French Electronic Music

If you’re not familiar with current electronic music, you might wonder what’s the point of a hub about French electronic music but what you probably don’t know is that the French have passed the British to become the leaders in electronic music.

The French electronic scene is currently buzzing with old and new talents, from household names like Daft Punk and Air to newcomers such as Justice, Digitalism, Agoria and NoiseGun. This is certainly not something that happened overnight and believe it or not, the French electronic music scene has been building slowly since the 60’s. Let’s have a look at the various waves:

A pioneer in French electronic music, Pierre Henry probably wrote the first techno hit in 1967 when he wrote “Messe pour le temps present”, a haunting psychedelic electronic tune, which was part of the soundtrack for the eponymous Maurice Bejart ballet. While Henry is not known in mainstream circles, his influence can be heard in the works of various artists, from early house to electronic rock artists such as Primal Scream.

As synthetisers started to become more sophisticated and accepted in music, French composer Jean-Michel Jarre brought electronic music to an all new level with the release of his album Oxygene (1976). Not only with his hit “Oxygene”, he allowed electronic music to break into the charts but he also turned electronic music into a genre that would be a perfect match for movie soundtracks, opening the door to composers such as Vangelis (Blade Runner). Jarre’s influence can only be found in various electronic music sub-genres, from dance to trance and ambient (most particularly Orbital).

In the 80’s, the French electronic music scene was mostly marked by a phenomenon that came from Basildon, UK.The arrival of Depeche Mode on the airs resulted in a wave of synth pop music, this new music movement full of depeche mode clones, being referred as Cold Wave. While most of these bands never made it outside the French boundaries and didn’t contribute much to music, beside pastiche, at least one band, the darker duo Kas Product, became somewhat a cult act in Europe, with its goth-tainted electronic sounds. Another influential duo was Taxi Girl, which not only hit it big in France with its single “Cherchez le garcon” but years later contributed to the renaissance of an artist called Madonna, when Taxi Girl’s composer Mirways worked on Music, American Life and Confessions on a dance floor. Mirways also produced a few songs for the New York electro duo Fischerspooner

The 90’s saw the explosion of the house scene, one French DJ, Laurent Garnier, being one its pioneers, as he was spinning records at Manchester house temple, the famous Hacienda. This is also when the most influential French electronic music artists started their career: Daft Punk, Air, Etienne de Crecy, Cassius, Alex Gopher and Sporto Kantes among others.

Another subgenre that is owed partly to the French is the electronic lounge music, which became a worldwide phenomenon in the early 2000’s through compilations such as Buddha Bar. While artists like Etienne de Crecy and Dimitri from Paris became known for their mid-tempo tunes around the world.

But the two big stars of these last few years are of course those two robots from Daft Punk and the softer duo Air, the former playing on muscled-anthems, while the latter goes for melancholic soundtrack-like atmospheres.

Other electronic acts emerged and gained international recognition, from the over-rated Justice to electro darling Miss Kittin while smaller bands such as Digitalism, Télépopmusic and Colder were able to export themselves around the world

With the success of the French electronic music scene, it is no surprise that new French talents keep coming from Los Angeles based electro rock NoiseGun to Agoria, which boasts a few international guests. I’m sure this list will get longer in the next few years as the French music scene seems to want to give its crown to anybody else.