Brenn Di Ega Kjerke / Shining Bright Star / Girl Next Door / Blood Shot Eyes / Not What I Need / I'm A Man / Lady 13 / You Should Be / Buzz Buzz Buzz / Last Club On Earth / Crave For Speed

PLAYLOUDER RECORDINGS

Putting a dark and twisted spin on shiny electropop, Black Strobe are a Parisian dance duo who take as much from Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson as they do from Heaven 17 and Duran Duran.

With debut album, BURN YOUR OWN CHURCH the duo unleash their dark electro menace with a record that feels like Depeche Mode put through an industrial blender.  Opener here, BRENN DI EGA KJERKE finds Black Strobe in dark electronica territory, a menacing slice of pitch black techno that pits starkly abrasive beats against cold swathes of synth and towering walls of industrial guitar noise.  SHINING BLACK STAR is an insistent and moody look at what Black Strobe are capable of; cold synth riffs and metronomic beats providing the backdrop whilst a sinister vocal does its best Marilyn Manson meets Trent Reznor impersonation and abrasive guitars scrawl industrial like in the background.  Electropop meets sleazy industrial noise, SHINING BRIGHT STAR is an insistent and insidious introduction to Black Strobe; arresting stuff.

The calmer sounding GIRL NEXT DOOR is more reminiscent of an outfit like Air; warm sounding organ riffs shuffling against laid back vocal melodies and an air of the ambient.  Elsewhere, BLOOD SHOT EYES is a more aggressive affair that's all techno vibes and powerdriving beats and NOT WHAT YOU NEED an insistent and slinky shot of sleazy electro rock that merges Ministry and Soft Cell.

Taking something of a misjudged step into industrial rockabilly, I'M A MAN, finds the outfit sounding like a drunk Johnny Cash hanging out with Marilyn Manson at some dodgy cowboy bar.  I'M A MAN feels more lightweight and even comedic when held up against previous releases, Black Strobe obviously after a bit of mainstream chart action and heading down the quirky, novelty route.  Rockabilly guitar riffs are grinded through an industrial blender, the duo putting a twisted spin on John Lee Hooker's Mannish Boy to disappointing results.  A disappointing sidestep from the usually reliable Black Strobe, I'M A MAN represents the duo's first forays into novelty hit making; hopefully a trend that won't take hold.

The Piano led LADY 13 is a step back in the right direction though; Black Strobe managing to create a sound that imagines Nick Cave given a crash course in twisted dark electronica; a sound revisited on the sombre album closer CRAVE FOR SPEED.

BURN YOUR OWN CHURCH is a record that gives Black Strobe a chance to flex their musical muscles and show a diverse and at times genre defying mix of styles and influences.  Whilst not always entirely successful and satisfying, BURN YOUR OWN CHURCH is an album that shows Black Strobe as a band capable of truly breathtaking things.

BIOGRAPHY

The dark side of disco, frozen-balearic, gay biker-house, boogie-trance, heavy-electronica and soft-goth. No, these aren’t compilations from a record shop on Mars but some of the mutant genres Black Strobe have written on the wall of their studio, musical monsters they hope to bring to life. “Electronic music that is not afraid to scare people,” Parisiens Arnaud Rebotini and Ivan Smagghe have declared is their intent. They have many talents but when it comes to dark disco this deviant duo are peerless.

Smagghe, a wire-thin, wired DJ and Rebotini, a tall ‘metal goth’ producer can’t quite remember exactly where they met but both presume it was in the ‘Front Row’. This was the name of a collective of similarly spirited music fans who would spot each other down the front of gigs from the mid-eighties onwards. They furthered their friendship when they both worked in the ‘dance’ section of Rough Trade in the mid-nineties. It was at the height of the French house boom that they formed Black Strobe to make a record for the Sourcelab 3 (1996) album. Their contribution was a reaction to the bright filtered disco sound the city had become reknowned for. ‘Paris Acid City’ was dance but infused with the spirit of the bands they would watch with the Front Row (Cabaret Voltaire, My Bloody Valentine, The Swans etc), it’s title a sly dig at their cities then listless club scene. All the Black Strobe elements were there at the time. The name and sound reflected their passion for disco-noir and flip-side ‘Funk Is Not Always Where You

Think’ was infused with ebm. Initially conceived as a one-off release Black Strobe was left dormant for several years as the duo busied themselves with other projects.

