French music has traditionally been treated with derision. From Edith Piaf to Johnny Hallyday and Serge Gainsbourg French pop stars have historically never had the "coolness" of their British or American counterparts. Nor have they been on the cutting edge of musical trend setting. Indeed the remnants of stylistic faux-pas loom long and hard in pop's memory. So perhaps it is unsurprising that it took the French nation so long to get over their 60's and 70's hangover, and contribute something of credibility in the late 90's and today.
The greatest obstacle to French infiltration of the pop mainstream is obviously the language barrier. Where native language acts are seen as inaccessible to the conventional international audience, and English speaking French acts treated with great skepticism. The most popular genre of music in France is Hip-Hop. With a long a prolific line of French MC's from MC Solaar to Alliance Ethnik. To appreciate this artistry, though, is clearly pretty hard for the laymen English speaker. Just imagine listening to Mos Def rapping in Dutch or Eminem freestyling in Chinese.
The revolution in Dance music however has not escaped French influence, as that the ever-elusive language factor is removed from the creative equation; with mixing, sampling and sequencing the central tools of the art.
Acts such as Daft-Punk, Cassius and Air have all achieved international acclaim. And the acid test of any movement had surely lead to a positive result with Madonna, the Queen of reinvention choosing a French producer for her latest album.
The debut solo release from the veteran French producer and musician Mirwais wears this endorsement proudly on its sleeve, literally. Madonna eulogizes on the cover of the CD: "I truly believe that this man is a genius. This is the future of sound."
Track one of Production is pure, unadulterated French Dance. It resonates with funked up base lines, and awesome Moog oscillations. Entitled Disco Science it is a perfect encapsulation and entrance to the album. Leading to the future unfolding example of good dance.
The vocoder-vocaled electro-pop of "Naïve Song," along with 'Junkie's Prayer' and the weakest tracks on the album. The former tips its creative hat to Daft Punk, the sometime collaborators, with a distinctly unoriginal base line. The later track shows Mirwais using his guitar skills, which he acquired as the main musical influence in 80's French pop act Taxi Girl. Both these tracks use a similar vocal effect as the one employed by Cher on 'I Believe', and 'No Diggidy' by Black Street. I will grant you this is personal pet hate, but one I think that is founded and legitimated by my universally renowned good taste.
Perhaps to describe Production as a Dance album is a little unfair. For it shows a maturity that reflects the experience of the Producer, and a diversity of tempo and stylistic approach that is rarely found in pure dance records. Where it is clear that Mirwais is from a dance background his exhibits qualities rarely shown by most dance producers or DJ's. Employing sparse siren-esque sounds evocative of the urban-youth flic "La Haine" to create the pseudo-erotic gothic sadness of "V.I"; to the punk fury of "Definitive Best" with it's syncopated beats that are synonymous with hard-core Drum'n'Base.
Of most surprise though is probably the humor of track 8 "Never Young Again." After an orchestral intro the tune breaks out into that irresistible rhythm used to such successful effect on the Title track to Madonna's "Music." You half expect Madonna to burst out in to song 'Music makes the people...' Mirwais exhibits his production wizardry to incredible effect. The track flirts with the audience, making them hungry to dance. Alternating between chilled-out, melodic strings and that big fat beat you are tickled, teased and tantalized, and left hungry for more. Mirwais and Madonna, both in their forties, must have laughed infectiously. On the one hand their desire to let loose and dance, on the other the fact that they will never be young again.
The greatest task facing Mirwais on this album was to create a credible, individual sound, that was distinct from his widely acclaimed work with Madonna, but at the same time was accessible and populist enough for the general listening public. The difficulty in mediating between these two conflicting concerns should not be under-estimated especially when you consider that many think of Mirwais as little more than Madonna's latest production puppy-dog. Although many would argue there is an awful lot of Production and not enough "Music," I think the compromise between pop immediacy and Dance obscurity has been synthesized perfectly in this Debut.
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