The Best French Records of 2024
Bòsc is leading a list of 20 albums from France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada
What! A! Year! I don’t know if it’s because 2024 was the first year I became serious with I Only Listen to French Music, but there were a lot of amazing records this year. Here are the twenty best. Even if I tried to publish more reviews this year, only four of them were featured as record of the month.
In the top 10, you’ll find four records made by traditional musicians aiming to modernize their sound through experimental music (Bòsc, Lise Barkas, D’en haut) or rock & roll (Brama). Last year, I hadn’t selected any hip hop record, but this time we have three: SCH, Damso and TH. Only one record could be classified as heavy music: Slift, who are also the only ones with a full record sung in English. Flavien Berger is the only returning artist from my 2023 list. Somehow a couple of records are about rocks and rock formations.
Now that I have moved back to my home country, Belgium is taking a little step back with only 4 records on the list (and, if I want to be honest, most of those records were released by French people living in Brussels). Rounding up the list we have three records from Switzerland (all released on Bongo Joe) and one from the Québec province. In France, Paris and Toulouse are leading the list and I think the Occitanie region is the most represented overall.
Here is a Spotify playlist with all the entries except Lise Barkas and Colombey because they are too cool for the platform.
For a more experimental and left-field take on the French year, you can also read the list of The Best French Music of 2024 from David McKenna aka Rockfort! on The Quietus. Coincidentally, we chose the same number one.
1. Bòsc - Bòsc
Supported by the new collective La Crue, in service of the creative work of female musicians and technicians in the traditional music scene, Bòsc is a supergroup of five musicians (including the duo Bourrasque) working on a project constantly oscillating between contemporary creation and traditional dance music. Despite drawing from a clearly identified territory - the south of the Massif Central - some songs go so far as to evoke gypsy music or country music. This is an album where even the most innocent of songs can be transformed into a maelstrom of dissonant string instruments, like L'Erba d'amor [trad: the herb of love], which only changes chord after five minutes of drone. It’s amazing.
2. Slift - Ilion
The trio from Toulouse is the first French band in 30 years to be signed on the American record label Sub Pop. The qualitative leap from their last album is gigantic and the ambition is multiplied. The record, in addition to being a psychedelic stoner monster, is also a space opera inspired by the Iliad And the Odyssey, with the budget of a Hollywood blockbuster. Approaching the length of a feature film, Ilion also embraces its structure with a cold open, scenes of bravery and introspection intersecting through a final confrontation and end credits.
3. Françoiz Breut - Vif !
Hailing from Normandy, Françoiz Breut has been living in Brussels for three decades. Her eighth album, Vif! [trad: Lively!], was once again recorded with her gang of Brussels-based expats. No surprises if you are familiar with the singer's style: Vif! is a crowning achievement to a long and faultless career. A record as soft as a bed of moss in a shady wood, mixing jazz influences, French chanson* and quirky compositions that would fit perfectly in a musical.
4. Lise Barkas - Cinq Ponts
I already spoke a little about Lise Barkas when I presented the year in hurdy-gurdy, a couple of months ago. The Strasbourg-based musician released Cinq Ponts [trad: Five Bridges], an experimental and instrumental tape with hurdy gurdy AND bagpipes. Her music, haunting and beautiful, was recorded by the Swiss musician d’incise. So precisely that even the gentle taping of her fingers on the old mechanism becomes part of the music.
5. Jokari - Caillou
I recently interviewed Jokari in their home for my French speaking podcast and we talked extensively about their second record, Caillou [trad: Pebble]. After a cute first solo home record, this one features a full-fledged band, with musicians from Toulouse and around. Build upon the basis of improvisational jazz and cute synthpop, the music aims for simplicity with naive lyrics and an amazing presence from singer Mario·n Josserand.
6. D'en haut - D'en haut
Self-titled D’en haut [trad: From above], like their first one, the duo’s second album came after a 12-year break. But the two musicians remained extremely active in the French folk scene : Romain Colautti mainly with TRUCS and Thomas Baudoin was the singer of Artús until they broke up in 2022. It’s the best straight-up French folk record of the year with tragic songs in Gascon (a regional strand of Occitan) over a minimalist meticulous acoustic instrumentation. I already talked about D’en haut, Artús, Gascony and their record label Pagans when I presented Pagans 50, the best compilation of the year.
7. Klô Pelgag - Abracadabra
I was ready to write extensively about Abracadabra, Klô Pelgag’s fourth album. Her last record Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, a critical and commercial success, and a surprise for me, was a hard act to follow. But I didn’t find the time to talk about this beautiful new record and it’s a shame. For starters: I don’t write enough about French-speaking musicians from the Quebec province in Canada. And Chloé Pelletier-Gagnon is an international treasure. Abracadabra is the continuation of her work as one of indie pop master composers with intricate instrumentations with electronic beats, flutes and violins à la Sufjan Stevens.
8. Bonnie Banane - Nini
Actor and singer Bonnie Banane has quietly became someone you have to invite on your album (find her with Flavien Berger, Hubert Lenoir or Chilly Gonzales). Her second or third album, Nini, is excellent, finally delivering a long-form album showcasing her strengths, mixing Brigitte Fontaine’s weird cadence with glorious R&B instrumentation.
