Les Rythmes Digitales
Darkdancer Biography
Meet Jacques Lu Cont - the blue-eyed, scarlet
coiffured 21 year old genius behind modern pop music
phenomenon, Les Rythmes Digitales.
Firstly, despite the parodic french moniker, Jacques
did not spend his formitive years in Paris - be
swathed by strings of onions, as he has been widely
(semi) believed. True enough; he was born there, in
1977. However, those currently going ga-ga for all
things Gaellic, take note: his classical pianist
parents actually whisked him to live in Europe's
largest housing estate in Reading, at the tender age
of six months. Here, among Brookside-ian
architecture, slyly-twitching curtains and proud car
washing on Sunday, he advanced slowly towards his own
unique take on the biz known as show.
Sadly, the hit parade was frowned upon by his
parents. "I was denied the opportunity to listen to
much pop music", rues Jacques, "although I do
remember having 'Pipes Of Peace' by Paul
McCartney...' Instead, Jacques was encouraged by his
elders to listen to Mozart, to tinkle the ivories (he
passed his Grade 8 before he'd even started shaving)
and gain a thorough understanding of tune making.
It was Christmas, and Jacques was eleven years old
when Santa dropped a £50 second hand ARP sythesiser
down the artifcial chimney. Now he could play along
with those furtively purchased Pet Shop Boys'
records. Alas, too much spent in his boudoir, with
only the poignant warblings of fey West End Girls to
keep him company eventually prompted a minor mental
breakdown. Luckily, they were nice at the local
Special Clinic.... Why, they even had group music
therapy classes! And clever Jacques - no tambourine
for him ; he blagged the long -since discarded
keyboard , and soon cheered everyone up with a few
bars of Human League -ery. "They're my all time
favourite band," he now states - he is NOT , repeat
NOT being ironic.
Inspired by these melodic excursions, and by his
school music teacher (hello Mr Soper) Jacques "began
to spend any money I got on Keyboards or effects
boxes and stuff until I'd built myself a studio at
home. I began writing stuff and making loads of
tapes..." He would freely give said casettes to mates
and cohorts, and somehow one winged it's way to the
desk of Mark Jones, founder of the Wall Of Sound
label. It was 1994 and Jacques was aged 17. "He
called me and asked me to go and see him, "recalls
Jacques, "I was a bit sceptical at first 'cause of my
love of pop and 'cause Wall Of Sound was this sort of
underground music label, but Mark really talked the
talk and understood exactly what I was doing..."
Promptly signed up, Jacques immersed himself in the
studio, and in, 1995 gave us Liberation - an 8 track
album, which included his debut single 'Kontakte'. In
hindsight, Jacques believes this period " was more of
a techno-hybrid, I hadn't really found my feet or
condensed my love of pop into what I was doing. I've
got more confidence now to celebrate all my
influences." The subsequent singles 'Jacques Your
Body' , ' Music Makes You Lose Control', and '(Hey
You) What's That Sound' (Boy George lent his
macquillage in the accompanying video ) really hit
the mark and began to spread the intimitable Les
Rythmes Digitales sound across the globe. As did
Jacques DJ-ing skills, now requested in clubs as far
flung as Nottingham to Paris. (incidentally, he does
play his own records, though unlike George Michael,
he doesn't dance to them). Not only that, Jacques
prowess as a knob twiddler par excellence has
resulted in his sterling remix work for Cassius'
'Feeling For You', Cornershop's 'Sleep On The Left
Side', Pavement's first ever remix, 'Passat Dreams',
Placebo's 'Pure Morning' and most recently, Laptop's
'Nothing To Declare' - all of whom have been enhanced
by the unique Les Rythmes Digitales' treatment.
No less attention grabbing was/is Jacques distinctive
(there's an understatement) dress sense:
warm-leatherette suits, slip on shoes - little seen
since the days os Sheffield's Crazy Daisy
Discotheque, and a fright-wig hair do of the Sigue
Sigue Sputnik persuasion. No one was more suprised
than Jacques when the style press beagn salivating
over his anti-fashion fashion. "it's just stuff I
like...I thought they'd think it was naff ," he
laughs, "but I do think it's important for music and
fashion to be strongly linked - it's part of the
whole pop thing."
