Former Miss France and repopulariser of the ukelele… and other potential cover artistes

Now the world’s greatest DJ has played Pastel Collision, the S is surely the L.

As regular readers know, I am convinced that some of our brilliant songs (old and, yes, future) really should be covered by people who can actually play and sing and have a budget that extends beyond the pennies previously afforded us in the world of micro-indie.

Here are the candidates:

1. Susanna Hoffs. Listen to this version of Different Drum. This song – by the Monkees’ Mike Nesmith, but you knew that – is virtually bombpoof I think, but even so this is a brilliant version. It’s afrom a covers album Hoffs did with Matthew Sweet (as Sid’n'Susie) of 60s songs, all sounding sunshiney and full of harmonies and mostly really good; an album that sounds slightly like it was recorded at home for fun – but in a good way. They’ve done one of 70s songs now. So when they come up to needing an obscure-but-ace song to complete their 90s covers album… all they’ve got to do is Google and here we are. Stop Look and Listen, maybe. ‘Back’ ‘in’ ‘the’ ‘day’ the indie police would have you beaten to death with flowers for mentioning this but… SH is 50 and, let’s just say, she looks pretty good on it. Pretty, pretty good. It would be perverse not to mention this

2. Claire Denamur. French pop fox whose debut album came out this year. I hear her doing Last Minute Miracle. For so many reasons that you would need a lot more time to explain, there’s something quite pure and unselfconscious about French pop. And even a hilarious (ish) spoof of its carefree, cliche-flirting touchstones – like this one – is still a cool thing, even as it rips into that entire notion of Gallic cool. Splish-splash!

(btw thanks to Ms Aliyah Keshani for the spoofy clip. Is she north-west London’s finest so-far-unsung singer-songwriter? Listen to her new song, ‘Running Out’ at www.myspace.com/aliyahk and judge for yourselves. I MAY have written the backing vocals for this song. Another story.)

3. Mareva Galanter. Former Miss France and repopulariser of the ukelele. Seriously. Who knew this stuff was going on? A Eurodisco take on classic 60s pop. There are no English language equivalents of all this, are there? Hmmm. BTW if you do love all that Francoise Hardy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, French-girls-whispering-in-your-ear stuff (and if you don’t, what’s wrong with you?), have a look at this blog, Filles Sourires which is a massive, ongoing tribute to all that stuff. And there’s a lot of it going on. Mainly in France. Obviously.

4. Mary Wyer. Voice of the brilliant but virtually unknown 90s Australian band Even as We Speak. Still singing on youtube, from her house somewhere in the UaE (I think). Here she is doing The Outdoor Type, the brilliant (too much hyperbole here? Well play it and see if I’m wrong) song made famous by The Lemonheads. What is it about her voice?