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FRENCH ELECTRO NEWS
Bob Sinclar, Benjamin Diamond & Château Flight
19/12/2000 -
Bob Sinclar: Champs-Elysées (Yellow Prod. / East West)
Bob Sinclair may be hated by electro purists, but hundreds of thousands of clubbers around the world adore him! Bob stands accused of selling out the French Touch by recycling disco classics and being overly commercial. But maybe Bob's detractors are just jealous of his phenomenal record sales. Anyway, love him or hate him, there's no stopping the prodigious Bob - he's back in the news with a second album!
The man hiding behind the pseudonym Bob Sinclar is none other than top French DJ, Chriss the French Kiss - aka the man who set up leading French electro label Yellow. Together with Laurent Garnier's label F.com, Yellow was instrumental in spearheading the French electro movement, launching the careers of a host of French Touch stars including Dimitri From Paris, Kid Loco and Mighty Bop. Yellow has also established itself as a pioneering avant-garde force with innovative releases such as 'La Yellow 357' (the soundtrack of an imaginary film), jazzed-up bossa and an unusual fusion of Brazilian, Japanese and French sounds.
So why do the Parisian electro elite hold Bob Sinclar in such low esteem? The answer's simple - because Chriss the French Kiss/Bob insists on vamping himself up as a 'star'! And the man who launched his career with I Feel For You recently took things one step further, calling his second album Champs-Elysees (after the French 80s TV showbiz extravaganza of the same name).
When it comes to self-promotion Bob's ego may be a problem for some, but no-one can deny that on another level Monsieur Sinclar has proved surprisingly honest. While other electro artists have used unauthorised samples in their work, provoking endless court cases about unpaid copyright, Bob Sinclar has always acknowledged his sources. Indeed, while working on his new album Bob actually phoned Cerrone in the US and asked permission to sample his work. Flattered by Bob's interest, the 70s disco king not only authorised the samples, but invited Bob over to Los Angeles so that the pair could work in the studio together face to face.
Needless to say, Bob's new album has a strong disco flavour to it - and all the more so as the persuasive Monsieur Sinclar managed to pull off a second coup by getting James-"Dtrain"-Williams to guest on the new single release Darlin. While, personally, we prefer the records Bob put out under the name Mighty Bop (which were actually closer to trip-hop than house), Champs-Elysées is a more than respectable dance album which is guaranteed to get club dancefloors grooving worldwide.
Benjamin Diamond: Strange Attitude (Sony/ Epic)Benjamin Diamond is another key figure on Paris's thriving electro scene. You may not have heard his name before, but you'll definitely have heard his vocals - they featured on Stardust's international dance hit Music Sounds Better With You. It would have been simpler, and frankly a lot more lucrative, for Diamond to remain as a guest artist, adding his sultry, soul-filled vocals over the top of house beats in the manner of Phats and Small. But, motivated by higher musical ambitions, the Stardust boy has decided to record a debut solo album instead.
Benjamin Diamond - better known in the French music industry as The Voice - has put together a refreshing mix of catchy electro pop. Like Bob Sinclar, Diamond has turned back to the 80s for inspiration. But, rather than going in for disco and sequins, Diamond has mined the Soft Cell vein, modelling his sound on Marc Almond and the Soft Cell classic Tainted Love. Leaving disco cliches and house filters aside, Diamond fills his debut album, Strange Attitude, with highly personal songs, celebrating the joys of solitary sex (Playin with Myself), shared pleasures (In Your Arms) and the birth of his baby son (U were born).
Strange Attitude is a touching debut album which possesses all the clumsiness and tenderness of a first kiss. Some listeners may find Diamond's vocal mannerisms irritating, but bear with him. At least the charismatic electro star is capable of performing in concert like any other pop artist! Besides, there are two overwhelming reasons why you have to go out and buy this album - Little Scare and the brilliant 'downtempo' classic Read in Your Mind.
Fans who enjoy the album should also treat themselves to Diamond's fabulous Little Scare EP, remixed by Cosmo Vitelli. This is electro 'deconstruction' at its very best!
Chateau-flight: Puzzle (Pias/ Versatile)And here we are, saving the very best till last - it's an album called Puzzle recorded by French electro duo Chateau-flight. Gilb-r, the first half of Chateau-flight, is renowned for having set up the label Versatile. After making a name for himself on the hip-hop scene in the mid-80s, Gilb-r - who describes himself as a "musical free spirit" - went on to pioneer jungle in France, then he moved on and got involved with the 'Nu-funk' movement. I:CUBE (aka Nicolas Chaix), the other half of Chateau-flight, is the complete antithesis of Gilb-r. Discreet and timid by nature, I:CUBE is into cold, almost clinical-sounding, Detroit techno.
It's hard to imagine two such diametrically-opposed musicians ever working together in the studio - but a mutual desire to move electro sounds onto a completely different plane ended up bringing Gilb-r and I:CUBE together.
Puzzle has caused as great a stir on the electro scene as Daft Punk's seminal album Homework. In fact, dance fans and music critics just can't seem to get enough of Chateau-flight's eclectic mix - we're talking everything from jazzy trip-hop (Camping jazz) and minimalist house (Instant Replay) to wildly futuristic funk (Frontal funk). There's even a trace of UK electro star Herbert's influence on Chateau-Flight's wonderfully delirious track Bizarre which features a selection of ordinary, everyday 'noises'. Auto-power also owes a big musical debt to the German label Compost and its mad South American mixes.
But as far as the rest of the album is concerned, we guarantee you'll never have heard anything like it before. In short, if you only buy one record this year, make sure it's Puzzle!
Willy Richert
