Versatile France Vinyl & CDs

Review: Usually, the purpose of a piece like this is to tell other writers, music mag editors, distribution people and record shop clerks why they should like a certain release and buy, hype, review it. Often these encomiums are not really honest and sometimes you even feel like attending an attempt to sell a flat tire. As for I:Cube’s new longplayer „M“ Megamix things are – of course! – very different.

‘’M“ Megamix is nothing short of his magnum opus. Aptly titled, it is an assortment of all things that make (electronic) dance music or what you think it is enjoyable. I:Cube himself will be the first to tell you that the creation of a coherent album full of dance music tunes is comparable to Sisyphus’ pain. It is just impossible. Music that is primarily made for DJs and for people that like to dance needs a format that is closer to the site of its performance. In a strike of genius this album bridges the gap between a mixtape, an album and a live recording. Paying tribute to the rampant short-term attention span it is woven together in an impromptu one-way take and without any sequencing preparation. “M” Megamix carries 24 tracks that sometimes play longer, sometimes only appear for a brief flash, but always leave you longing for more and grabs you from the first moment on.

The result? It feels like your favourite DJ mix cassette with a ton of tracks that you always wanted identified and never could get your hands on. Including all the three tracks of I:Cube’s latest 12-inch effort “Lucifer En Discothèque”, it builds around those three tracks and all those little details and big elements he is famous and loved for. House and techno exchange their DNA strands, you will find traces of dance music past, present and future, hints of disco loops, Italo ballads, French romanticism, a love for the ruff, the tuff and the tender and the more or less complete I:Cube personal music history between his record and studio shelves.

I could do you journalists a favour now and name-check all the influences, stimuli and blueprints that I catch here, but that would make your work all too easy and take away from Chaix’ very own gifted talent. All that is left to say is that “M” Megamix makes me want to listen again, again and again. I:Cube, I salute you.

Tracklisting:

1.Not Important
2.Bajo Bajo
3.Grotto
4.Your Brain
5.Transparent Sea Creatures
6.Transpiration
7.Zero Tastatur
8.In Alpha
9.Interludio
10.Y.O.U.R.O.C.K
11.Get The Fever
12.Cadence III
13.Jah Menta
14.Makossa Suspens
15.N’dololo X M
16.Magnetic Mambo
17.Omamo
18.Club Minature
19.Le Rocher Aux Singes
20.Déflation
21.Popular Electronics
22.Too Old For This
23.Lucifer en Discothque
24.SH 50 Storm

Review: While largely unknown this side of the English Channel, Benjamin Vidal is one of France's most notorious crate diggers and record collectors. It's nice to see Gilb'r and company giving him a chance to showcase these digging skills via a compilation of his own on Versatile. Disco Sympathie differs from many bog standard disco compilations as it focuses entirely on French music from the early 1980s. The names are unfamiliar, and the sounds even more so; a hotchpotch of quirky, tongue-in-cheek cuts that variously doff a beret to American boogie, British and German synth-wave, eccentric synth-pop and the kind of expansive post-disco madness that thrills and intrigues in equal measure. It also features Sonia's "Sur Ma Musique", a hidden gem from 1980 that joins the dots between tongue-in-cheek Italo and throbbing synth-pop. It's not an expensive record, but it's certainly a great one.

Review: French duo Zombie Zombie has always been one of Versatile's more eccentric acts. Inspired by a mix of Krautrock, Italo, synth-wave and John Carpenter style horror disco (their last album was a set of cover's of the director-turned-musician's work), they continually produce music that's both hard to place and thrillingly exciting. Rituels D'N Nouvelle Monde once again gathers together these influences and makes them into a coherent, anything-goes whole. Like previous sets, there's much to admire, from the rising freak organ and military drums of "L'Age D'Or" and shuffling Giallo-goes-kraut vibes of "Black Paradise", to the hissing slasher disco of "Illuminations".