Once up on a time, a long time ago, the pop music of France was a joke to the outside world. Serge Gainsbourg and certain Parisian chanson auteurs received occasional plaudits but, for the most part, coverage consisted of throwaway sniggering at Johnny Halliday. No longer. From Daft Punk to David Guetta, from Air to Justice, the French are now colossi of dance-pop which, let’s face it, in 2014 is all pop. One day, when the dust settles and leather elbow-padded rave historians peek into how this change came about, three names will recur: Daft Punk, of course, but also techno visionary Laurent Garnier and, yes, house producer Etienne de Crecy.
During the 1990s this trio put France on the map as home to cheeky, smart, and imaginative dancefloor sounds. As well as being a member of early French house duo Motorbass, de Crecy was behind Super Discount, a fake compilation (it was almost all his own work) that riffed on the stripped back filter-disco output of American producers such as DJ Sneak. Eighteen years after the original, and following a second volume in 2004 that boasted “maximal” electro cuts, Super Discount is back. This time de Crecy has melded fizzing 21st-century electro-pop that’s the calling card of everyone from Robyn to La Roux with a bangin’ four-to-the-floor club agenda. Most of the time this works a treat. It may not be exactly groundbreaking but it’s mostly a heap of fun.
The album opens with an opulent cinematic tune called “Cut the Crap”, but then we’re into material that ranges from the sweet songcraft of “Family” and “Follow”, respectively featuring the notable vocal talents of Baxter Dury and Kilo Kish (both more bedroom than dancefloor), to low funk grooves such as “Smile”, made in collaboration with de Crecy’s old pal Alex Gopher, and pastiche Eighties electro-grooves such as “Hashtag my Ass”. It all bubbles along with warmth, interlaid with appealing motes of melody. For those after de Crecy’s tougher, techno side, Super Discount 3 won’t satisfy, but listened to as a genial cousin to, say, Röyskopp’s excellent new album, it has legs.
Overleaf: Watch the video for "Hastag my Ass"
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