Music Video: Pierre Ferdinand et les Charmeurs - Ganz Paris ist eine Disco

Let me just put this out there: I'm a lazy liar.  Yesterday, when I posted that I had run out of interest in previewing Bundesvision 2011, I indicated that much of it had to do with reviewing songs that were not terribly appealing to me.  Well, that was partially true.  That sentiment was based on incomplete information though.  When the bands for Bundesvision 2011 were announced way back in June, they didn't announce the songs.  So, having nothing else to go on, I listened to whatever random sampling of music I could find online.  When I came to Saarland entry Pierre Ferdinand et les Charmeurs, I was unimpressed by what little I heard.  They seemed like the kind of novelty act that is amusing for about a day and a half, and ends up losing a competition like Bundesvision by dozens of points (see Lower Saxony's Dirk Darmstaedter & Bernd Begemann's entry from last year, So geht das jede Nacht).

However, when I looked at the final scores from Bundesvision 2011, I noticed something that caught me by surprise.  Pierre Ferdinand et les Charmeurs' entry, Ganz Paris ist eine Disco, did not finish in last place as I had expected.  Not even close.  Sure, it didn't win either.  But 11th Place out of 16 entries was still markedly better than I had expected.  What is up with that?

Then I finally watched the video for Ganz Paris ist eine Disco, and I actually really like it.  It is disco with a healthy dollop of funk.  Yes, it is kitschy, and it is certainly tongue in cheek.  But it also gets me smiling and my feet tapping.  Lying and sloth may be deadly sins, but hopefully my confession of actually enjoying Ganz Paris ist eine Disco will at least take a little time off my stay in limbo.

Music Video: Xindl X - Dysgrafik

I always hate it when somebody says that a particular language doesn't "track well" for popular music - typically they say this when explaining why everybody wants to sing pop in English, and why non-English music is supposedly inferior.  I hate it. . . but then occasionally I hear music from a non-English speaking country, and I think to myself, "Wow, that language really doesn't track well."  Up until today, that is what I thought of music from the Czech Republic.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Czech people, and Czech art and literature is some of the most moving and complex in the world.  But their popular music has always sounded a little "off" to me.  But totally disproving this prejudice, along comes Xindl X.  His mix of hip-hop, reggae, jazz, funk, and myriad other influences just sounds good.  Listen to Dysgrafik, and I think you will agree.

Music Video: Jan Delay - Feuer

I have a huge backlog of videos to post, so I'll just get underway with Jan Delay and his song Feuer.  This is one of the fist songs of Jan's that I heard, and I really like how he has made the transition from hip-hop to more of a soul/funk.