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Album review
Alex Gopher
The Long-awaited Debut
Paris
24/09/1999 -
Alex Gopher is no newcomer to the French electro music scene - in fact, his debut album has been waiting around in record company offices for years! Now that "You, My Baby and I" has finally seen the light of day, music fans will discover an album, which fuses the very best the French electro scene, has to offer.
While a batch of electro albums generally explode onto the French music scene in June, ready to hit club dance floors over the summer months, Alex Gopher has decided to stand out from the crowd, releasing his long-awaited first album in the autumn. In fact, Gopher put the finishing touches to his debut album "You, My Baby & I" several years ago, and the album has apparently been hanging around record companies ever since waiting for marketing execs to find the right "niche". With the vogue for French electro reaching epic proportions, record company bosses have finally decided the time is ripe - and while Gopher's label does not boast the same budget as Virgin (who snapped up French electro stars Daft Punk, Air and Cassius) - they appear to be preparing a mega-promotion for "You, My Baby and I". All eyes are riveted on the international scene. Indeed, V2's marketing department is gearing up to hit no less than 37 countries worldwide and they are no doubt hoping that the success of Gopher's two summer singles ("The Child" and "Party People") augurs well for album sales. 
Alex and His Friends Alex Gopher may be in the process of releasing his first album, but he is certainly no newcomer to the French music scene. Gopher launched his career as a sound engineer at Translab and French music fans will have noticed his name on the credits of a host of famous French albums including Rodolphe Burger's "Meteor Show". But Gopher has also made a name for himself with his brilliant remixes, adding a special electro touch to Teri Moïse's "Les Poèmes de Michelle", Jean-Louis Aubert's "Océan" and the Zazie classic "Tout le monde". The indefatigable mixer has also dabbled with reggae stars Sly and Robbie (n.b. the legendary Bob Marley riff on "Superthruster") and Nightwares on Wax ("Finer") and collaborated with a host of friends on the French dance scene, working with the likes of Bob Sinclar ("Ultimate Funk"), Bang Bang ("Hi Love") and last, but definitely not least, Etienne de Crécy ("Prix Choc"). Gopher, who has also featured on numerous Source Lab compilations, is also renowned for his work with the group Superdiscount. And his EPs (including the excellent "Gordini Mix") have become cult buys in their own right. In fact, Alex Gopher's music C.V. reads like a long list of name-drops. The electro maestro launched his career in 1985, performing with French pop group Orange - a group where his fellow band members were none other than Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin (better known as best-selling French duo Air) and Xavier Jamaux (of Bang Bang and Ollano fame). Gopher then went on to collaborate with another seminal figure on the French dance scene, Etienne de Crécy. But he has also worked with French rap king MC Solaar and Marseilles rap stars Freeman, Shurik'n, Faf la Rage and Khéops. As for the video for Gopher's summer single, "Party People", it was produced by a certain Quentin Dupieux - better known to techno fans as the fabulous Mr Oizo.
Funk, Sampling and Influences So, what of Alex Gopher's new album, "You, My Baby & I"? Well, in short, the ten finely-crafted tracks on the album are masterpieces of electro precision and techno-funk. The album gets off to a superbly funky start with the excellent "Time" (a track recorded in collaboration with Michael 'Clip' Payne, from Georges Clinton's Funkadelic All Stars). And the funk vibe grooves right on through two other smoothly dance-oriented tracks, "Quiet Storm" and "Party People". But the outstanding track on Gopher's debut album is undoubtedly "The Child". Already released as a single - and looking as if it will soon attain hit status - "The Child" features a heart-stopping sample of Billie Holiday's emotionally-charged vocals. Jazz purists will doubtless consider the sampling to be the ultimate sacrilege, but "The Child" actually feels more like a personal tribute to Holiday's sultry, velvet tones. In fact, on a close listen, "You, My Baby and I" contains a whole host of hidden references and tributes - "Tryin '" bears very obvious traces of Superdiscount, "Ralph and Kathy" sounds uncannily like Air at their best and "With U" (a track which easily out-Prices Prince) is not without its Daft Punk influences. However, there's much more to Alex Gopher than clever references to techno classics and it would be a great mistake to pigeon-hole the maestro in the "French Touch" section and leave it at that. Gopher is an original and to him electro beats are only one way of showing off his musical savoir-faire. In fact, when it comes down to it Gopher's influences are closer to the festive exuberance of P-Funk than straightforward electro. So we recommend music fans "get down" and enjoy this fun-filled brand of French techno-funk as soon as possible. Alex Gopher, You, My Baby & I (V2) 1999
Emmanuel Dumesnil
Translation : Julie Street
