Darkdancer

A rant on death, friendship, and the power of music A big motivator for starting this project with my you my friends was inspired by living through the illness and death of my best friend Keith. During the final days of Keith's life, we spent a lot of time laughing just like we always did. Big belly laughs that led to coughing fits. When he first learned of his cancer, he turned to me one late night in the dark fall of Connecticut and in such earnestness said the biggest thing to process is "when is the last. like when is the last time I'm going to hear Dancing Queen." I think he would have loved this project. As Keith's final days got darker and slower in all earnestness I said "if anyone can come back as a ghost, it's you. If anyone can cross the veil for me, it's you. Let's seriously talk about how I will know. I'm thinking a slight breeze on the lower lobe of my right ear. How's that sound?" We laughed. His response was simply, "you'll know." I was struggling this morning. I drove to the ocean before work. I wanted to swim in the Atlantic and do a bit of a mental cleanse. I put on Les Rythmes Digitales who I never heard of before. This was Keith music. Hard, fierce, funky. We so loved that repetitive beat on the dance floor. Music Makes You Lose Control came on and all I could think of was Keith. I didn't feel the breeze on my ear but boy oh boy did I feel his essence. I laughed, I cried, I walked into the ocean. I was thinking about the song, and I know some people don't like repetitive music but for Keith and I this vibe was hypnotic and thrilling and just joyful. I kept thinking "hypnotic" what a word...what a feeling when music can get a groove going for you. Then the song Hypnotic came on and it all felt a bit otherworldly and connected. I don't really believe the dead physically touch the living but if this intense mental experience spawned through dance music made me feel connected to my friend, I'll take it. It's the only way we have to connect now. Music (good music) always made us lose control. This album was indeed one I had to listen to before I died. I'll be spinning it a lot until that day comes.

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

The editor of this book thought this album was more essential than anything by Yo La Tengo or The Cranberries

repetition Repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is repetition is... ... not songwriting. At the risk of sounding all "get off my lawn," come talk to me when you can write a damn song. Until then, get off my lawn.

This was unlistenable. Naff, artless, annoying, repetitive trash

The album really took a turn for the worse once it started. The production is good, however, that’s mainly where my praise stops. The lyrics are nonsensical and the beats and vocals are annoyingly repetitive. I can’t believe they made an hour of this. If I just had one song, I could see it being a fun song to dance to and in that sense it’s fine, just not for me. 2/5

The scene : cleaning my car in my garage, pretending to be in a Fast & the Furious montage

Score: 90 Album art: 70 This album is so incredibly cheesy and dumb, but it's also a lot of fun. Almost every track is a banger. I laughed out loud when the singers voice was paulstretched during the chorus of the first song and it set the tone for the rest of the album. The final track is different, being a more serious dark wave track. There's not a lot of lyrics but damn if they aren't true. Favorite tracks: pretty much every song Least favorite: disco II disco

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... actually LOVE this?!?!

A pulsating, giddy and infectious album from beginning to end, Darkdancer from Les Rythmes Digitales sees him approach the end of the century with the ethos of a prior decade's dance evolution, with tantalizing collaborations honoring the aesthetics whilst not plundering too much. Overall, Darkdancer is a breeze that will surprisingly reel you back in.

I didn’t think I knew anything about this artist until I learned that it is Jacques Lu Cont (Stuart Price) - the man who created the incredible remix of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” Then I read about a pile of other work he did with The Killers and a bunch of other artists. As I was listening I noticed a Nik Kershaw song! I was a big Nik Kershaw fan in high school so that was another pleasant surprise. I enjoy some good dance-pop... this is bright, fun, energetic... makes you want to move! A nice addition to this list.

Listened to it twice!

Nice - funky, danceable album - about a decade ahead of it's time - Ed Banger records peak of the mid-noughties seem to have either drawn from this album or it's one hell of a coincidence. Has the same groovy playfulness and thicc-ness of Justice, but with the earnest-ness and innocence of the 90 - the darkness hadn't set in on the dance floor yet I guess back then, although there are hints throughout.

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?

