When in France, Dance!

Despite all the hoopla surrounding the fashionable U.K. rave revival movement—spearheaded by indie-rock acts like

Klaxons and New Young Pony Club—some of today's most fun, accessible and, ahem, electronic sounds are actually emanating out of France. In the wake of Daft Punk's recession from the spotlight (the duo have recently completed a robot buddy film), a crop of new labels and artists have emerged, reinvigorating the Parisian electronic scene with a rocky and scatterbrained approach to traditional dance music.

Fittingly, Daft Punk's longtime manager Pedro Winter (aka Busy P) is one of the individuals behind France's current electronic renaissance. While da Punksters were off recording 2005's largely lamentable Human After All, Winter was busy fostering a new movement under the umbrella of his Ed Banger label. Noted for its eclecticism and party-all-the-time sensibility, Ed Banger Records' large stable of acts purvey sounds diverse enough to keep young, A.D.H.D. dancers—kids accustomed to the wildly disparate selections of DJs like Diplo—glued to the floor.

From the skuzzy, sawtooth synths and heavy-metal-channeling beats of label standouts Justice (pictured above), to the sexed-charged rhymes of bad girl Uffie (move over Peaches), to the catchy, New Wave pop of Vicarious Bliss, to the monster mash-ups of DJ Mehdi, Ed Banger boasts a fully loaded arsenal. This year's label sampler, Ed Rec Vol. 1 (released in digital format only), storms with an infectious hodgepodge of electro, Miami bass, crunk, grime, glitch, and techno, and Vol. 2—available on CD April 10th—picks up exactly where its predecessor left off.

But the electro rocking doesn't stop there. Kitsune, Paris' other red-hot label, has been churning out compilations boasting blissed out remixes of new-rave saviors Klaxons, and strong cuts from indie darlings Tom Vek, Hot Chip, and The Whitest Boy Alive. Meanwhile, raucous French dance label Institubes and its inexhaustible crew of producers and DJs splatter aural canvases with every beat in the book. From the techno of Das Glow to Tacteel's ravy breakbeat, Institubes' sound is as infectious as it is eclectic. Between the collective noise of these three labels, it's a wonder that anyone is sleeping in Paris these days.

But France isn't only about finding club-banging bliss. After slumping into near-Starbucks-compilation territory in recent years, the famed duo Air have regained some of their luster in 2006, producing actress/musician Charlotte Gainsbourg's hit downtempo record, 5:55 (slated for US release on April 24th), and releasing their excellent LateNightTales mix CD. The process must have proved cathartic, because the pair seemed to have rediscovered their mojo. The band's latest, Pocket Symphony, is a hypnotic collection that evokes the dreaminess of their seminal, 1998 record, Moon Safari.

And, on another note entirely, enigmatic, Paris-based producer Joakim delivers a thoroughly quirky, post-punk-tinged record with the just-released Monsters & Silly Songs. Tricking out lovelorn musings and catchy dance tracks with warped, funhouse sound effects, Joakim Bouaziz launches DFA-style punk funk into outerspace. Speaking of DFA, Joakim's off-kilter creations should make for a good album to tide indie rockers over until the March 20th release of what is perhaps the most anticipated electronica album in recent memory—American act LCD Soundsystem's Sounds of Silver. All eyes won't be on France for long.

- James Jung
02.28.07