Jackson & his computer band
Magnificent and messy, daring and original, Jackson Fourgeaud's Smash is the record electronic music has been crying out for for far too long. Four years in the making, the long-awaited album by this fresh young French talent is already being heralded by those whove heard it as one of the finest debuts in years.
Like a kiss on the lips from a beautiful stranger, SmashEleaves you reeling, intoxicated. A 50-minute trans-genre audio fantasy rippling with Martian funk and melody-spangled symphonies, SmashE, in the words of its 26-year-old Parisian composer, is "a style orgy, a psychedelic celebration of conflict.E
It's a record on which opposites don't just attract, they hurtle, crunch, crash and ooze into one another at exquisite velocity, forging a wild romantic pop hybrid that sounds unlike anything else. New York's Index magazine describes his music as "a sonic patEbordering on Dada... a future gone wrong". You could say Jackson slips the pain into champagne. No one ever said he was reasonable.
Charismatic Jackson rose to prominence in 2003 when his fourth single, album opener UtopiaE tweaked all manner of DJs and tastemakers with its celestial aprs-rave shimmer. Featuring vocals by his mother, Paula Moore, a folk and blues singer who's just recorded an album with Nouvelle Vague producer Marc Collin, UtopiaEand its mesmeric sister track Radio CacaEseduced producers as diverse as Richie Hawtin, Matthew Herbert, Ellen Alien, Ricardo Villalobos, 2 Many DJs, Erol Alkan, Paul Epworth, Gilles Peterson and Trevor Jackson. Then Jackson's radical Midnight FuckEremix of M83's Run Into FlowersE later the stand-out tune on Michael Mayer's Fabric 13 DJ mix, proved this unique artist's mettle and crossover appeal.
Developing Smash's restless "antique futurist" style was a labour of love for Jackson. He recorded it again and again, adding layer upon layer, at home and in dingy Paris studios. One basement laboratory he shared with his pal Mr Oizo, who mixed two tracks on the record. Jackson's also responsible for some of the artwork, including the deliciously prurient inside painting.
As for guests, again, his mother sings on Fast life his four-year-old niece narrates the tale of a mad king on Oh BoyEwhich Jackson wrote fuelled on Ricard at his Grandma's while watching telly with his sister; and cavalier New York rapper Mike Ladd dazzles on TV DogsEa Harry Potter hip-hop cyber-swirl.
The album reveals Jackson's musical influences, too, scrunching Aphex into Hendrix, Boards of Canada into Bowie and beyond. Glam romp Teen Beat OceanEcould be T-Rex spazzing out with Hecker. "The idea is to mix unmatchable elements, to slash boundaries and create tension between opposites," he says. "Challenging aesthetic codes has been an obsession while making this record. The constantly chopped-up audiovisual environment we're exposed to in cities through technology is a source of inspiration for me. It's funny and brutal at the same time. So if I can use this to come out with some emotional shocks, thats cool."
Smash is a serious step up from Jacksons first releases in the late-E0s. He began making music aged 15, intrigued by the musicians and equipment surrounding his mother. After his acid house debut on Pumpking records in 1996, Sound Of Barclay released the Sense JuiceEand GourmetEEPs under the name Jackson & His Computer Band. Even then, these thumping filtered house cuts sounded weirdly different to the prevailing "French Touch" style of Daft Punk and Cassius, leading to articles in NME, I-D, Jockey Slut and the like. On the back of this acclaim, Jackson was commissioned to remix an array of artists, sprinkling his fucked-up magic over Femi Kuti, Air, Vanessa Paradis, Freeform Five and Jean Jacques Perrey and Luke Vibert's forthcoming Moog AcidE No one has yet remixed Jackson. '
This year he's DJed at parties in London Eeverywhere from The Social to Harrod's and recently terrorised the idyllic Territoires Electroniques festival in Aix-en-Provence. Perhaps you caught his excellent DJ set on Radio 1's Breezeblock show in March. Now Jackson is working on a killer live show which will be unveiled around the time of Smash's release in September.
He's also sketching the follow-up to Smash. "I want to make at least four totally amazing albums," Jackson says, "and if I can build myself a harem in Berlin, I will be a happy man!EWith the astonishing Smash, the year's craziest debut, this romantic punk is definitely on the right track.