Everything is samo-samo in Skunkeyeland so I thought I’d polish off a few summer music recommendations this Friday afternoon:

Apparently the honeymoon ain’t over yet for Benjamin Biolay and wife/current muse actress Chiara Mastrioanni (lovechild of Catherine Deneuve and the late Marcello Mastroianni). On the heels last year’s epic folkfest, Negatif, arrives a more stripped down side project, Home. It’s the Gallic equivalent to the Britta Phillips (Jem!) & Dean Wareham (Luna) project L'Avventura and Benjamin and Chiara are even more self-involved and sickeningly in love. A “personal road movie” of-sorts, I find it perhaps too intimate. Or maybe I’m just jealous thiking of them making love by the fireplace. Home does away with most of Biolay’s trademark sumptuous arrangements in favor of a more folksy, well, “home-y” production. Although they take on cannabis in L’Apologie, tales of prison life in Folle De Toi and an exploration of post-9/11 America on L’Arizona, the album basically is about how crazy in love they are. Biolay comes his closest ever to Gainsbourg, even name-checking him in the track Un Problème , relying more on clever wordplay and a sensually heightened male/female dynamic. Chiara Mastrioanni has evolved from the ninetie’s quirky young ingenue into full throttle gamine – not surprising, given her lineage. And her singing isn’t that bad either, gamely switching into a second language for A House Is Not A Home, She’s My Baby and Dance Rock N’Roll (insipid English lyrics are a requisite on French pop albums). Biolay is one of the most talented songwriters/producers/arrangers around; check out Home if you are a fan.

While we’re on a French kick, for those of you who enjoyed the Cafe De Flore: Rendez-Vous a Saint-Germain-des-Pres compilation, the follow-up is now out. Fetiche: The French Classic Rendez-Vous is heavier on the schmaltz and not as satisfying. Yeah, its pretty gay with tracks from Diana Ross (channeling Billie), Marc Almond (singing Brel), and a truly awful 1980’s europop track from Ute Lemper. But the purchase is worth it alone for Helen Merrill’s haunting and smoldering Pierre, living legend Abbey Lincoln’s Avec le Temps, and of course Brenda Lee’s classic take on Piaf, If You Love Me (Really Love Me).

I really want to really like The Concretes, I really do. I dig the concept, their art direction, their video and they appeal to my Scandinavian roots. However, Sweden's The Concrete’s eponymous album just sounds like 1991 rehashed to me (actually most young up and coming bands these days appear to be master plagiarizers). In the Concretes’ mixer: Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, The Pastels, Jesus & Mary Chain, The Primitives, Mazzy Star, and even a bit of Transvision Vamp, if you can believe it. Actually, any fuzzy, jangley Velvets-inspired band of the late eighties/early nineties, come to think of it. Not a bad sound but I’ve heard it all before. Moe Tucker should be proud. Also, lead singer needs some serious sinus medication.

Now onto something truly original… I FINALLY got a hold of Lhasa de Sela’s latest, The Living Road. If you aren’t familiar with her music, which is likely since she has gotten zero promotion in the United States, think a world music PJ Harvey. Lhasa is probably best known here for her duet with the Tindersticks (whose catalogue is currently being reissued), but in Canada and France, she is huge. The Living Road expands on her breathtaking debut and is even more varied. She’s a multi-lingual drama queen (singing in Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese), and wildly original. Backed by south-of-the border brass, slinky percussion, steel guitar, accordion, mariachi, majestic strings and piano, Lhasa gives European art song a fervant Mexican edge. Outstanding and intense.

Oh, and my usual minor claim to fame as I sit in this dull office, keyboard gently weeping, fingers tap-tapping…. Just learned that a batch mate has been signed on to score the new Richard Linklater (Dazed & Confused, Before/Beyond Sunset)film, an animated (a la Waking Life) adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., and Woody Harrelson. Big congrats, Graham!

That’s it for now, have a nice weekend.