The book says that this album is "[f]aux French electronica at its best," which leads me to several questions. Why does faux French electronica exist, and why are we keeping tabs on it? Is this really the exemplar of the genre, and if so, what does bad faux French electronica sound like? Who is the target audience for this? If life is truly meaningless, and the human condition is to ascribe meaning to it, why is the conclusion "Eat, drink, and be merry" also something that an animal can do with no self-reflection? Are animals simply beings who have achieved enlightenment? If nihilism is constructed on paradoxes, is it any less true? What compels an artist to take a decent-sounding track and add a bunch of nonsensical sound effects on top of it? Best track: Damaged People
This was my second favourite album of 1999 at the time (yes, I have a Google doc with 20+ years of end-of-year lists) (number 1 was Blumfeld's Old Nobody). It really takes me back to that time, which is a bit strange because this is quite retro music. Electroclash. Daft Punk. Nik Kershaw. I liked Les Rythmes Digitales because it did both the dancefloor-y stuff and the beautiful pop songs. My relationship with the album is too personal to be able to say if it 'holds up'. Listening to it gives me a nice jolt of nostalgic feelings and Sometimes is still a banger. 8/10
I can't believe I haven't heard this one! And the Jacque track made me realize that he and Missy Eliot both sampled the same track. Good stuff!
Really digging these digital beats. It's got a cartoonish vibe, but it still feels mature and articulated.
The scene : cleaning my car in my garage, pretending to be in a Fast & the Furious montage
Is that Andy Samberg? Anyway, pretty meh album. I've never been that big of a fan of this style of electronic music - overly clean production with a thin, wiffly soundscape. None of the rhythms are interesting or compelling, none of the textures are evocative of anything at all to me. This is dance music with all the personality of the paint on the walls of hospital hallway.
This is less terrible than the plethora of other electronic albums on this list...or at I thought... Nope it went right into repetitive boring bullshit once again. I've had enough honestly. How many more do I have to listen to?
4.5 stars. This is close, but the last two songs aren't my favorite. Very nu-disco, synth pop, Daft Punk style electronica. Super danceable. THIS THING IS STRAIGHT BANGERZ. I just wanna dance. Almost every song has at least one part I just love. Last two songs tail off maybe a little but I liked this a lot
Like other electronic albums, I have a difficulty putting this one into context. However, every track is good pop music, if perhaps a little generic (though they may not have been for the time). It seems like sort of a weird choice for this list because I don't see it as being a groundbreaking album, but it's also hard to argue with because it's well-produced 4/5
interesting dance album. Sounds almost 80' in places. Will need another listen i think
Hell yeah. Certified back to back bangers from What's that Sound onward. What a synth lord. Big Sneaky Sound System and Early Calvin Harris styles. From:Disco To:Disco and Take a Little Time are highlights. Five stars if it started and finished stronger
Had this in college, but not listened to it in god knows how long. Still love it, dance in your seat stuff. Great beats, disco sound, remembered most of the tunes. Deffo has a 90s/00s kinda sound, a little bit of big-beat. Sampled widely in other stuff too (2manyDjs). Hadn't realised it was a British bloke riding the coattails of french house. Need more dance music in this list, but I guess the album is not as common a format in electronic music.
This is like an 80's-90's masterclass. It's just great and I can see why a lot of artists that want to get that vibe for their songs are still turning to Price. The cover art is plainly hideous though, but I guess that's just the 00's kickin in. Liked: About Funk
A fun, throwback French house jam. A few tracks felt too repetitive for my taste, but I enjoyed the album for the most part.
Really liked it despite limited experience with electronic stuff. Also cool to hear the missy/Ciara sample
Really nice album for playing in the background while other stuff is going on (like attempting to work). Full of electronic synth stuff, but not so overpowering that you HAVE to pay attention to it. I'm tempted to give it 4 stars, given how scarce my actually enjoying the selections has been lately. Relatively speaking, I like it better than yesterday's 3-star offering, so 4 it is!
Fantastic album and very excited/surprised to see it on this list. I thought I was so cool listening to this in high school, and it still holds up well over 20 years later. 4.5/5
Yeah this is some groovy af dance music. Impossible to sit still to. Bass riff in "Music Makes You Lose Control" is amazing (and ah that's where that Missy Elliott sample is from!).
Liked this quite a lot. The thing stopping this from being a 5/5 is just that the vocals are over-repeated without enough other variation to keep it from being grating. Some songs are better than others in this regard. It doesn't bother me much over a single listen, but I know it'd stop me from playing the album on repeat, and thus 4/5 instead of 5/5
Holy shit, this is really good. "Music makes you lose control", that bass hook is rad! Never heard of this before, but I kind of love it, makes you want to shake your ass.
An interesting electronic / dance record. Standout Tracks: From: Disco To: Disco, Brothers, Damaged People
In order to stand out with house music, you need to make unique production choices that can elevate the sound overall. Les Rythems Digitales does that to some extent, but it feels like it falls flat more often than not. "From Disco to Disco" uses these great dirty synths and "Music makes you lose control" samples a bassline that seems out of place for house music but works extremely well. But then you get tracks like "Dreamin'" and "Sometimes" that are a bit more boring. With such a mixed bag, it's hard to outright say if this album is good or bad. I think it's definitely worth it's salt in one way or another, just not the best thing to grace this list.