Rebotini was raised on funk and disco by his father though he rebelled and formed death metal and noise grunge bands. A student in computer science, he was soon seduced by technology, bought a 303 and began crafting skewed electronica and techno. In 2000 he released an album ‘Organique’ under the moniker Zend Avesta, an experimental pop project. A classical buff he also works for the GRM, a state institution created by veteran innovators Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer devoted to contemporary music. As a DJ Rebotini indulges his gothic tendencies at his regular night, the aptly named, Sometimes Funky People Are Dressed In Black.

Smagghe, the son of hippy parents, hated nightclubs as a teen. The ardent gig-goer viewed them with suspicion and malice. Ironic that he is now one of the cities most acclaimed DJ’s, a nocturnal animal and resident at the capital’s most cutting edge club ‘Kill The DJ’, at Le Pulp. He also hosted ‘Test’ a cutting-edge music show on Radio Nova for years where he interviewed the likes of Andrew Weatherall and Coldcut. He has also recently compiled ‘Kill The DJ’ for Tiger Sushi (2003) ‘Death Disco’ for Eskimo and ‘Suck My Deck’ for Bugged Out (2004) and was Jockey Slut magazines DJ of 2003. As they put it, “If more people heard Ivan Smagghe play less clubs would close.”

In 2000 Smagghe and Rebotini revived Black Strobe harnessing lightning to its neck bolts. ‘Innerstrings’ was the result which they released on their label ‘Black in Black’. It was heard by Trevor Jackson who promptly signed it to his Output label. It garnered heavyweight support from Weatherall, Laurent Garnier and DJ Hell and predated the neo-electro scene from which the duo would find a like-minded band of friends like James Murphy of The DFA, Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson, Canadian dandy Tiga and Belgian siblings Soulwax.

In 2002 Black Strobe released a double a-side: ‘Me and Madonna’, which featured Parisien DJ Jennifer on vocals and Rebotini lowering his bass to his thigh like Peter Hook, and ‘Fitting Together’, a sinister electro-beast revealing their fascination with bleep-house. They have since remixed, for the darker dancefloors, Dave Clarke, Royksopp, The Rapture, Tiefschwarz and Playgroup amongst others. Their next single, ‘Chemical Sweet Girl’, which Smagghe describes as “raw techno rock”, features Rebotini on vocals. They are currently working on their debut album and have been performing deck/fx sets together with notable performances at 2003’s Sonar by Night and at the Output/DFA party at the Miami Winter Music Conference.

Smagghe sums their recordings up as “rock’n’roll with synths” which is apt as they are also planning an unusual, incendiary live show to support its release, which, after spending most of their lives looking up from the mosh pit, should be very special indeed. It’s time for Black Strobe to leave the front row and take centre stage.

LINE UP

Arnaud Rebotini

Ivan Smagghe

DISCOGRAPHY

A REMIX SELECTION (Playlouderrecordings>2006) 

Black Strobe>Shining Bright Star (Phones Industrial Version)

Tiefschwarz>Ghost Track (Black Strobe Remix)

Martini Bros>The Biggest Fan (Black Strobe Remix)

Rapture>Sister Saviour (Black Strobe Remix)

Depeche Mode>Something To Do (Black Strobe Alternative Remix)

Caretta, Hacker, Millimetric>Moscow Reisen (Black Strobe Remix)

Bloc Party>Like Eating Glass (Black Strobe Remix)

Dominatrix>Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Black Strobe Remix)

Rammstein>Keine Lust (Black Strobe Remix)

Sweet Light>Abusator (Black Strobe Remix)

SHINING BRIGHT STAR EP (Playlouderrecordings>2007)

Shining Bright Star

Come Closer

Shining Bright Star (Zongamin Remix)

Shining Bright Star (Black Strobe Losing My Laptop Remix)

Shining Bright Star (Oliver Huntemann Instrumental)

Who Are We

Shining Bright Star (Blackstrobe Remix)

BURN YOUR OWN CHURCH (Playlouderrecordings>2007)

Brenn Di Ega Kjerke

Shining Bright Star

Girl Next Door

Blood Shot Eyes

Not What I Need

I'm A Man

Lady 13

You Should Be

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Last Club On Earth

Crave For Speed

LINKS

Blackstrobe>www.remixblackstrobe.com

FURTHER LISTENING

Nine Inch Nails

Gary Numan

Marilyn Manson