Jane Birkin finishes a short North American tour at Town Hall in NYC tonight (12/11). The great NYC entertainer Joey Arias opens the show and tickets are still on sale.

Jane will be performing the work of her late husband Serge Gainsbourg backed by a group of Japanese performers. As a recent review reads:

A Japanese-originating quartet of piano, drums, trumpet and violin (originally assembled, she told us, to play post-tsunami benefit shows in Tokyo which has since coaxed out on tour) executed the tunes with both original details (those cafe jazz breakbeats when called for) and a modern panache that was needed to hold the whole shebang together. One audience member with an accent explained to another that Birkin was "not rock" just before the show. It was, of course, more beatnik-jazz-pop-cabaret than rock. Still, hearing the likes of "Do Di Dah" without guitar picking might not have been the same, but its playful spirit came shining through in a jazz rendition. Birkin's voice and easy way with a tricky series of notes here and there was a bit of a revelation to some, for sure, and proved more than capable of carrying tunes when the band receded. If it wavered over the high notes, it shouldn't have come as a surprise. That delicacy and naturalism was surely what drew Serge and us to her the first time around--um, and the drop dead gorgeous thing, probably.

Meanwhile, Jane's daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg whose 2010 Beck-produced album IRM gained her lots of attention and brought her to our shores for shows at places like The Bell House, Coachella and Webster Hall, recently released an EP and then an album. The longer album, Stage Whisper, "includes seven unreleased studio recordings and eleven live songs. Many of the studio tracks come from sessions for IRM." The EP, Terrible Angels, was released earlier via Because Music / Elektra, and contains "two unreleased studio tracks, two live recordings, and two videos." All four of the songs are also on Stage Whisper.

You can watch one of the videos, with more info on the two releases, below...

Continue reading "Charlotte Gainsbourg released an album; Jane Birkin on tour (plays Town Hall w/ Joey Arias tonight)"

If you've been wondering what Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album and Beck collaboration IRM sounds like, the full thing is now streaming on NPR.

Gainsbourg is playing two nights at Brooklyn's Bell House tonight (1/19) and tomorrow (1/20). Both are sold out. The opener for the first night is pop duo Dean and Britta; the second night's is Francophilic Brooklyn band Dinosaur Feathers (who have other dates, below, and their debut due this March). She plays Philadelphia's Theater of Living Arts on Friday, January 22nd, and then NYC's Hiro Ballroom (with no opener announced) on Saturday, January 23rd. Tickets for the Hiro show are still on sale.

Gainsbourg is on the lineup for Coachella in April. She recently cancelled some of her non-NYC shows (like Montreal and Toronto scheduled for the end of the month) due to scheduling conflicts. Those are expected to be rescheduled.

Charlotte isn't the only member of the Gainsbourg/Birkin family in the news. As previously mentioned, Jane Birkin (her mother) is playing in NYC in February. And a biopic about her father Serge, titled Serge Gainsbourg, vie héroïque, comes out tomorrow in France (no US screenings scheduled as of yet, though it screens in the UK in September). The trailer for that (NSFW) and all Charlotte Gainsbourg and Dinosaur Feathers tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Charlotte Gainsbourg is here (openers), playing Coachella - new album streaming ++ Serge film out in France (trailer)"

Tickets are on sale for the two shows Jane Birkin is playing in NYC in February. Tickets to the two shows her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg is playing in Brooklyn are still on sale too, but now there's a third option. Tickets ($37.50) go on sale Thursday at noon for a January 23rd Charlotte show at Hiro Ballroom in Manhattan.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, with a new Beck-produced album out in the US this month, is coming to NYC for a pair of shows on January 19th and 20th at Bell House. Clips from that album are streaming on her website.

Jane Birkin, her mother, is also going to be in town for a pair of performances soon. She'll sing at French Institute/Florence Gould Hall on February 11th and 12th. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, January 5th at 5pm.

Last September, Birkin put out Jane Birkin au Palace, a live collection of songs by herself and her late ex-husband Serge Gainsbourg (including tracks off her most recent studio record, 2008's Enfants d'Hiver). Clips from the album are streaming on her site.

Before coming to the US, Jane Birkin has January dates in France and Belgium. Her full schedule and a few classic and recent videos are below...

Continue reading "Jane Birkin playing two NYC shows (about a month after the two her daughter is playing) - dates & more"