Send "Mr. Oizo " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 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 |
| Mishkanyc |
| Little by little over the last ten years, Oizo has made his own little creative nest in the electronic music scene. It all started with Stéphane, a puppet he created for the purpose of his M-Seq music video; Stéphane’s cutie doodle butt became an instant cult hit, in whom some people in high places saw a lot of value. With some corporate editing courtesy of Jim Henson’s peoples, Stéphane became Flat Eric and Oizo went on to direct commercials for Levi’s featuring Flat Eric as well as his own music, most famously Flat Beat. The exposure was unprecedented, and while it was generally a good thing to be a Frenchman making electronic music in the late 90s, his debut for F-Com was gigantically overlooked as the broken beat percussor that it was. Not quite as much however as his second effort Moustache, which was resoundingly ignored by absolutely everyone with a voice in electronic music. They found it insulting – and it was, but why did they take it so personally? This was a time when nothing was going Oizo’s way. He couldn’t even sell his movies. Lucky for us, French electro got a new lease on life thanks in part to his buddy Feadz, who then convinced Pedro Winter to take Oizo onto Ed Banger Records via an Uffie collaboration. His heavy tinkering felt right at home alongside the budding sounds of Krazy Baldhead and SebastiAn and Lamb’s Anger enjoyed a lot more critical acclaim than both his previous efforts. He also got a couple of his movies released: Steak (nationally) and Rubber (internationally), both of which he scored along the way. Stade 2 is his second album for Ed Banger. The title is a double entendre (how French): it is the second stage of Oizo’s video music game and the title of a French TV sports show. Also, possibly a nod to his habit of putting numbers in track names (see “Flat 55,” “Vagiclean 2,” “Patrick122″ and so on). It should not be surprising, then, that the self-titled track is pure Oizo. Weird distorted funk, filtered upon filters, with bonus cowbell and tambourine. Same goes for “France 7” which is somewhat of a strutty version of Positif. And Douche Beat brings in said trademark nonsensical voice synthesizer for the ultimate alt-bro dance party. “SKA” also has the very familiar 70s keys and brass that are all over Lamb’s Anger....full text |
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