Mr. Oizo - Stade 2 Review

And with that rather honest proclamation does Stade 2 begin, another drug-induced and psychotic chapter in the kaleidoscopic and perplexing saga that is the life and times of one Quentin Dupieux. And perhaps that statement is the most accurate summation of Oizo’s music, as his music really does seem to exist in its own little world, devoid of proper declaration or documentation. And yet he represents possibly the most definitive and distinct meaning of the term electro with his harsh and biting take on French house, with his snub-nosed beats and cascading sheets of electronic rain battering against each other like a rave nightmare, only occasionally finding themselves broken in two by some idiosyncratic expression or another.

Stade 2 is really more of the same by the left-wing French arbiter of bad taste, which is to say that it sounds like nothing else you’ve ever heard before. It’s filled to the brim with jacked-up 8-bit soundtracks stretched so thin to the point where they almost become transparent, and swing-heavy tumbling beats that jump in and out of the mix, more to offset the listener than to serve any kind of relevance or purpose. His music has often been termed as polarizing and for fair reason, and in the past it has seemed as if Dupieux had intentionally gone out of his way to deliberately fuck with his audience, always holding back from the obvious anthems that have just longed to drip out over his jagged soundscapes, always choosing to slip back into frenzied and bi-polar nightmares instead instead . He’s always seems to take great pleasure in being anything but obvious, and while that’s always been his calling card it’s certainly done him as many favors as it has worked against him.

While we’ve all gotten use to the idea that sanity is just something that Oizo really isn’t comfortable with, the whole crazy schtick has finally started to wear just a little bit thin; which perhaps explains why his latest LP is possibly his most normal outing yet, even though that is a term to be used lightly. Sure ‘Camelfuck’ is just another exercise in absurdity, but tracks like ‘Douche Beat ‘ and the jackin’ title track play host to a little structure and, dare I say it, complex design. His deliberate buzzsaw bass and filthy low-end still make their routine appearances, and there’s enough disruption and clutter to keep Oizo firmly away from ever replacing the likes of Guetta as the person you should perhaps be envisioning when a term like French house is bought up, but it shows that even someone like Dupieux is capable of a little maturity....full text When hearing the term French house for the first time, it’s likely that David Guetta might pop into your head right away. Though the now number one DJ in the world is a house producer from France, his pop-driven style has little in common with the experimental electro that has become attached to the term. Quentin Dupieux, better known as Mr Oizo, was an early pioneer of the French house movement who first became known for the 1999 single “Flat Beat.” Since then, he’s released several albums and directed two films, all of which were met with mixed reactions. Though his eccentric style of music has proven to be quite polarizing, and at points in his career dubbed unlistenable, Mr. Oizo has remained an influential figure in the indie-electro scene. His latest album, titled Stade 2, maintains the weirdness he’s become known for while achieving a refined sound that wouldn’t sound entirely out-of-place in a club.

While many of his past beats deliberately clashed with the tempo of the song, his newest work boasts far more consistent pacing and uses the overarching synths to channel his more avant-garde tendencies. The first real song on the album is “Camelfuck,” which switches between swing and house beats as the song builds into a more electro-heavy sound that would fit in just fine at Voyeur or a HARD event. The next track is more along the lines of his earlier work, as “Douche Beat” drowns out the minimal drums with an incessant bleeping that will either intrigue or annoy the listener. The sudden drop to dirty electro bass in “Oral Sax” is immediately engaging and makes it among the best of the album....full text