Just in...Housse de Racket: Alesia

    Having just released August 22nd, this qualifies as 'Just in...' and is a welcome addition to the French Electro Pop scene by way of the Kitsuné label--who only boasts six signed artists of mostly the House genre, but now I'd say at least two important contemporaries, Two Door Cinema Club and Housse de Racket. For example, comparisons can be drawn to Tokyo Police Club or Phoenix, respectively. Housse de Racket is comprised of two, Pierre Leroux and Victor Le Masne who grew up à Chaville (between Versailles and Paris) and played hired sessions with local bands Air and Phoenix, and touring with Chilly Gonzales before branching out on their own. Their first album, Forty Love (2008). So, they have a pretty strong connection to bands like Daft Punk even, which is where they get their French Touch style. French Touch is another way of saying French House, which is pretty much what Daft Punk, Étienne de Crécy, and Phillip Zdar of Cassius do, to name a few important artists; so, just think ear astounding electronic sounds often in a disco like style. Phillip Zdar was also their producer for Alesia and was hired just after finishing up a bunch of remixes for Phoenix, of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix songs.
    Regardless of all the cool stuff I discovered, I was super happy to receive an e-mail from Kitsuné alerting me to the release of Alesia. I think I probably was on their free newsletter list because of Two Door Cinema Club, I may have signed up for a free download or something. Let's just say up front that I love the synths! Even though, most bands that use them just remind me of New Wave (of which I have previously discussed my dislike for). Here, though, it is like listening to Daft Punk in a way, and that suits me perfectly. I even like the disco steps and upbeat nature of [almost every] song. The beats are hip and varied, with simple and half French/English lyrics and melodies, which is also cool. It is as if Housse de Racket is just trying to not over complicate itself, stick to what it knows, and enjoy creating music. They've also done extensive world touring, so they are trying to really make it big internationally, which is also why they probably signed on to Kitsuné.
    The title of the album, Alesia has some ties at least I'm sure to the siege of Alesia by Julius Caesar in 52 B.C., before he became emperor. It was considered his greatest military successes, in which he defeated the Gallic tribe of Mandubii--Alesia was their capital. It's capture basically ended the resistance of the Gallic tribes and Roman Republic invasion in France.
    Housse de Racket has released two EPs of sorts, 'Roman' and 'Château', with remixes of course, so you can get a pretty good idea of how the album sounds. You can listen to them on their website here along with some videos. You can also listen to those here, on SoundCloud, or check out Forty Love, which I almost like better, if not just as much as Alesia. Finally, listen to one of my favorite songs (along with 'Chorus'), 'Aquarium', here, and under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks', enjoy!