Indeed, this "whole pop thing" is fully in evidence
in Les Rythmes Digitales' live performances. Putting
on a proper show, as opposed to making do with a
flimsy PA, is of paramount importance to Jacques. To
that end he has recently enlisted the help of Jo
Reynolds on bass and keyboards and Jim Carmichael on
drums to join him on stage. An extravaganza of
carefully chosen projected visuals further enhances
the proceedings. No less discerning is the sleeve
artwork for the new album , 'Darkdancer', rendered by
the fair hand of legendary airbrush artist Phillip
Castle, the man responsible for that iconic Clockwork
Orange logo among others. Having been lured back from
the brink of self inflicted obscurity, he has
produced an airbrushed cityscape starring Jacques,
his glamorous ladyfriend and a gargantuan Wall Of
Sound HQ. No mealy-mouthed minimalist graphics here,
thanks.
'Darkdancer' the album is a labour of love and
devotion, brilliantly combining all Jacques' sonic
obsessions, in a plethora of tracks irresistibly
seductive to pop kiddies and club folk, young and old
alike. Each of the twelve songs within mines a
synth-etic seam through the past two decades of
musical electronica, and the trio of aforementioned
skill singles are, thankfully, present and correct.
The action kicks off with 'Dreamin' in which we are
instructed: "Don't just sit there dreamin'...
Dance!", backed by a soundtrack evoking poignant
nightclub scenes... in episodes of Miami Vice, that
is. Downright spooky are 'Soft Machine' and 'Damaged
People', both recorded between London and New York
and drenched with the emotion-racked vocals of
former, Island Records rock god, Thomas Ribeiro.
"It's such a nightmare coming down in London town,"
he intones on the former, and you believe him.
"Thomas is a very very cool dude" confides Jacques.
Succomb to the sleazy disco-crama of 'Hypnotise',
with is repetitive, eponymous refrain: "I originally
sampled the word Hypnotise from a Scritti Polliti
song" he explains, "but then I decide to sing it
myself." Presumably, he inhaled a helium-filled
ballon before doing so?
'Take A Little Time' was a dream come true for
Jacques, as he woo-ed New York's diva-esque Shannon
(of '80's Let The Music Play-fame) to lend her
formidable tonsils to the tune. "She was a little
apprehensive at first, but once she realised I wasn't
treating her as a novelty she got really into it," he
reveals. The result can be filed alongside any of her
previous (now oft-hailed as 'classic')
dancefloor-friendly ventures.
'Disco To Disco' caputures perfectly the uplifting,
head-on hedonism of a non-stop crawl from one manic
nighterie to another... and boasts a wobbly synth
refrain, on a par with anything Dr Who ever
encountered from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Then
there's the pulsing, bass-heavy 'Brothers' - with
chunky funk stomped all over it, and just a smudge of
Chicago house.
Jacques approached his long-time pop idol (and former
mullet sporter) Nik Kershaw to work with him on
'Sometimes'. "Someone like Nik Kershaw wanting to
work with me was the highest kind of compliment," he
reckons, ridiculously modestly. "I intitially sent
him some tapes and he called me up the next day going
'I really like them, but I don't know what you want
me to do...'. I said I want to do a song with you and
he was like 'brilliant!'" An obviously awe-struck
Jacques continues: "I went to his house - he's got a
big recording studio there. It was weird being there
and just hearing Nik Kershaw singing right next to me
because, to me, he is of the highest calibre of
artists." The finshed collaboration is as instantly
mindbending a track, as anything you will hear all
year.
As for 'About Funk'... just imagine a keyboard with
bowel problems, linked to a deliciously catchy hook
and performed by a kissy-huggy Kraftwerk on E, and
you get the picture...
"I'm 100% happy with how the album's turned out,"
concludes Jacques, and there's a determined Top Of
The Pops-type glint in his eyes, when he adds: "I
don't just want this to be a cool record that doesn't
sell. I want it to be a cool record that sells. I
want to see this go through as a complete pop item. I
want people to look back in 10 years time and see Les
Rythmes Digitales as something they either loved or
hated".
Old Biog (expired 4/99)
Young Parisians are so French, as Adam Ant so
unforgettably put it, and they don't come much
Frencher than Jacques Lu Cont. Hailing from the
excruciatingly hip Paris bainlieu of Midville, the
scarlet-haired 20 year old behind Les Rythmes
Digitales is the latest reason why French music, ,
especially electronic dance-pop, is enjoying
previously unimaginable levels of credibility right
now (France: the new Wales?) with the likes of Air,
Daft Punk and Etienne De Crecy reaping critical
respect and pillaging the charts. But although
sharing much in common with his compatriots, there's
a wilful individualism to Lu Cont's sound tha sets
LRD apart. In fact, it's almost as if he's from
another country altogether....
