"Le Fil" is the first American disc from French sensation Camille, who was also the voice of the lounge-y remakes of new wave hits released last year as Nouvelle Vague. "Le Fil" was released last week by Milwaukee-based Narada Records. Although her warm, smoky voice carries over from the Nouvelle Vague discs, the music is totally different here. Instead of retro lounge, Camille as a solist prefers modern pop music infused with contemporary R&B sounds. There is only one song -- out of 18 -- in English.
Meanwhile, Germany's Geka, whose disc "Station" is out now on Le Pop Musik, is part of the acoustic movement that swept across the U.K. and Europe in the past few years and this young singer/songwriter, who peforms entirely in English on "Station," lays her child-like voice and her tentative English over languidly jangling electric guitars and a relaxed, low-key rhythm section.
Both singers -- despite their divergent genres -- conjure the youthful Francoise Hardy.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
