I like Metal Urbain, of course. And Mopo Mogo. And Sloy are a good band who are kinda like JSBX or something. And uhhhh... maybe the Stinky Toys ? But other than that I don't know much about french bands or music. What french bands do you guys like ?

edit: I forgot about Heldon.

Am no expert, but if you're into the post-punk/avant-garde stuff, definitely check out Ruth/Thierry Mueller, in particular his classic album, Polaroid/Roman Photo. I also like his much later album Far From Paradise with Mushy. A swell, all-killer-no-filler compilation, So Young But So Cold came out in the aughts, featuring Ruth and the likes of Charles de Goal, Jacno (of Ellie & Jacno fame), J.J. Burnel of The Stranglers, etc.

As far as sixties, vaguely mod/freakbeat/whatever stuff goes, Jacques Dutronc is a must. Also a fan of Ronnie Bird (see this CD), particularly "Les Filles En Sucre D'orge" and "S.O.S. Mesdemoiselles." Some great ye-ye girl stuff is to be found if you look into France Gall and Annie Philippe, etc. There's also a very good compilation Whizzz!, which you can download from Amazon if the disc isn't available for a reasonable enough price.

Lio's album Suite Sixteen is sort of an eighties pop update of this stuff. It's catchy and well executed.

As something light, have always found this eighties Elli & Jacno track, "Chica Chica Bongo," to be fun:



As far as sort of moody, instrumental/"library"-adjacent music goes, I love Jacqueline Thibault's stuff under the name Laurence Vanay, in particular this and this (the first one especially goes over well this time a year).

ATM, that's all I got. Am of French descent partially and have absorbed a lot of French culture, but as an outsider I couldn't say much about what goes on there today (French hip-hop/indie rock/metal/dreampop/punk/etc.). HTH

Gatechien - cool bass/drums duo from France
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCFg-opFIi8

Magma

Treponem Pal's debut (1989) kicks some serious ass. Industrial heaviness ala Young Gods. Add some Godfleshery.

Noir desir had some following here in Spain but they're meh.

Baton Rouge. Their last record "Totem" has become one of the my favorite records of the last few years. Broke up shortly after its release, and sadly one of the members recently passed away.

Some PRF-y bands:

https://papiertigre.bandcamp.com/
https://stellapeel.bandcamp.com/

I miss this band, but I'm always delighted to share their music with those who ask about French sounds.

The duo Hint seems like it would appeal to a lot of people around here:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/168648-Hint-3

And the drum-machine noise-punk band RWA was quite good. Nowadays perhaps best remembered for the Julie Doucet cover art of many of their records:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/496569-RWA-2

DaveA wrote:As something light, have always found this eighties Elli & Jacno track, "Chica Chica Bongo," to be fun

Elli & Jacno, wow. Deep '80s pop. Stinky Toys, the punk band from which they sprang, were not so remarkable excluding the song "Birthday Party," which is bizarre, fractured, and completely amazing (w/one of the world's most awkward music videos). Methinks Elli in that clip also belongs in the crushes thread from the old forum.

De Québec: