Bob Sinclar, king of French house

New album Western Dream

Paris 

18/05/2006 - 

Over the years, French house star Bob Sinclar has promoted a certain image of French style worldwide. Now on his fourth album, Western Dream, the French DJ heads out West in search of wide open spaces, rolling his wagon off the pure disco track and venturing into new musical territory. Bob Sinclar thus joins the small and very select club of turntable stars who have become inspired creators in their own right.

On his fourth album, Western Dream, Bob Sinclar flings the door wide open to new musical trends, but the canny turntable maestro has managed to keep one foot on the dancefloor, the sound of disco revolving through his work like the legendary glitter ball. Thanks to his reworking of disco with pop instruments (much in the same vein as French group Phoenix), Monsieur Sinclar's current output is now happily outstripping sales of his previous work – the chart-topping success of his singles Love Generation and World, Hold on are living proof of that!

"I always wanted to put the focus on disco more than anything else," declares Christophe Le Friant, the man behind Bob Sinclar's façade. "I took inspiration from typical disco vocals, trying to keep the disco spirit of those vocal hooks. And I'm pleased to see that Everybody movin’ has proved to be a particularly big hit with DJs. That's one of the most out-and-out dance tracks on the new album." Bob also prides himself on the fact that Everybody movin’ currently ranks as one of the tracks DJs most frequently download from the Internet. "I think it's great, the speed with which DJs react and listen to new tracks. They download them and play them in clubs the very same night. That means I'm in a situation where I can compose new material and test it out on audiences straightaway " 

These days Bob Sinclar's new material gets tested on the crème de la crème of the world's dancefloors, not just down the local disco dancefloor! Take Western Dream, for instance, whose release has been eagerly awaited since the start of April. Bob's new album got the all-star treatment with a showbizz launch at Man Ray, an ultra-stylish club just off the Champs-Elysées, in Paris, where nonchalant celebrities and blasé 'bobos' (bourgeois bohemians) partied the night away listening to the new tracks on Western Dream. Poised against a backdrop of pumping bass, deep-bore percussion and sparkling vocals, Pascal Nègre, director of Universal Music, was fully aware of the impact the French DJ was having on the global economy of his label. "I think people had become a bit blasé in Paris, between the world of VIPs, the haves and the have nots… And up until now no-one had managed to get everyone together grooving to the sound of the same DJ. But things are changing, the mainstream public's much more taken into account now and there's a lot less elitism. The nightclub scene hasn't just developed glamour in Paris, but in the provinces, too, distributing good-looking flyers and encouraging clubbers to dress up to go out."

And therein lies the secret of Bob Sinclar's success. Like Joe Smooth and Funhouse in the late 80s, his music filters through every social layer of the weekend clubbing population. "The success of my single Love Generation is an ongoing source of satisfaction," admits Chris/Bob, "After 12 years of plugging away putting in a lot of hard work, everything comes up roses at once. Not only did Starac' (the French version of Fame Academy) use the track as its theme tune, but there have been 120,000 downloads of it on the Net. The cash coming in from this means my label Yellow Productions can keep on signing top-quality new artists." Meanwhile, proving the adage that good news comes in threes, hip New York hip-hop and electro label Tommy Boy (home to Biz Marquie, De La Soul, Masters at Work, Information Society) has just signed a contract with Bob for the American market.

Meanwhile, back at the ultra-hip Man Ray, the first bars of Tennessee pound through the room, sweeping the crowd up on a mix of electronic rhythm'n'blues à la Moby and Neptunian pop sounds (Bob Sinclar has never hidden the inspiration he has drawn from Pharell Williams). Bob appears to have tapped into the Stock, Aitken, & Waterman school of hit-making, reworking his instantly identifiable sound across different tracks on the same album. Roaming across the vast musical plains of Western Dream we come across For You, a song whose similarity to Daft Punk and the DFA stable is brandished loud and clear. Farrell Lennon's familiar vibrant, acid vocals soar above a solid rock base, which progressively builds throughout the track. "I'm learning to use guitar little by little, working with the experienced musicians I hired for the album, " offers Bob by way of explanation.

Bob Sinclar has definitively shaken off the old complex that DJs are only good at spinning and mixing. Stepping out from behind the turntables, he uses his fourth album to display his production skills and vaunt his impressive musical culture, which proves to be every bit as vast as it is eclectic. But a heartfelt injection of passion and soul binds the whole album together. Somewhere between Gorillaz's musical patchwork, Kanye West's hip-hop fusion and the cool sounds of soul and hip-hop diva Erikah Baduh, Christophe Le Friant imbues his fourth album with the hours he has put in soaking up other styles and influences. Talking of which, Frankie Knuckles and De La Soul definitely influenced Monsieur Sinclar in the making of World Hold On – which surpassed even Joe Smooth's late 80s dance smash Promised Land!

There's a constant to-ing and fro-ing at the heart of the Bob Sinclar sound, partway between the origins of disco and contemporary electro trends. As Monsieur Sinclar himself points out, DJ culture is constantly evolving. "Because DJs are the only artists who play so many live sets, their approach to live performance keeps evolving all the time. Technology itself is constantly evolving and French house is now light years away from what used to be dubbed 'French Touch'!" Bob's acknowledgement of the constant march of technology does not mean he is an advocate of liberalising music at all costs. "I'm in favour of regulating the Internet in a fairer way," he says, "with paying downloads, for instance."

Ever conscious of putting back into the music world what he has taken out of it, Chris/Bob certainly didn't skimp on the recording budget when it came to Western Dream. He invited electro genius Martin Solveig (Everybody) to compose For You and FR David, the man who wrote Words (don’t come easy), to arrange Miss Me. Cerrone's composer, Alain Wisniak, also makes a comeback on the album that he co-wrote in collaboration with FR David and Sinclar himself. Meanwhile, Gary Pine from the Wailers lays his impressive vocals over Love Generation (the international dance smash which, besides being adopted as theme tune to Star Ac’ in France, now provides advertising music in Italy and the anthem to Pete Tong's show on the BBC). Farrell Lennon and Ron Caroll bring equally hot soul vocals to the fore on other tracks, while Steve Edwards serves up reggae hooks and the choir from the American Church in Paris put in an appearance on Give a Lil' Love.

In short, the new house & pop album by the former member of The Mighty Bop confirms Monsieur Sinclar is now a mighty Bob in his own right. Western Dream has already rocketed to the top of the charts worldwide, holding its own as a French album with a truly international sound.

Bob Sinclar Western Dream (Barclay) 2006

David  Glaser

Translation : Julie  Street