Awesome sample heavy breakbeat techno dance album. Hadn't heard of them before and appreciated every moment.

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!

Eh, not for me.

blah

Ugh

Seriously a funk/disco/pop album?

Not my thing

Not my style

Oh wow, that slaps hard, I can not understand why I haven't heard of this band before?

slaps

Good old electronicy-house music

This really scratched an itch I didn't know I had

Listened to The Chemical Brothers yesterday so I’m apparently on a 90s tech bender but this ablum is also awesome—missing several songs on Spotify but none the less still great

This is just fucking great.

Awesome. Funktastic. Several stand out tracks.

Really enjoyed this, daft punk but more 90s

Straight booty shaking French electrofunk, disco-y, beat filled fun.

It’s a dance album, but, I actually kinda liked it

In the spirit of Stuart Price, I will conduct the rest of this review pretending to be French. Cet album est un example de <<electro>> et <<synthpop>> produit quinze ans avant et cinq ans derriere le genre était en vogue. C'est très amusant.

Darkdancer It’s been a long time since Les Rhythmes Digitales happened to drift across my transom. I remember liking the song Jacques Your Body back at Uni, as it was on that Citroen advert. I think I also had it on a free CD from Q or Select or something. Aside from that song I don’t know a great deal about LRD, and didn’t realise until today that he’s not French and that his real name is Stuart Price. And I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. It has some of that Chicago House influence as on Jacques Your Body, but also has lots of great 80s synth, funk and disco influences too. It may not have quite the naked pop ambition of say Fatboy Slim, or be as interesting or as consistent as the Chemical Brothers, but it probably sits at the Venn diagram of those two - a great, fun, danceable and catchy electronica record. It made me think of the Basement Jaxx record we had last month too, with some similar disco and funk touches, but this I think is much better - the grooves are catchier and the energetic and infectious charm keeps it driving it forward. Dreamin’ kicks things off with a burst of squelchy synth and a soulful vocal/sample hinting at Chicago House but with added 80s-ness. I love that little riff on Music Makes You Lose Control, reminds me of Barbarism Begins at Home a bit, but it’s great, it’s circularity feeding the groove, bit of a banger Soft Machine feels like a slight misstep, the vocal doesn’t quite suit it, but it does feel a bit like something from the Contino Sessions by Death in Vegas, which came out later the same year. Hypnotise is a great return to form though - Dr Who by way of the Eurythmics with a great repetitive insistent groove, excellent track. I vaguely remember (Hey You) What’s that Sound?, taking Skee-lo’s interpolation of For What it’s Worth and turning it into a synth laden electro dance bop. Great track. Take a Little Time is a banging early 80s throwback, feeling like something the Pointer Sisters or Chaka Khan might have done. ‘Wahahahahahahah’ - love that keyboard sound on From: Disco to: Disco, another hypnotic banger. Brothers goes back to the Chicago House/techno well, may not be as strong as some of the other tracks but the bass is great and it still gets your head nodding. Jacques Your Body is still great, that slap/funk bassline is very catchy and very air ‘thumbable’. About Funk is interesting, the synth hook that appears halfway through takes it into a different world, more ethereal and spacey, making it more interesting than the first minute or so might indicate Sometimes is unexpectedly great. He’s obviously a very skilled arranger writer to make very listenable tracks out of repeating motifs and phrases, but this shows a degree of songwriting craft and is an excellent track, with the perfect throwback vocalist. Damaged People, with the same vocalist as Soft Machine, is slightly better than that track, although still not quite sure it works that well. Overall though, this feels like a bit of an energetic, infectious, overlooked gem from the late 90s - other bands ploughing a similar furrow might have been more successful, but this is a great listen. It also feels ahead of its time, pre-saging a lot of the mid to late 00s electroclash and house stuff like Simian Mobile Disco, Mylo, Justice and all those Kitsune Maison compilations, taking influences from the history of electronic and synth driven music and making a great dance album. Easily a 4. 🕺🕺🕺🕺 Playlist submission: Jacques Your Body

Very quirky. A fun dance album with that classic repetitive style of the 90’s that we’ve seen on a few other dance albums in this list. Music Make You Lose Control was fun to see as a sample from Missy Elliot. Also Hypnotize sounds like a similar beat to sweet dreams. This album felt like a stepping stone for the jet set radio future soundtrack too which was really fun.

