French fancies

Montpellier-based Rinocerose are the latest in an increasingly long line of French dance acts to have gained international recognition in recent years. Their second album, Music Kills Me, is a pulsating collection of euphoric house that owes more to the hedonistic high of Primal Scream than the laid back airs of, well, Air.

“Primal Scream were a strong inspiration for us,” agrees Jean Phillipe, one half of the male/female line up. “At the beginning of the ’90s, I spent some time with a friend in London, and there we listened to bands like Primal Scream and the Happy Mondays, but also 808 State, Orbital and The Orb – who we’ve just toured with in America. When we started Rinocerose we were trying to imitate house music, but with guitar and bass.”

Although Rinocerose began as a deliberate exercise in frivolity following the acrimonious dissolution of Jean Phillipe’s previous band, interest from the Spanish record label Elefant led to the release of their first EP in 1995. Another EP for French label PIAS followed, as did a support slot with Underworld. By 1999, the band had picked up a strong club following in Britain, and with the release of their debut album, Installation Sonore, they managed to carve out a niche for themselves, somewhere between Daft Punk and Madonna-producer Mirwais. How would Jean Phillipe respond to an offer of collaboration with Madonna?

“Actually, we know that Madonna appreciates Rinocerose already,” he replies. “She mentioned us to a journalist at Rolling Stone. I remember our record company immediately took the quote and put it on our website! So she is kind of a fan of ours already, y’know? And if she proposed to work with us we would accept, because I think we could do something interesting there.”

Staying with the theme of commercial reality vs. underground cred, I mention Daft Punk’s recent appearance in a GAP advertising campaign. Would Rinocerose be happy having their image and/or music being appropriated in that way?

“Well, for all the musicians from the electronic scene, ads are important,” answers Jean Phillipe. “There are no lyrics, which makes it easy for directors to synchronise the music with the image. We had some of our music used in an American commercial already. Unlike Daft Punk, we didn’t appear in it. But I think it would be a nice experience, being in an ad!”