mixing violence and sex. Definitely all worth checking out IMO. The themes in her lyrics and her use of the language are very interesting if you understand French.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUQZZW2GrAA&feature=related

― LeRooLeRoo, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 15:22 (thirteen years ago) link

I was on a bus from Vilnius to Paris and Désenchantée was playing on the radio...An annoying American sitting in front of us, who spent the whole journey reclining his seat on top of my girlfriend (we decided to call him "Hank" for no clear reason), explained to the Lithuanian woman beside him he was trying to hit on that the song is called "Enchantée" and it's about how to politely greet someone when you first meet them.

― seandalai, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 15:51 (thirteen years ago) link

LOL

― LeRooLeRoo, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:15 (thirteen years ago) link

where can i find the seven-minute version of "libertine" that the first post refers to? i love that song and an extra 3.5 mins sounds awesome

― teledyldonix, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link

Pretty eerie how crystal castles remind me of mylene.

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link

four months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGjbZcjHNs0

Bleu Noir is being released as the next single. Production by Moby, video by Olivier Dahan (La Vie En Rose). Perhaps not quite as special as when everything was done by her and Laurent, but the new album's really growing on me.

― Ha ha ha ha. Jack my swag. (ShariVari), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link

six years pass...

You can find on internet the english version of Libertine, but this version wasn't successful, it's Bad Girl or Mad Girl, i don't remember exactly

― Bruno, Monday, 21 August 2017 21:10 (six years ago) link

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