I’m so incredibly excited to finally post on these guys. I found Dax Riders while aimlessly bouncing from one myspace to another, a tedious task and one of my favorite ways to discover new groups. Dax Riders however are anything but new. This French synth-funk trio put out their first release in 1994 as participants in the then burgeoning French house scene. Their newest tracks sound like P from Chromeo went solo or maybe like a futuristic George Clinton. Obviously I’m in love with everything they do. It’s all very vocode heavy, but I’ve always had a soft spot for that sound.

Dax Riders – Show me ur Love

Dax Riders is comprised of Cédric Azencoth, Oliver Ruel and Nicolas Berger-Vachon. The former two are the original members and now the owners of indie, Subscience Records. The group is best known in France for their single “People,” released on Universal France in 2001.  I’d never heard “People,” but that’s the great thing about the French electro scene: it’s too good and too big. I’ve always wondered what it was about French electro that makes it so consistent, even among basically unknown artists. I think it’s at least partially due to three major things. First, the French public school system incorporates music classes at an early age so relatively few French producers play by ear . Second, France has been laying the foundation for a great EDM scene since the early 80s when space disco and p-funk became wildly popular. Third, and this is just a hunch, I think a lot of French producers see themselves as modern day composers, as much in the tradition of Chopin and Auber as Daft Punk and Cassius. Danger, Allure, and Justice are all solid examples of the kind of classical sensibility that permeates the production culture.

As much as Dax Riders are the conglomeration of an array of influences, their sound feels surprisingly unified. I like their style, but their songs are all pretty similar. This made picking songs to post  harder than usual, but that’s a challenge I can live with. The first moments of “Show me ur Love” sound a bit like Excision or Datsik, but it isn’t long before the song’s character reveals itself and Dax Riders start revving up the funk. A rising chorus of robotic vocode breaks down into a soulful falsetto with a lot of great 70s feel. Intentional misspellings aside, this is easily one of their best and most euphoric tracks to date.

Dax Riders – Heartbreaker

“Heartbreaker” has got to be my favorite Dax Riders song. It’s everything that makes French electro great: it’s sample heavy, filtered, and funky as hell. I could understand the opinion that all the vocode gets to be a bit much, but I still feel like it’s used tastefully and that their vocal edits keep the sound interesting enough for 3 minutes. With lyrics like “wanna see you dance” repeated over some seriously catchy melodies, people should be too busy moving to be critical.

Posted by: Evan