Album Review: Total by SebastiAn

Seemingly influenced just as much by Daft Punk's work ethic as their musical M.O., the hard-partying gallic hordes at Ed Banger records may be capable of some massively adrenalized, barnstorming electro-house, but they're sure in no hurry about it. In 2011, four years after Justice's watershed debut album, a follow-up from that label flagship was only beginning to appear on the horizon (see also Germany's like-minded Digitalism); meanwhile, the shadowy SebastiAn, who'd been issuing singles (and at least one compilation's worth of remixes) on Ed Banger since 2005, was just getting around to his first full-length. At least he took the "full" part seriously enough: Total boasts a staggering 22 tracks.

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Few countries have had such a dominant effect on modern electro music as the French. Over the past twenty or so years, artists such as Daft Punk and Cassius have developed a distinctively “French” house sound, which has proven massively popular worldwide. Combining disco and house, and often containing vocal samples and looped instrumentation, French electro is a largely accessible route into dance music for those that aren't generally big on beats.

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Disappointed with new [a]Justice[/a]? Hankering after the clunky synth/vocoder clatter noises of 2007? Wish there were more albums in the world packed full of two-minute robo-funk interludes? Think the [i]NME[/i] New Rave tour is still going? Step out of your rusty time vortex and head right this way; French electro artist SebastiAn (the big A is mandatory) is here for all your outdated needs.[b]‘Total’[/b] couldn’t be more mid-noughties if it came dressed in a geometric hoodie, and the result is a chopped-up, sample-heavy stew that’s a whole load of fun if the Tales Of The Jackalope shebang was your Haçienda. Now, whatever happened to Krazy Baldhead?Tim ChesterOrder a copy of SebastiAn’s ‘Total’ from Amazon .

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The title track from French producer and Ed Banger affiliate SebastiAn's debut album, Total, runs a little under a minute and a half. But the song's video makes economical use of its time, cramming hundreds of quickly edited pieces of footage both disturbingly violent and explicitly pornographic-- a decapitated body, a woman with a vaginal slit for a face-- into one ADD-affected piece of manufactured shock. Beyond thrill seekers, the meme brigade, and the endless offensiveness of 4chan, it's hard to conceive who the audience for this thing could be.

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A superb debut from the French producer, setting the bar high for 2011’s dance albums. Mike Diver 2011 With a second studio album from Justice looming on the horizon and Daft Punk’s phenomenal soundtrack for Tron: Legacy topping dance charts on both sides of the Atlantic late last year (amazingly, the score was overlooked at the Oscars), it seems appetites for beats français remain hearty – even 14 years after the dizzying head-rush of Homework. Although active since 2005, Boulogne-born electro-head Sebastian Akchoté hasn’t followed his similarly styled countrymen into long-player territories – until now.

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