1. Françoise Hardy — ‘si tu crois un jour que tu m'aimes’. Perfect love song, and the drummer getting crazy at the end makes it more interesting. The song could be dedicated to Jacques Dutronc, her husband, or to Mike Jagger, or any of the artists where she's been the muse.

2. Serge Gainsbourg — ‘Melody Nelson’. Certainly the masterpiece album of French pop. Everything is here: the writing, arrangement, sound... it's really like an orgasm, a rise in intensity. The album was a total fail in terms of sales, no one really understood that concept album when it was released.

3. Michel Polnareff — ‘Lettre à France’. A love song he wrote when living in the US for years, without the possibility to return to France due to court things... He never paid taxes and became a little nutty, I think he is still.

4. Taxi Girl — ‘cherchez le garçon’. The most popular song of the French electronic/ new wave pop music during the ‘80s. Mirwais and Daniel Darc high on androgyny, dark wave vibe, totally mindblowing and revolutionary when it was released.

5. Michel Berger — ‘la groupie du pianiste’. The most important songwriter in France with Gainsbourg. Masterpiece. This song was his first commercial success, and the biggest so far.

Yuksek plays Oh Hello Friday July 12 and Elsewhere Friday July 19.