I Could Definitely Take The Place Of Your Man: Some swaggering electro-pop that aspires to knock the little purple fella off his throne. But can he back it up? From ‘Sweat Symphony’, here’s Flairs with ‘Better Than Prince’.

The best band in France return with a cracking new song off their forthcoming new album. From 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix', here's Phoenix with '1901'.

Piano forte: Thanks to her dark, dramatic piano-pop, Maud Lübeck has become a cult favourite on the Paris scene - and she’s going to become massively popular in 2009. Check out some new songs on her MySpace page and watch a video for one of her oldies. 

Springtime in Paris: meet the evocatively-named Californian who’s obsessed with hipswinging ‘60s French pop. Thanks to some Tarantino patronage, you probably know one of her songs – so we’ll show you another one. Plus: her brilliantly-named former bands!

…but enough about our sordid private life. Here’s a classic French single from 1981 that we’ve just heard for the first time: Patrick Coutin’s twitchy, sinewy ‘J’aime Regarder Les Filles’.

Initials BB: The idiosyncratic French electro-popper and producer bids farewell to live performing... in a small community centre outside Paris. Your correspondent treks out to the sticks to investigate. (Contains reference to Michel Houellebecq.)

No recession in the activity or popularity of the Déise troubadour, who returns to France for a series of Paris shows before jaunting off round Sweden and the Netherlands. From a previous visit Seine-side, watch him singing ‘Leaves In The Sun’

Some quintessentially French industrial action and transport disruption today, which reminds us of one person who may well take advantage - 'Joe Le Taxi'. Here's the young Vanessa Paradis, more wholesome than you remember.

For half the cost of a Dublin ticket, you can see both The Boss and his worshippers The Killers on the first day of one of France's big music festivals.

Awful name for a Paris band that makes great Beach Boys-style blissed-out pop. After that, you know as much as we do. But check out their tunes on MySpace.

It's not just the Irish '80s icons who are back - France's own post-punk heroes have a new song out. And it's not bad at all. Here's 'Little Dolls' by Indochine.

The first Irish act to play in Paris in deux mille neuf is the idiosyncratic Dubliner, no stranger to the French capital. He seems to be playing in a corner shop, though.

The new year in French music kicks off with some gorgeous Au Revoir Simone-style electro-pop from two Paris girls. Check out Andromakers and 'Electricity', the first essential slice of French pop for 2009.

20,000 ligs under the sea(-level): This weekend's annual European indie showcase kicks off serious pop business for 2009. Here's a quick look at some of the acts who will be in Groningen, including a video from French band Neimo.

Our fourth annual list of the top albums and songs from France. The winning song was a clear favourite from the start, but the race for best album was a tighter affair. Let’s find out who won and lost.

Before we reveal our Best French Music of 2008, here’s what the writers at two influential French rock publications have chosen as their top albums of the year.

We’ve spent our Christmas learning how the French invented disco – and discovering the family secret that explains why Daft Punk hide their faces. Here’s Cerrone, the man who was too busy inventing the four-on-the-floor beat to notice women’s liberation happening around him.

A quick reminder of our annual end-of-year Best French Music poll - have a look through our back pages and let us know what you liked. To give you another runner for consideration, and to justify our excruciating title pun, here's 'This Is It' by Benjamin Diamond, who you probably have heard before.

Yes! A new album on the way from one of our very favourite French singers, the marvellous Emily Loizeau. And the first single, 'Sister', is rather nice. Have a listen to a snippet of the English version. And watch out for the bearded lady!

Silent night: Christmas in Paris is wonderful. All that's missing is the Christmas music - there are no festive French pop songs. What a shower of grinches! Here's the song that most French people associate with Christmas - 'Petit Papa Noel'.

She sings, she scores: A very favourable review for Mlle Blackman and her debut album from France's most influential music magazine. We do our best to translate. 

The Birdy dance: the world-champion turntable quartet are doing a DJ set at the ALT in Dublin this Friday. Check out their mixing skills in the video for 'Abbesses'.

Two very different Dublin acts visit the French capital tonight - soul-poppers The Script and glam-cabaret-whatever Gavin Friday. From the latter, watch 'I Want To Live' and 'King of Trash'. 

Eur-a-star: Another French group who've hopped the Channel to make a name for themselves. From their fine debut album, check out some Underground Railroad tunes and watch the video for 'Kill Me Now'.

Lendin’ calling: in praise of our local libraries, whose large and diverse music collections are educating the masses (e.g. your blogger). Here’s something we discovered there; ‘The Way It Is’ by Nicole Atkins. Plus: play our music library game!