9. Roland Cristal - Menhirs
I’ve listened all year long to this amazing electronic record from Roland Cristal and just realized it was released in 2024. So I had to add it on the list at the highest position possible for a joke album about menhirs, the standing stones that can be found throughout the Celtic world. Behind the funny concept, the record is filled with bangers about various-sized rocks and includes a couple of serious guests letting lose on DIY techno tracks. It’s awesome.
10. Satellite Jockey ...Plays Music !
The extremely good - and dense - indie scene from Lyon is hard to follow form afar. I almost missed this record, released in March, if I didn’t have to prepare for Jokari’s interview (the two bands share some members). They also share a lot of stylistic choices: first being the influences of improvisational jazz in the way they write pop songs. Satellite Jockey ...Plays Music ! is a collection of cute little songs vamping a wide array of genres including country, folk, easy listening, rock n roll, etc. Don’t be fooled by the title, almost all the songs are in French, written by the prolific Rémi Richarme.
11. Brama - Brama
Brama, a rural band mixing psychedelic influences with their traditional music roots, released their first LP this year. Brama is an effective rock album going from pastoral to noisy in matter of seconds but there’s something peculiar about it. I don’t know if it’s the use of modal composition or Occitan sung with gusto by Simon Guy or the presence of a hurdy gurdy as a rock instrument. I’m glad we finally have a full-fledged Occitan psychedelic band.
12. SCH - JVLIVS III : Ad Finem
SCH capped his gangster quadrilogy - a trilogy started in 2018 and a prequel also released this year - with a very serious opus. We always knew the epic conclusion of the JVLIVS saga wouldn’t be a funny ride: No joke, no dance tracks. SCH relies heavily on his dramatic storytelling over almost-old-school trap beats that most rappers don’t use anymore. JVLIVS III : Ad Finem is the most monolithic rap album of 2024.
13. Foudre! - Voltæ (Chthulucene)
Those three prolific musicians have been making music together for almost a decade and already released six records under the moniker Foudre! [trad: Lightning!] but Voltæ (Chthulucene) is their first real studio album. An ambition you can hear on every second of this very well produced instrumental synth record, where somber melodies and telluric rhythms are blending together over doomed soundscapes.
14. Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp - Ventre Unique
Bandleader Vincent Bertholet has recruited a bunch of younger musicians to fill the missing parts from retired members in the always-evolving almighty orchestra. The result is a looser, simpler version of OTPMD’s music. I saw them for the release party in their Geneva home base and it was one of my favorite concert of the year. So energetic.
15. Colombey - La fenêtre sombre
Minimal synth hero TG Gondard is kind of an asshole but damn he writes good music. Especially one of the best songs of the year: jamais aucune chanson [trad: never any song] a beautiful synth ballad claiming that all the songs in the world are written with the small town of Rebais, in Paris suburbs, as their location. Hard to argue against the best thesis for the universality of songs.
16. TH - E-trap
French rap is notoriously apolitical these days: money is just too good to take the risk to alienate listeners, even the ones voting for the fascists. That’s why it’s so refreshing to have a relative newcomer like TH evokes police brutality, gender equality corruption or the aforementioned fascists in his songs. In addition, E-trap is a fantastic 30-minute EP that could have been an album.
17. Philippe Katerine - Zouzou
The whole world discovered Philippe Katerine during the Olympics opening ceremony when he appeared disguised as a naked blue god. In France, we are used to his antics, because Zouzou is already its 16th album in a discography ranging from annoyingly atrocious to beautifully weird. Zouzou is one of the good ones.
18. Flavien Berger - Contrebande 02. Le disque de l'été
Every time he releases a new pop album, Flavien Berger also give us a collection of outtakes and improvised songs he made around the same time. Presented as a pirate mixtape, this Contrebande 02 is the companion to Dans Cent Ans, the last opus of his trilogy about time. The mood on this summer record is immaculate. Another proof that even on vacation Flavien Berger can’t stop producing good songs.
19. Damso - J'ai menti.
Damso told us he was going away but he lied. Afraid to become irrelevant because he’s slowly being adopted by the intelligentsia, the Belgian rapper was dreaming of retirement. Damso remains the most consistent of all the French-speaking rappers and an ambitious motherfucker, always rapping on the best beats of the industry.
20. Cyril Cyril - Le Futur ça marche pas
Le futur ça marche pas [trad: the future doesn’t work] is something that seemed to have disappeared since the 2000s: a political rock record in French. On their third album, Cyril Cyril, without denying their globalized influences, are becoming more radical, lyrically and musically.
Honorable mentions
I feel bad for Myriam Gendron, Vincent Bestaven, Lysistrata and Jardino. They could have been there. Two records I already wrote about almost made the cut: Gwendoline’s peri-urban chronicles and Meril Wubslin’s South London escapade. I’ve decided compilations weren’t eligible even though I’ve reviewed Pagans 50 here and Planisphère’s five-year anniversary selection on Goûte Mes Disques. I’ll try to write something in English about them soon. I’ve also disqualified Fievel is Glauque and Bolis Pupul for being too Belgian and not enough French-Speaking. I haven’t listened to Lala &ce, Astéréotypie and Brigitte Fontaine’s last records but I’m sure they’re enjoyable. Happy new year!