Really digging these digital beats. It's got a cartoonish vibe, but it still feels mature and articulated.

- I saw this album cover and was like…this is going to be a 1. Maybe 2. I was wrong. This was fun as hell. Definitely 1999 dance pop. I loved it. Perfect example of never know what you’re going to get.

Techno. That hive of scum and villainy that was a bastard child of disco and 80's electronica. I liked it!

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

Really catchy, gem I never would've found.

An interesting electronic / dance record. Standout Tracks: From: Disco To: Disco, Brothers, Damaged People

I'm not adversed to dance music - actually like it - but this is ll over the place . Maybe for an early (99) dane album it may be OK but I find it lacing. If I was clubbing and this came on I would throw something at the DJ (soft, as not to hurt them)

I get that it was influential, but it doesn’t even sound innovative for its time. I can hear the bits and pieces of the music that followed, the just don’t quite understand why this album was the one everyone keyed in on.

dog there are just too many of these club albums on here, I can't imagine ever listening to this outside of a club/rave/whatever situation.

Friendship ended with “I Should Coco” by Supergrass Now Les Rhythmes Digitales “Darkdancer” is the worst album cover on the list.

This album is a lot like sitting through heavy traffic. Every once in a while you'll look out the window and say to yourself, "Wow, that's a cool looking car, or that's an interesting thing that man is doing with the loose brick off the sidewalk." But for the most part, it's a really tedious, headache inducing experience. This album has its moments but I mostly wanted to rip my ears off my head and never listen to anything ever again.

Not a bad dance album, but it’s pretty forgettable not sure about it’s place on this list.

Eh.

This album is like elementary school skill level electronica. It is actually classed as faux French electronica because dude isn't even French, he was born in England. Why is this a genre. Is there really that many people who want to pretend to be French ffs??? This album blows. Why the fuck is this on this list... Favourite songs: Jacques Your Body Makes Me Sweat, Music Makes You Lose Control Least favourite songs: Damaged People, Sometimes, Disco II Disco, Soft Machine, Hypnotise 1/5

So my scale is 1=hate, 2=dislike, 3=like,4=really like and 5=love. Had a hard choice on this one - do I dislike it or do I hate it. Finally decided hate was the best choice for this one.

So... we're just letting everyone in now?

This was hard to get through. Some tracks start promissing enough but don't ever develop into something enjoyable for me. Guess I know why most electronic music was so repellent to me when I was younger, if this is what was available at the time.

Holy Hell, this is my nightmare soundtrack. I think there's a circle of hell devoted to music like Les Rythmes Digitales'.

This album sucks

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 music did not interest me.

Great album. Really enjoyed it

Pretty upbeat and fun listen.

A fun one! It felt a bit dated but it was still quite likeable. Fun instrumentals with fitting vocal work. 'Mdc vendredi' was my fave.

