Fiasco*System 06: Modeselektor, Smith ‘n’ Hack, France Copland, Eva Revox Nouveau Casino, Paris 14 Oct 04.

Whilst walking directionless waiting for midnight to strike, I could never have guessed how damn fine this night would turn out to be; from the artists to the glitz-grotto venue to the people I met. Having seen the live line up, there was no way I was going to miss this: France Copland - an anonymous duo, hiding behind Nicolas Sarkozy masks are partly responsible for the first francophone booty bass hit ‘Pute et Mac’(according to the flyer). Smith ‘n’ Hack is Errorsmith’s italodisco-recycling side-project and finally headlining: the mighty car-wreck brilliance that is Modeselektor.

The Nouveau Casino, on the lively Oberkampf Street, is a rather remarkable venue. The irregular ceiling gives the impression that the club is a cave, not one cut in stone but into crystal. The ceiling mirrors and fragments what happens below whilst the chandeliers, surgical spotlights and counterpoise lamps light up the proceedings.

Eva Revox opens the night with a stutter electro dj set that slowly looses its stutter and gets people strutting their stuff on the dancefloor. I meet a member from the French hip-hop group TTC (Big Dada/Chronowax) whom I initially mistake for a graphic designer (may be he’s a graphic designer anyway) and we acquiesce on how Swiss electro is quietly taking over the world. Meanwhile, two guys with Sarkozy masks, tucked shirts and tie emerge from the shadows as Eva Revox closes his set… time now for France Copland. After a few pitch shifted words, the onslaught begins.

There I was, expecting some French booty bass, and what I got was a different dish out of the same ingredients: emotional sustained bass drums and hectic snares and hi hats. France Copland are fond of both rhythm overkill and 4/4 primacy. Their beats go from slow-mo to frenetic seamlessly. Rough and chunky synth wails and booms give the crowd a minimal indication of melody, this is very punky techno indeed. A woman in an unctuous light brown fur coat and leggings is filming the performance on a high-end video camera. On the wall there are projections of the clone Sarkozys going for a walk in the city and eventually to the Champs-Elysées. The audience laps up every last bit of motherloading bass as the stage seemingly thuds to its last.

After a mix intermission from Eva Revox, Modeselektor take to the stage. The presence of real faces is refreshing after the underlying eeriness of France Copland’s masked show. More so than the other live acts, Modeselektor manage to create a rapport with the crowd, even if they are still behind two laptops. The audience can pre-empt the arrival of every new loop because the pent-up excitement is clearly visible in the duo’s faces and movements, ditto for the crowd who eagerly await every new surprise. Modeselektor play a distinctly experimental yet infectious techno, with hip hop hints and electro sounds. The beats stammer, breakdown and then lock back into an unstoppable groove. The high impact bass contrasts heart-tugging melodies and plinky woodblock fury. This is raveoid elation for us club kids. The dancefloor is full of smiling faces but they are not vacantly so, everyone’s attentive to Modeselektor’s next move as they turn expectation into enjoyment.

The last live act of the night, Smith ‘n’ Hack, plays a more linear discotech, with hi hats galore and cinematic synth arpeggiations that are easy and satisfying to map out on the dancefloor. Due to the more formal nature of the set, the crowd dancing with closed eyes (dreaming of motorways at night in my case) pay little attention to Errorsmith and Soundhack and vice versa. However, after punky and unpredictable sets from France Copland and Modeselektor, Smith ‘n’ Hack turned out to be fine purveyors of much needed focus and disco efficiency.

All good things come to an end, and so it is now 5.30 a.m and to the sound of Savas Pascalidis’ ‘Superman’, I leave the Nouveau Casino for a crêpe at dawn and then back to some nine-to-five mediocrity.

http://www.nouveaucasino.net