Me when I started: There is zero chance I am listening to 1hr 39min of this. Me 1hr 39min later: I changed my mind. I’m kinda fucking with this.”
Some great tunes in this album and someone I always enjoyed DJing in the early naughties - no surprise he went on to bigger things but there’s a reason I hadn’t listened to this album in years and it’s just because it’s ultimately kind of forgettable
Plenty of good tunes on here, What’s That Sound etc… Great production and I suppose on release Electro was not as ubiquitous as it is now in pop music. A lot of this was on heavy rotation, mainly Jacques Your Body, and it is definitely an influential album. I’d rarely want to listen to it but it is good.
pretty fun French electrofunk, if only over half the songs weren't missing on Spotify. Also funny music make you lose control.
Semipositiivinen yllätys täysin vieraalta bändiltä. Biisit vaihteli laidasta laitaan. Välillä mentiin lähes Chemical Brothers-tyyppisissä elektrolooppausmaisemissa, kun osa biiseistä oli perinteisempää elektronista musiikkia. Normaalisti en erityisemmin pidä tämäntyyppisestä musiikista, mutta tätä kuunteli oikein mielellään taustalla töitä tehdessä. Toisaalta meno oli välillä liiankin poukkoilevaa, jolloin kokonaisuus vähän leviää. Kuitenkin omassa genressään oikein sujuvaa, kolmosen arvoista matskua!
Biisit turhan pitkiä ja yksitoikkoisia ollakseen mestariteos, mutta ei tämä varsinaisesti vituttanutkaan.
Hmmmm, couldn't quite get into this. I prefer my electronica to be either more banging, or more chin strokey, or ideally both. The album seemed to get better as it went on, though - definitely enjoyed the second half more. Fave track - "Damaged People" for sure!
Pretty cool beats and noises. Not sure I’d repeat listen to the whole album but the odd track here and there.
This is one electronic album that has actually grasped me and made me interested throughout its entirety. A lot of these songs do exactly what they want you to: get up, dance and have a fun time listening to it. It's really well produced and include interesting, diverse instrumentals. Unfortunately, the repetitive lyrics of electro-dance music is just not something that sits well with my brain, and these tracks take that up. Less is more for me with this genre, but a lot of these songs give off immaculate energy and enjoyment. Favorite Song: Music makes you lose control Least Favorite: Hypnotise
Generally speaking, a lot better sounding and engaging than other electronic albums on the list. Nevertheless, I cannot find these albums to be something truly great.
не совсем танцевальная, но почти без вокала. странный вокал, немного странные звуки и сама гармония, но в стилистике. синти поп из 90-ых
2 albums du meem genre en 2 jours. The shamen le jour precedent. Celui ci est quand meme meilleur mais jlai ma dose. 3*
An intriguing album filled with high-energy synth-pop, ranging from the catchy to the slightly irritating. M83 it's not, but it's worth a listen.
Probudih se, vidim cover i naziv, reko neki francuski dance housish album, imo sam pravo, poslušo par pjesama, nije za baciti, al cover albuma je. I onda dalje slušajuć me sve više privuklo da završim taj album. Mozd bi jednu-dvije izbacio, ali je sve u svemu solidan.
I knew this was Jacques Le Cont, I hadn't realised he was American! Sounds very mid 2000s when I was into all this stuff. A good few bangers
Tja wel aardig. Up-tempo en catchy. Maar op een gegeven moment had ik het ook wel een beetje gehoord met die sampletjes.
Pretty straightforward electronic beats, some good rhythms and samples but nothing too challenging. A little safe.
Oh, this is fun. Strong early 80s dance and new wave vibes in a 90s electro-pop package. I usually complain about the length of some of these electronic albums, but I didn't really feel that as much here. I might have dropped maybe two songs to make it tighter. Otherwise, it's pretty great. Fave Songs: Brothers, Hypnotise, Hey you what's that sound, Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat)
So I saw this was late 90's dance and thought ugh. Pleasantly surprised. I really dug the first two tracks - funky beats and I didn't mind him repeating the same lyrics over and over. However, it got kind of weak around his first "big" song (Hey You what's that sound?). Sounded a bit like the Ghostbusters theme - it was still good, but just, and things went downhill over the next few tracks. Way too robotic sounding. Some redemption in tracks 9-11 (bringing in a guest singer on Sometimes was a good move). Ultimately I say great start, but it faded and ended up just a little too uneven.
There was a point somewhere in the middle where a number of the songs sounded exactly the same. I mean, the vocalists he got were of, although "Disco II Disco" was REALLY annoying. And hey, it's Nik Kershaw! Haven't heard him in a while. The last song I really enjoyed, too. There was a really interesting video for it up on YouTube. But a lot of the stuff was very same-y, so yeah. Not something I am going to come back to. I am sure this club stuff is big, but just not a fan. But the few high points make me round up to a 3.
