Chat Noir Tools France Vinyl & CDs

Review: Kitchen Plug is a Parisian trio that seeks to combine "the rebellious energy of punk and the synth-driven chaos of electro." This new EP on Chat Noir does bear that out with some playful and quirky cuts packed with fresh sound designs and charming vocals over some effective drum programming. 'A New Kind Of Peace' is a hooky opener with a carefree vibe, 'L'amante (feat Vica)' brings some disco licks and 'La Nuit' gets more raw and direct. 'Confusao' is a balmy and widescreen number that encourages you to daydream and 'Captain Nikouze' shuts down with some pixelated synth madness.

Review: Five years after launching (via a fine EP from Vitess), Chat Noir Records' offshoot Chat Noir Tools - a self-styled 'club oriented experiment lab' - notches up its 15th EP. It's a split affair, with two tracks apiece from label regular Lungo and French graffiti artist/graphic designer turned producer Numero 6. The latter kicks off the EP with 'Do It Again', where woozy, pitched-down vocal samples, drowsy deep house chords and spacey electronic noises ride a crunchy, formative Chicago house beat, before returning to round off the EP with the analogue-rich nu-disco quirkiness of 'Choubidou'. Sandwiched in between you'll find Lungo's contributions - the electro/deep house hybrid 'Bem O Bom', and the synth-heavy nu-disco squelch of 'I Have Some Bad News', where Mr Oizo style electronic motifs and colourful chords catch the ear.