Playlist: A French & International Mix of Styles and Sounds

A French Music Playlist!

Retro sounds, united by nothing obvious—except that they somehow belong together. This list moves through yé-yé, Afro-funk, psychedelic rock, and deep-cut film scores, shifting between decades and moods with a logic that’s hard to pin down but easy to feel. It’s like eating all of the jelly beans in the bag together—buttered popcorn with bubble gum and coffee with lime and with chocolate and with toasted marshmallow. It shouldn’t work, but somehow, there’s joy in the chaos.

I also included some Youtube video links below because they’re fun or interesting videos.

I hope you like it, too. Let me know whatcha think.

K

The short sample-plays do sound better if you can hear the whole thing on Spotify, but at least this way, you get a sense of the songs.

Retro Sounds from the past and today

I originally thought of this as a “songs for a movie that hasn’t been made,” but I think a few of them have been in movies. Each track has its own sonic landscape, and I wanted to hear what would happen as they all played together.

Something lingers between eras, borrowing textures from the past and moving forward to today through vintage pop, psychedelic rock, funk, and movie scores, threaded together by the Francophone world.

Some 1960s yé-yé and garage, others into modern synth landscapes, but they all belong together—most featuring great keyboards, or at least a few great moments.

And there’s also a bunch of Hammond keyboard work on here. I love a Hammond - and that is not a Hammond B3 in the video below.

It starts with Bertrand Belin’s La nouvelle, a slow, hypnotic minimalistic tension. His half-spoken, half-sung delivery over a rhythm of off-kilter instrumentation. Sitting between chanson, post-punk, and experimental rock, La nouvelle is restrained and unsettling, setting a tone between nostalgia and the unfamiliar.

I like how Belin’s songs create unease through simplicity—this track feels like The National covering David Byrne or the Pixies.

From there, Fabienne DelSol’s Laisse tomber les filles goes into yé-yé—this Gainsbourg-penned track (originally sung by France Gall) takes on a garage-rock edge in DelSol’s version. Juniore keeps the vintage aesthetics intact but tilts into dreamy psych-pop with Ouh là là, while Le Couleur’s Vol d’après-midi has an airy synth groove that I am sure is in a movie soundtrack somewhere already.

Pierre Cavalli and Janko Nilovic, whose names might not be instantly recognizable but whose music has shaped soundtracks and films. These instrumentals feel like the soundtrack to a lost 1970s French thriller.

Nino Ferrer’s Les cornichons is ridiculous, a funky 60s oddity packed with humor, and Vaudou Game’s Pas Contente is a high-energy modern Afro-funk track driven by tight brass, complex percussion, and hypnotic guitar riffs drawing from 1970s West African funk.

Vaudou Game honors Benin and Togo’s Voodoo traditions, bringing them to an unlikely setting—French farmers performing rituals in the Dombes countryside, an unlikely collision of cultures that bridges through religious practices. After all, French farmers have left endless offerings to saints over the centuries in similar manner.

The all-white band backing lead singer Peter Solo seems to be a fairly common arrangement with afrobeat groups in France.

Then some modern electronic—Dombrance’s Giscard d’Estaing is a sleepy dancefloor track built around political satire, while Malik Djoudi’s Danger layers sleek synth lines with almost whispered vocals.

The Limiñanas come back with a garage-psych revival on Je ne suis pas très drogue, with a kind of lurching, hypnotic repetition and distortion. They also do some great covers, including The Lords of the New Church’s Russian Roulette - and yes, that is a ukulele he’s using for feedback noise.

You’ve got to love a female drummer. Whoop!

What’s Next? Organizing Chaos & Finding New Sounds

Right now, my Spotify lists are a scattered mess, like a series of thrift impulse buys in a thrift store, but at least in a good thrift store. I’d love an excuse to get them organized.

If you’re into this mix, tell me. If Spotify isn’t working for you, let me know in the comments. YouTube has an incredible archive of obscure music, but it’s also problematic. If you’d prefer these playlists on a different platform, let me know—I’d love to find better ways to share when suddenly all of our apps are politicized.

Maybe a deep dive into '70s French funk (rare, but worth it)? Or something else entirely—yé-yé, spacey prog, synth-heavy coldwave, acid folk, or fuzzed-out garage rock? I like unlikely combos.

I have a Horror Porno Chicha Disco playlist that my wife swears I made just to say those words together—it works! But it might not be for everyone.

If you have suggestions, I’d love to hear them! Drop your favorite under-the-radar picks in the comments!

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Either way—thanks for reading, and thanks for listening.

—K