Hypnotic

While I'm not sure what the other people in my group will think, I do know that I am just a Sucker for this late 90's to early 2000s electronic music, so it's getting Solid 5 Stars for me.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to an extremely generous 5, if only because I really liked it. It’s a little harder to write about electronica / dance stuff like this, even for my VGM-pilled brain, because I’m just really locked into each track while listening, trying to get a feel for the composition, the intentions of the production, and trying to encase myself in the mood and atmosphere and vibe of each track. It makes it harder to judge the album as an entire front to back project, cause my brain treats it more like a YouTube playlist, and I can’t really tell which way is the best approach for an album like this. With that said, I did enjoy a lot of these tracks here – only two of them really fell flat for me (Disco II disco & Damaged people), but the other 11 all range from “totally fine” to “pretty good” to “great”. I do think this album tends to settle a bit, and doesn’t really pull out the most of its soundscapes and production on a number of tracks, but they’re usually still enjoyable enough to listen to that I can just ignore it. Instead of any track to track analysis, I’ll just give some bits and pieces of what I wrote down while listening, and I think it should give a good sense of how diverse I thought this album was. “90s arcade high score music that gets a little annoying after a bit” “Vulfpeck-y bass guitar and some Phil Collins sounding drums” “Huge ‘Sweet Dreams Are Made of This’ energy, while giving C64 keygen vibes and a bit of the Sonic Heroes Special Stage music” “DDR / Beatmania adjacent vibes, a Ghostbusters feel to the guitar, with big ‘Whoa I’m In Space Cuba’ energy” “Namco-esque synths and a big Eye of the Tiger style buildup” “Wario learned how to use a talkbox” “Sonic CD but not as funky” “Face to Face drums with a grimey SEGA Genesis bassline sound” I suppose if I really wanted to distill it down, it’s just 80s inspired electronica with a lot of VGM sensibilities. Ultimately, this is a pretty good hour of synth-pop / electronica / whatever the fuck genre this is – I was sort of hoping for more UK house type stuff, but I’m not at all opposed to this. Is it an album I needed to listen to before I died? Eh, probably not. Am I glad I did? Yeah, absolutely. This album pulled from a lot of soundscapes and styles I really enjoy, and to hear it in this form, with this general production, really clicked for me. I’m certainly being a bit generous with a 5 here, but I was just locked in to every track, and I can’t say that for every album we’ve gotten so far. I just thought it was a really fun listen – It felt compelling, and each track felt unique in their own way, so it never got stale for me. Hence, the 4.5 bumped up to a generous 5. I can totally hear how someone might get a 2 out of this, though.

De dancebeats in de jaren '90. Veelal of heel rauw of juist heel relaxed. Eind jaren '90 werd het rauw rauwer, en werd het relaxte relaxter. Maar tegelijk kwam ook de gulden middenweg op. Uitgedachte beats die zowel relaxed als rauw niet schuwden, maar het er niet om deden. Het is geen wedstrijd. Dit album is een voorbeeld van die middenweg. De beats zijn niet vanzelfsprekend, waardoor het ondanks het repeterende karakter niet gaat vervelen. In de zeroes ontwikkelde dit zich door en werden dit geluid nog meer gecombineerd met andere stijlen, zoals eerder in de meer relaxte vorm als was gebeurd onder de noemer triphop. Dit album kende ik niet, maar lijkt mij een mooi markeringspunt naar een stijl die zich nog door moest ontwikkelen. Juist die stijl mis ik in dit mooie muziekoverzicht. I Choose Noise van Hybrid zou bijvoorbeeld een verrijking zijn. Maar tja, toen was de oorspronkelijke 1001 niet eens uitgebracht. Inmiddels zou een update wel eens de gemiste dance mogen aanvullen.

incredible album

Albums like this are why I signed up for this project. I would have never heard something like this in my own. Album cover looks like young Brendan Frazier opening a Pepsi. The upbeat repetitive nature of the drum beats was my favorite part.

If you’re a girly who really leaned into 💚Brat Summer™️💚 like me, you’ll probably adore Darkdancer, an album of front-to-back ironic/iconic club classics. Otherwise? I mean, sorry you’re lame, I guess…😬😬😬

What a fantastic, novel electronica sound!!!

Fantastic electro funk pop

Is it possible that my memory of this album was blurred by my having it on in the background while I took a Covid-induced nap? Perhaps. But damn if it wasn't an amazing nap.

Electronic dance from the end of the 20th century. Had forgotten how good this album is.

Absolutely loved this. The energy, the beat, the sound. Cannot fault it. Made me want to go clubbing all over again and hit the dance floor. Uplifting feelgood stuff. Good mixture of acid house hip hop and electronica. Brilliant

cool

Rating: 10/10

Would have been super cool if it had all the songs on it, only had like 6 songs the rest were banned by spotify I guess who knows

Groovy dance music from top to bottom. A British guy, not a French guy. Works under many nom de plumes including the Thin White Duke (not David Bowie)

Extraño el internet de antes.

