Darkdancer

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AMAZON
If you're one of those lucky souls blessed with the gift of synesthesia (a condition in which the hearing of a sound may cause the listener to visualize a colour), you may not feel so lucky when listening to this album. What you'll picture in your mind's eye when you hear Darkdancer is the worst music video you've ever seen: feather-haired folks in red leather jackets with a surfeit of diagonal zippers wandering through a landscape of fluorescent geometric shapes. At the climax, everything moves in slow motion. Welcome back to the 1980s. Les Rhythmes Digitales, a.k.a. Jacques Lu Cont (an Englishman despite the name), digs that woebegone decade enough to make up for everyone else's lack of enthusiasm. On what is for all intents and purposes his debut, he's aimed his arsenal of vintage analog synths at your nostalgia and pleasure zones. The result is a smooth tour of eurythmic bass lines, vocoderizations, and a guest appearance from Canadian big-in-the-U.K., 80s singer Nik Kershaw. Considering how gimmicky the conception is, it's a surprisingly amenable listen from start to finish, though only on the astonishing single "Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat)" does he tweak his source material enough to make clear he's capable of keeping some distance from his silliest indulgences. --Jeff Salamon

REVIEW
LRD's supporters generally view his 1999 Darkdancer opus as a prophetic vision that foreshadowed the current 80s electro-pop vogue; his detractors, meanwhile, see the album as a Daft Punk tribute.

Both statements contain kernels of truth. Daft Punk were certainly mining a similar musical seam before LRD hit the scene, though in Mr. Lu Cont's defence, Darkdancer was a much bolder, less ironic statement, featuring guest appearances from bonafide 80s throwbacks such as Nik Kershaw and Shannon.

Darkdancer's re-release this month has less to do with the cult status it/it's author has since achieved, and more to do with the single 'Jacques Your Body' being belatedly picked up for a Citroen car advert and subsequently climbing into the UK Top Ten.

Cynical industry machinations aside, the album doesn't sound too dated today largely due to the ongoing electro-clash/pro-80s zeitgeist that still rules today's dancefloors - the very zeitgeist in fact, that Darkdancer is said to have spawned.

The official reason for the re-issue is thus to remind us of just how far ahead of its time the project was, though of course most of us knew that already. So as not to be accused or crass opportunism, the label have included a separate CD that features remixes of Darkdancer's biggest tracks - 'Jacques Your Body', 'Music Makes You Lose Control', '(Hey You) What's That Sound?', plus unreleased tracks and two music videos.

The remixes (by Cassius, Junior Sanchez and LRD) are decidedly mediocre. Save for LRD's upbeat take on '(Hey You).' they struggle to match the lucid allure of the originals - as do the bonus tracks, which sound like second-rate off-cuts from the original project. The only real 'bonuses' are the two entertaining videos for 'Hey You What's That Sound?' and 'Sometimes'.

This re-release may very well help re-introduce LRD to a new audience, but in their rush to capitalize on the surprise success of a single it seems the label have seriously compromised Darkdancer's status as a cult project. --Paul Sullivan

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Number of Discs: 1

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