Les Rita Mitsouko is my favorite band. At first, I thought that they are my favorite French rock n' roll band, but the truth is they are my number one favorite band. If one can call them a band. Les Rita Mitsouko was a couple: Catherine Ringer and the late Fred Chichin. Both were multi-instrumentalists and wrote the songs together. Like The Cramps and Sparks, they were a perfect individual unit who used outside players, but the main core is always the two of them. "Rita Mitsouko" is their first album. I loved them by the first note on the first song of side one "Restez Avec Moi." The rhythm is very much a Bal Musette dance, and it's a combination of electronics and guitar that makes this song irresistible. If one can fall in love with a human, then inevitably a listener can fall in love with Les Rita Mitsouko.
Catherine Ringer is one of the significant figures in contemporary music, and the fact that she's unknown in the United States is apparently a crime against culture. Her voice and even more important, her stance, is a beauty to behold. There are individuals that for no other reason that they just have that "it" quality, which is a rarity, and Ringer oozes personality and talent. She's up there with her country's Juliette Gréco or Edith Piaf but is obviously both a traditionist as well as a standout in any category of popular music. Chichin and Ringer have a robust sexual aura as well as classic groove chops, and I can never resist their sensual pull to their music.
If I have to make a comparison to their sound, I think of Iggy Pop's "The Idiot" as the closest album that kind of resembles Les Rita Mitsouko's sound and world. There is a strong "I don't give a damn" quality in their work, that's is essential rock n' roll spirit. Wonderfully unique, and equally charming at the same time. Their first album "Rita Mitsouko" captures a freshness that I find so enticing that their work is close to falling in love for the first time.
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