Rinôçérôse
Installation Sonore
V2/Sony

Rinôçérôse mainly consist of two members, Jean-Philippe Freu and Patou Carrie, and is one of the most original French bands at the moment. Being natives of Montpellier in the south of France, this group has just recorded a new album, a mixing of rock, house (but not like the cheap "dance-music" compilations), dub and bossa nova, recently released on the English label V2. This one replaces the Spanish label Elefant Records, perhaps too small for the group.

Together since 5 years, the two members have had the original idea to mix the guitars with the "house" style, at the risk of discouraging the passionate rockers. However, this approach has been made slowly. First, "we have begun to compose pop instrumental tracks, a little bit like the style of My Bloody Valentine or like Mogwai's second album (...). And then, we have added some dub bass sounds, which has given a groove atmosphere. And gradually, we have added some house hints".

After the two EP albums Rinôçérôse and Rétrospective, Installation Sonore constitutes the real first album of the band. It can be divided into two parts: the first half, recorded during last summer with the house sound atmospheres, and the second half, recorded during the autumn and the winter with some pop sounds. It really begun with the maxi Le Mobilier, including the eponymous song from the album, Installation Sonore. Then, the group has linked the live shows, in particular in Paris (France) where they were the support for Roni Size, and they have also played live with Underworld for the French festival 'Les Inrockuptibles'. A future tour is even planned in England. We can moreover bring the style of Rinôçérôse closer to the "dance-rock" motion developed at the end of the eighties, with the bands like The Stones Roses and The Happy Mondays. On the other hand, Rinôçérôse doesn't integrate the voice in these compositions. This instrumental side allows you to consider the group like some precursors. Thus, if this album had been released 4 or 5 years ago, it would probably have been a failure, because people were less eclectic. For Rinôçérôse, "Chemical Brothers is the band who has rallied people to electronic music".

The album starts with the warm electronic groove of the house: the first song with the revealing name La Guitaristic House Organisation, with some noisy guitar chords, Radiocapte, Sublimior, and the single choise Le Mobilier. Then, a few digressions follow, some acoustic (323 Secondes De Musique Répétitive Avec Guitare Espagnole with flamenco sounds), some bluesy (I Love My Guitar), some bossa nova (Mes Vacances A Rio), to finish with pop songs like Popular Mechanics, Rock Classics Volume 1 (which begins with a sample of The Cure, from the Seventeen Seconds period), and Le Triangle.

In spite of this mix of musical styles, Rinôçérôse is a "rockers" group. There are only two effective members, but we can include Johnny Palumbo (programming), omnipresent in spite of his place in the shade, as well as some "faithful friends" present during the concerts: Florian Brinker and Rémi Saboul (guitars), Fred Pace (drums), Franck Gauthier (flute) and Fred Ladoué (displays).

Copyright © 1999 Patrick Dubail