On the scene before, during and after the French touch, les Dupont are an electronic duo, created by Didier Blasco and Louis-Frédéric Apostoly at Nice’s Fine Arts school.
Group History
In 1995 they join forces with the Omnisonus/Polygram team and artists Dax Riders, Pacman, Roussia, Djul'z, Armand. Les Dupont are remarked for their highly acclaimed record production (Magic, Coda, Keyboards, Only for Djs…) and their live performances (le Rex, SIR. CUS Cybernaut, Festival de Wattrelos). They release their first LP, Miracle (1996), a first IDM album « à la française », somewhere between ambient, house and atmospheres verging on cinematic jazz.
The major years
During these «major years» at Polygram, les Dupont alternate between IDM and ambient productions. Influenced by Coil, SPK, Throbbing Gristle, they also record hardcore music. They feature on compilations such as: Hardcore Fever Vol. I & II (Polygram), Techno Trash Car (Polygram), Hardcore Cybermix (Fairplay), Harcore Extreme Mission (Polygram). Les Dupont work with Lisa N’Elias and Manu le Malin on the maxi EP, Hardcore Fever EP-Extreme Vinyl (Polygram). Meanwhile, their single Cinetik Rex (E Child) becomes a reference amongst hardcore DJs.
Independent label
In 2000, Les Dupont create their own label, Lysis and release their second opus Renaissance, an homage to the Palace, to house and new-beat. Creative and innovative, they bring hours of glory to melodic house, poetry and even a certain philosophical sense by using inserts from Jean Cocteau and Verlaine. Far from the clichés of the French Touch, the listener floats along to Miracle, somewhere between house, ambient and easy listening. After an impressive concert at the Technoparade, Les Dupont release the single electroclash I Feel, in 2004. With a video clip playing over and over on M6Music and MCM, I Feel reaches third place on Fréquence Spé.
The hardcore trilogy
In 2005, Les Dupont go back to their industrial inspiration and make three albums at Apocalypse Records, a hardcore trilogy capable of bringing the listener out of passive consumerism as well as expressing the violence that society pushes onto youth and fans of this culture: Black Metal, In Nocturno and Hiroshima 10 Tracks. The label, Multiplayer, releases the maxi vinyls: Cineteek Rexx (re-release of the 1996 title) and Der Geist/Phase II at the same time.
Back to ambient
After I Feel Remixed: a collection of mixes from the album Renaissance by DJ Dioxine, we rediscover Les Dupont differently. They don’t disown their electronic background, but sprinkle fresh literary, musical allusions around. With “Tales from the Ambient House Vol 1” the group recreates original polychromatic IDM/ambient house, gently mixing together elegant electro-pop, voluptuous house and ambient with a cinematic jazz tendency. This time using Verlaine’s poetry: (« Our ancient ecstasy, do you recall?»), the title Elégie recalls Miracle, one of the group’s first singles.
Transmission The Best Of
In 2009, the group releases their first best of compiled from their 7 previous studio albums, bringing together emblematic titles, new or unreleased versions, all totally re-mastered. The idea behind Transmission: The Best Of, is simple: start off with originals, respect chronology, exposing extracts, witness to the group’s career. After several key titles from the first album, maxis and compilations (Miracle, Transmission, Alpha 29-30…), the best of has several singles recorded between the major and independent periods (Heaven, Conscience…). Images from the 90’s go by, the years at Boy or The Palace. Witness to this pioneering period, Anna Karina whispers in Miracle: « We live in the shadows of our metamorphosis… ». Then there’s the title I Know marks the birth of the label, Lysis in 2000. Extracts of the albums: Renaissance, Treasure, Visitation and I Need, are all logical choices, but also the single I Feel, classed on the Fréquence Spé. The compilation proposes the unreleased titles Shine and Jamobea, then finishes with ambient titles that first brought the group fame: Sur l’eau and Mille Plateaux. What seems to be a return to the past, is in fact a circle being made complete, Les Dupont prefer IDM/ambient projects in the future. This compilation doesn’t retrace the hardcore period, as this is a different moment in the group’s history and which will be part of a different retrospective.