Very cool, very dancable

When they finally release GTA 6 this will be the music I'll drive around town to.

So underrated. This was Daft Punk, except it loved 80s pop instead of 70s disco. Even men with hearts of stone will bop to these tracks.

Þessi plata er bara algjörlega frábær! Ég tók double take á ártalið þegar ég hlustaði á fyrsta lagið, hélt hún hlyti að vera ca 10 árum eldri. En svo fékk ég svaka mikið Disclosure vibe í mörgum lögum. Hef grun um að þeir hafi samplað talsvert frá þessu bandi! Og nú verð ég bara að hlusta á Disclosure!

Really nice electronic dance album with strong tracks and cool sounds!

Great for a run

Don't let the cover fool you—this album is an hour of club bangers that'll have you moving, whether you want to or not. I was completely prepared to dismiss this as yet another UK Dance record I would forget about the next day, but instead, I was greeted with incredibly solid and at times, hypnotizing beats that almost reminded me of everyone's favorite French electronic duo. Are the dated elements of 90s-2000s Dance there? Of course, but I got past them pretty quickly.

Pop the top on this effervescent synthesis of disco electronica and let the fizzy funk flow.

I like this. It said "don't dream too hard, just dance" and then laid out some nice beats

at least the beats are interesting

Surprisingly good.

Really surprised to see this on here. Not because it's not great (it is), but I thought it was a bit too niche for this Americanized list. Haven't listened to it for ages but it holds together brilliantly. It could lose a couple of tracks (Soft Machine, Damaged People) but moves so quickly it just about gets away with it. 80s sounds are everywhere now but there was nothing uncooler in 1999 than trying to sound like you were from the 80s. Stuart Price really bucked the trend here, totally did his own thing and ended up spearheading the 80s revivial, ultimately ending up with him producing Madonna. She was lucky as he is a brilliant producer and had the midas touch for about a decade, starting with this.

Favorite Track: Music makes you lose control

hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise hypnotise tise

I truly dug this album, enjoyed it much more than I was expecting. It’s had a serious 1980s Euro Synth New Wave Pop esthetic. It reminded me of early Daft Punk without being overly repetitive, or 25% more annoying. This may not be for everyone but I’m glad this list introduced me to this album.

A fun ride, felt current enough, even though I'm not well versed in the genre. Knew 3 or 4 songs allready. That could mean I heard them in a commercial or they were played on the radio. Considering France is a neighbour could be we had some fallout. Don't overanalyze this one and just have fun.

Not usually my style but actually pretty good for background music. Pretty chill.

A pretty good album, I enjoyed the music style. I liked Hypnotize the most.

i am not really electronic music predisposed, but man this one really surprised me! a lot of the tracks here are fun, danceable, and groovy. i was genuinely floored listening to the first handful of tracks because it does feel unlike most electronic music i have heard. this album does run into a common problem i have with a lot of electronic music, where it does fall back on some repetitive and more boring motifs, but when this album is really cooking, it is a blast to listen to.

A great listen - I'd never heard of LRD before this, but found some of the songs on this record to be really familiar so they must have made a splash. At times this felt like old school LCD Soundsystem and Daft Punk - I can only imagine that these guys were all listening to each other. What a moment in time. Will definitely revisit this

Albums like this give me such an appreciation for this list. You listen to Darkdancer and can clearly hear the influences to 2000s euro dance music (Daft Punk, Justice) and see that it was inspired by Dare by The Human League (which itself was likely inspired by Kraftwerk). All of these artists and bands are on this list, and I feel like I have a much more complete view of some of these genres. This album is really interesting and engaging. It's only downsides are that some of the songs are a tad repetitive and go a bit too long. Other than that it's fun and I appreciate it. 4/5

For the reviews that criticized this for being repetitive . . . correct. This is electronic dance music. That's kind of the point. For dance music, this album displays a lot musicality and variety. 3.5/5.0: Very Good.

well produced album with a ton of variety as well as great samples. not really my style but i prefer this to other stuff i've heard from the genre