"I've got maximum respect for pioneers of continental
house music, but I'm not riding on a wave", he
explains in good baccalaureat-level English.
Jacques is intensely proud of his nationality (LRD's
debut album came with a tricouleur down the spine),
but why the broad Berkshire accent? It all begins to
make sense when Jacques reveals that he is born
prematurely while his parents were on holiday in
Paris, and given a French name out of respect for his
birthplace (a tradition Jacques has continued with
the name if his band, although it does contain a
deliberate grammatical error for linguistic train
spotters: it should be Digitaux).
Having spent only the first year of his life in
Paris, the Lu Conts returned to England and settled
in Reading, where his Mum and Dad, both classical
pianists, subjected Jacques to an ultra-strict
musical upbringing: the lowbrow pleasures of popular
music were banned from the household until he was 14.
This, perhaps, explains the joyous pop sensability
which informs LRD's work: he's still rebelling
against that parental ban! Furthermore, the respect
of elitist connoisseurs means nothing to Jacques:
"I've got no interest in making records for a few
people in their bedrooms to prove to their mates how
cool they are, I can't understand that ghetto
mentality: you spend all that time working in the
studio,and dealing with record companies and
publishers, and you still want to remain underground
at the end!"
Lu Cont has no time, either for the taste fascists
and their tyranny of hip. 1996's debut album
'Liberation' was a free and easy melange of anything
goes eclecticism: sassy Chicago house, four to the
floor disco delirium, funky slap bass and 80's synth
hooks all messed up together without giving half a
hoot about whether these influences are OK to like.
That's a massive part of what I do. It's usually
blokes going 'Argh! Fuckin' ell! Why's ee used that
pony 80s loop? Honestly, I'd rather sample Phil
Collins than some trendy record from the 60s or 70s."
Despite his tender age ("I was three when the 80's
started... I was there, but I wasn't conscious of
it,") Lu Cont feels a particularly strong fascination
with the synthpop explosion of the early 80's
alongside the perhaps more predictable Arthur Baker,
Mantronix and Todd Terry, he lists the Human League
and New Order as his primary influences. Jacques
addiction to electropop began in the unlikeliest of
places. At the age of 15 for reasons now lost in the
mists of time, he was admitted to a mental
institution. I was here in the Day Centre, that he
first encountered an electronic keyboard. "I was in
group therapy sessions with the other patients, and
we did musical recreation as a communications
exercise. I was like the kid who wanted all the
chocolate. As soon as I heard a bit of electronic
music, I kept wanting more and more". Like the Aphex
Twin before him, the teenage Jacques began amassing
hours and hours of experimental tapes, which he still
raids for samplesto this day. It was one of these
tapes which found it's way to Wall Of Sound supremo
Mark Jones and ......the rest is histoire.
These unusual beginnings are part of the reasonwhy
Les Rhythmes Digitales offer yet more evidence that
there is far more to the Wall Of Sound stable than
mere "Big Beat". "Wall Of Sound" is far from just a
big beat label, but I don't mind it being associated
with that, because I know that my stuff is so
different that when people hear it, they 'll go
"What? He's on Wall Of Sound?"
Another major factor that differentiates LRD is their
G.S.O.H. (Good sense of humour in dating agency
talk): an instinctive wit and sense of playfulness to
shame their po-faced peers. Lu Cont has already
released a single called "Jacques Your Body" and one
tentative title for the second albumis "No Jacquet
Required" a double pun on Phil Collins, and much
reviled, Ginola dropping French World Cup boss Aime
Jacquet). "It's not a comedy edge, it's a fun edge, a
party edge. We're not just as...anal as some people
but at no sacrifice to musical integrity.
And this commitment to entertainment explains why LRD
are yet another nail in the coffin of the tired old
"Dance Acts can't hack it on stage" coffin. "I've got
a real gripe about people paying all this money to
see so-and-so at the Brixton Academy and all they do
is stand behind a desk twiddling knobs. Thats really
naff. If you go to a gig you expect a performance".
Jacques, accordingly has been known to wear a red PVC
cape and glowing devil horns onstage, with his
drummer kitted out in a scary "Friday 13th" hockey
mask. Scarier still, to some ears, is their infamous
live version of sleazy old Robert Palmer's "Addicted
to Love".
