This 1996 debut album from Philippe Zdar and Etienne de Crecy (later of Cassius and the Super Discount series respectively) is the starting point for the French dance movement, and therefore one of that decade's most important records. Yet the spaces its 10 tracks inhabit are far darker than anything Daft Punk or Air have achieved. Motorbass' tactic was to build their tracks slowly, almost imperceptibly, so that naked beats evolve into imperious grandeur (the Norman Whitfield utopia of "Ezio"), or to utilise naggingly familiar samples within huge, vaguely intimidating landscapes ("Les Ondes", "Neptune"). The bonus CD includes their long-deleted first two EPs, the second of which, 1993's "Transphunk", is noticeably more playful and irreverent.
This 1996 debut album from Philippe Zdar and Etienne de Crecy (later of Cassius and the Super Discount series respectively) is the starting point for the French dance movement, and therefore one of that decade’s most important records. Yet the spaces its 10 tracks inhabit are far darker than anything Daft Punk or Air have achieved.
Motorbass’ tactic was to build their tracks slowly, almost imperceptibly, so that naked beats evolve into imperious grandeur (the Norman Whitfield utopia of “Ezio”), or to utilise naggingly familiar samples within huge, vaguely intimidating landscapes (“Les Ondes”, “Neptune”).
The bonus CD includes their long-deleted first two EPs, the second of which, 1993’s “Transphunk”, is noticeably more playful and irreverent.
