These days the French seem to be enjoying themselves more than the rest of Europe. Fueled by booze, disco revival, fashion and more booze, Paris nights have taken the standard from drugcrazed Berlin and its selfobsessed minimal house/techno. French duo Nôze have even bigger aspirations like putting fun back into minimal house?!?.

Reminding us of their contemporaries Ark & Cabanne and Samim, Nicolas Sfintescu and Ezechiel Pailhès have taken eclecticism to a new level by incorporating everything from rock to cabaret into dancefloor house. As if bouncy beats and catchy vocals aren’t enough, their 3rd album “Songs on the Rocks” have gone into Matthew Herbert territory to create some cinematic 4/4 music using both electronic and organic instruments. In fact the only element that resembles minimal house is the beats, because most of the songs are laden with ideas flowing in from every direction one after the other with some amazing arrangements.

For the purists the bizarre tracks on “Songs on the Rocks” might not be serious enough after all 60% of all house music is based on a few chords/stabs and people still have problems with overcomplicated dance music (that means the music has more than 1 change every 32 beats) but it seems there are still different places to go with 4/4 music that makes you intellectually stimulated as well as shaking your ass. Seriously, one of the better dance music albums from head to toe this year. It’s a shame this isn’t as well received as Justice, their (musically) boring countrymen.

PS : Mr. Sfintescu is the co-founder of the aptly titled Circus Company which releases Nôze’s music as well as music by Samim, Ark, Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts. “Circus” now that’s a better word to summarize Nôze’s music.

PPS : They’re performing live in Istanbul @ Otto Santral this weekend.

RA scribe Jacob Wright calls it “boozecore” and there probably isn’t a better word for what Nôze create in their Parisian studio. Pan flutes, drunken trombones, barroom piano, all of it make it in to the duo’s latest full-length, Songs on the Rocks. Resident Advisor