It's a philosophy which has paid off, LRD were the
surprise hit at the Essential New Years Eve bash at
Alexandra Palace, a performance that won Jacques the
headline slot on the NME/Miller Genuine Draft Vibes
Night, closely followed by support slots with Bentley
Rhythm Ace and Cornershop and a nomination as one of
NME's tips for 1998. Jacques has also found himself
recently elevated to the remix aristocracy having
been invited to rework Cornershop's "Sleep On The
Left Side". (Tjinder came across "Jacques Your Body"
on a compilation while touring America and it never
left the tour bus stereo,) and Pavement's Passat
Dreams (a particular honour, they had never been
remixed before). Such unlikely cross-pollinations
are, says Jacques, exactly what Les Rhythmes
Digiatales are all about".
R E V I E W S
(Hey You) Whats That
Sound? (Ministry)
(Hey You) Whats That
Sound? (Mixmag)
Music makes You Loose
Control (Mixmag)
Music makes You Loose
Control (NME)
Jacques Your Body (Mixmag)
(Hey You) Whats
That
Sound? (Ministry)
The nuttiest kid on the street will,
we promise, have you dancing in
the streets to this super-cool tune
before too long. First release from
his forthcoming second album,
this is half big beat bastard, half
pop-tastic chart monster. The red
mulleted one has cunningly
created a track with the horniest
synth break since Herbie
Hancock's Rockit, and elctro that
Afrika Bambattaa would kill for.
There's a rap to melt the icecaps
too, but just wait till you see the
accompanying video. The term
'crazy-fresh' has never been
more appropriate.
(Hey You) Whats
That
Sound? (Mixmag)
Continuing Wall of Sound's 80's
theme, the new one from
Reading's funkiest Frenchman
features extremely cheesy synth
sounds and an annoying chorus
which makes it Wonderful, of
course, and unavoidable
everywhere you go.
Music Makes You
loose
Control (Mixmag)
Leftfield
Essential Tune
We first sat up and noticed Les
Rythmes Digitales after being
blown over by last year's dirty
disco dog of a single 'Jacques
Your Body'. Great as that was, it
wasn't a patch on this. 'Music
Makes You Lose Control' is a
floor shagging beast of a record,
building from a pounding 80s
Prince-esque funkathon beat
which is straddled by a bassline
that sounds like Peter Hook on a
mammoth pill rampage topped
with a shouty bloke who repeats
the track title, mantra like, as a
command to get on the floor and
get your chanks. And there's not
much else to it really. The result
-
a deceptively simple, ultra funky
and totally dancefloor friendly
record, that, for me, is the best
release in ages on this still fully
firing label. 'Music Makes You
Lose Control' comes flipped with
a moodier electro throb remix and
a funky syndrum workout ('To
Those Djs'), but it's the A side
you'll be hammering week after
week. This is the first record of
the
summer and I'd better sort out
another copy before I wear the
fuck out of this one.....
Music Makes You
loose
Control (NME)
It's easy to laugh at the '80s. The
synths were weedy, the clothes
were rubbish and the mullets,
quite frankly, were hopeless.
Jacques Lu Cont aka Les
Rythmes Digitales, may not offer
anything new on the haircut front
-
his crimson-dyed affair will not go
down as one of the all-time follicle
greats - but the 20 year -old from
Reading's mission to make the
80s hip stands a fairer chance of
making it into the history books.
But don't worry, the inspiration
here may be pure Human League
but the attitude is just what you'd
expect from an artist on Wall Of
Sound . Euphoric dancefloor
madness that makes grinning a
compulsory pastime and isn't
afraid to throw a few daft body
popping moves for good
measure along the way.
'Music Makes You Lose Control'
is the first great disco record of
1998. That bass guitar - friskier
than a coachload of school kids
in a vat of shandy - is present and
correct, this time with a trumpet
that parps away so merrily it could
have been recently liberated from
the evil clutches of Scritti Politti
after a lifetime of depravation.
Even the drum machine sounds
like it's having fun.
Which still doesn't quite justify a
full-scale revival of puff ball skirts,
Phil Oake wedges and Frankie
shirts, but who cares? Jacques is
still in a league of his own.
Jacques Your
Body(Make Me
Sweat) (Mixmag)
Funked-up disco cut up thingy
from the Wall Of Sound chaps
that's more ass-wobbling than my
well thumbed copy of 'Chunky
Asses'. And believe me you ain't
seen ass-wobblin' until you've
seen that, let me tell you. Anyway,
enough of my perverse sexual
practices and onto a review of the
record. It's got a massive big fuck
off Paperclip People-style
bassline, while the drums are
snare-driven disco types and ...er
Oh God I can't think of anything
else to say. Look this is excellent
disco house and that's it. Right
now back to masturbation.