Normally not a fan of this genre. This album was actually quitte okay. Bit too long for me though. Favourite song: - Sometimes
Sort of a less impressive Fatboy Slim. There's some gold in here mixed in with a lot of generic 90s Brit Beats
I’ve had fun with the new wave, but once we get into techno or electronica, you lose me. I still can’t wrap my head around that. This isn’t BAD, persay, but it’s really not my thing at all, aside from a couple of solid hooks. I’ll give it a D, but I’ll also go up to 3 stars out of fairness.
It was ok. Not my preferred dance music. Maybe if i heard it out instead of in my office.
It's not bad, but it really wasn't my taste and the music seems a bit date in a bad way.
If these EDM albums are the ones that make the list, I'm confirming that I am not into EDM.
It’s okay. I love track 3 but not really into the repeated vocals and common musical theme throughout. Too samey but an interesting listen.
Interesting and at times really enjoyable. Quite grating at other times tho and the album feel quite long and tedious overall. I can hear this albums influence on other bands I like but won’t revisit
Interesting and at times really enjoyable. Quite grating at other times tho and the album feel quite long and tedious overall. I can hear this albums influence on other bands I like but won’t revisit
A new band and new music for me. There was some okay stuff, but this album wasn't for me.
Not bad, but just not something I could get into. Every song was repetitive and sounded just like the one before it. By the end I wasn't sure if I'd listened to one long song or not.
Vähän oli sellasta tyhjänpäivästä eikä biisit tahtonu erottuu toisistaan. Ja pitkäkin oli. Meni se taustalla.
one of the weirdest inclusions on this list just really basic 90s electronic from a group that didnt do anything afterwords
Half the album wasn't available on Spotify but what I've heard was repetitive and unimaginative
Well. Le Cont is Stuart Price. Which makes that shtick an extremely worthwhile proof-of-concept. Still didn’t like it, tho.
I didn’t mind this at the start. The first track has a good synth hook and is catchy. If I were to compare “Hypnotise” or “About Funk” to Daftpunk mid-90s stuff, for example, this is more melodic and poppy. “Music Makes You Lose Control” and “Hey You” are borrowed and barely bearable. “Sometimes” with Nick Kershaw on vocals is not even remotely bearable. 5/10
This album was kinda fun but in a lame and mindless way. Music Makes You Lose Control reminds me of Devo. The album quickly got repetitive and at the end of the day I felt no great need to seek out the four songs that Spotify didn't offer. Eight songs was enough.
Another pretty weird electronic pop album. There were a couple songs that I could listen to and didn’t mind. There were some that were awful and I had to skip. Overall not too great. 2.9/10
Not a fan of techno or electronica or funk or whatever this genre is, but I can't say I hate it. Okay as background music, but the chances of me digging this up for another listen are slim to none.
I couldn’t listen all the way through. It was a bit of an assault on my ear drums. I was not in the mood to be challenged in that way.
2.9 - Pleasant enough but underwhelming. Tracks build on a few elements - a beat, a repetitive vocal phrase and some dramatic synth lines. I struggle to see what place this record has in the list. Compared to other electronic albums of the era (e.g. "Homework"), this feels staid. I feel like any semi-serious hobbyist could churn out something comparable on Garage Band these days.
Skjønte ikke helt hva dette albumet gjorde på denne listen? Er det så jævla innflytelsesrikt liksom? Aldri hørt om, og hørtes ut som ganske halvhjerta gutteroms-remixer som man finner en milliard av på soundcloud
17. Há coisas que não sabem envelhecer. Sinto-me um gigante que olha de cima para as torres das Amoreiras. MotA: (Hey You) What's That Sound? "Don't just sit there dreamin' dreamin' dreamin'"
Nykyaikaista tanssimusaa. Aika hajutonta ja mautonta, ei ollut tarttuvia hittibiisejä eikä jalka lähtenyt hytkymään niin millään. Lähinnä tuli katseltua kelloa, että milloin tämä loppuu. Junnaavaa ja yksitoikkoista tavaraa.
It was a nice enough album to listen to but i found it did not have much depth, so it was almost restful, but not exciting.
Wiki shows that Stuart Price has produced a lot of albums for big artists. He should stick to just producing records IMO. This is one of those albums that makes you wonder what the authors of 1001 Albums were thinking when they included this as it really adds nothing new and there's nothing here that we haven't heard before. Propah good EDM bands like Daft Punk don't have anything to worry about here.
"Music Make You Lose Control" has a nice bass line. If I were at a club, high, and looking to hook up, then this is probably really good stuff. But I'm not at a club, high, or looking to hook up.
It's... meh? Didn't mind the start of it, but from Disco to Disco onwards, it was hard to enjoy.
Other than Sometimes, I couldn’t listen to any song all the way through. I just couldn’t.
Honestly I thought I was really really going to hate this but I made it mostly through the album, I find it hard to rate these dance albums. Maybe I need to get wasted and dance around to fully appreciate them. Just not for me.