Synthesizers are Evil
Over in Paris right now, it seems the kids can't get enough of dancing to the synthesizer music, the harder and darker the better. There is even a scene of a sort, that includes blogger favorites Justice and Uffie, rising Kitsune star Digitalism, SebastiAn, as well as seminal electro-rap crew TTC, Kavinsky, the newest work by Mr. Oizo and Feadz. According to a buddy of mine, a lot of these guys are hanging out together and doing more and more shows and such, which I hope means will lead to collaborations.
If you haven't heard this stuff, essentially the sound is all about square-wave mono-synths - actually it is the kind of sound that, if you have one of those sound-system test CDs, would say "warning, the following sound can damage your speakers" before it, because the transients (the attack vs fall-off) are wicked sharp, regular, and fast - it is used as a stress test for speakers. Basically what this means is that it buzzes, but in a nasty way that makes your stomach feel funny, and for a lot of people (myself included) makes your feet want to move.
So, new to the scene is this young man (just 20!): DJ and producer datA from the outskirts of Paris, who says he likes "Michael Jackson, Jean-Michel Jarre, Daft Punk, Chroméo, Jamie Lidell, Pharrell Williams" - sounds like a reasonable swath of pop goodness. He has DJed at hot spots Triptyque and Nouveau Casino, and will be playing in Berlin tonight at Raum-Klang with Léonard de Léonard, and Chris de Luca (one half of Funkstörung), and then back in Paris in May, with Tacteel (from TTC), and SebastiAn (on Ed Banger Records - like Kitsune, they are also strong supporters of the new Parisian electronic scene), as well as a handful of other French DJs.
This song comes from his first record, the Trop Laser EP, being released in early May by Ekler'o'shock, who have put out records by DJ Raedawn/Crunc Tesla, robot alumni APSCi and Léonard de Léonard. Visit the Ekler'o'shock site, where you can also purchase their releases, and datA's Myspace page for more info and to stream the other songs on the EP.
Expect to see and hear more from this emerging scene here on MFR, so le séjour a accordé.
PS: I realize this is really just the beginning here - I've already found another few players, such as Busy P and been contacted by the Institubes label. As I said before, stay tuned for more...