Electric Electric

NEWS


BIO

‘III’, the aptly named third album by Strasbourg trio Electric Electric sets an inner revolution in motion: While curbing their electric arc in order to better develop the trio’s foundational repetitiveness into an increasingly singular and assertive sonic entity, ‘III’ creates a cohesion just as massive, dense and transcendental as a pyramid.

Formed in 2005 within Strasbourg’s underground punk scene (amidst squats, fanzines, self-production and self-management) the trio made up of Eric Bentz (guitar, vocals), Vincent Robert (synths, vocals) and Vincent Redel (drums) has quickly gained a reputation for their both electrifying and danceable concerts; mixing krautrock highways with math-rock accidents, noisy scratches and integrated electronics. This musical hot-rod has criss-crossed highways from here to there, from the ZXZW Festival in Tilburg to the Eurockéennes in Belfort, over to Tapette Fest, on to the Route du Rock via Jazz à Mulhouse, Les Rockomotives, Musiques Volantes, South by Southwest (USA) and Pop Montréal (CA) to name but a few…

The trio put its hybrid, polyrhythmic engine into serial production with their two dynamic and streamlined albums, Sad City Handclappers’ (2008) and Discipline’ (2009). At breakneck tempos they combined power (volume) with accelerations (motorik) and tight bends (virtuosity) or as one well-versed journalist put it simply: “The power of Slayer at the service of Shellac”. A kind of magic potion to which we will add a few ingredients, be they psychedelic (Silver Apples); krautrock (Can, Neu!); post-punk (PiL, Muslimgauze); futuristic (TransAm, Add N To X) or all of the above (Boredoms, Clinic, Suuns, Nissenenmondai, Beak>)

Not only having shared their tour bus with No Means No, TransAm, Psychic Paramount, Lucky Dragons, Action Beat, Monotonix or The Intelligence, Electric Electric also appear regularly as part of the savage quadraphonic venture named “La Colonie de Vacances”, offering punk concerts comprising four bands (in collaboration with Papier Tigre, Pneu and Marvin) during which 11 musicians encircle and lock down an audience who are transfixed from North to South, East to West and quite frankly don’t quite know which way to turn.

However, rather than pursuing compromise and dispersal often inherent to such cooperative endeavours, the leading trio seems to have learnt from this communitarian experiment just how important the need to confirm and assure their idiosyncrasy and inner cosmos really is.

The new-born album III’ appears to be a small revolution when compared to the original elements which built up the trio’s electricity (festiveness, frenzy and instrumentals).

Eric, mastermind of the band’s aesthetics, initiated this evolution in 2014 when he began sending demos without guitar riffs or drums to his associates. Instead, the demos thrived on ambient soundscapes, spectral and unprecedented voices and slow, distant tempos. A mutual momentum and a two-way tension were born: the possibility for personal desires to be realized within the shared space of the group as well as the thus-far unexplored opportunity to open up composing to the other band members, in the aim of finding a common style.

This personal need to slow things down and strike more softly while, in the midst of everyday violence, trying to seize a specific, radiant detail (be it an innermost thought which induces a state of trance and exaltation or a muted concern about today’s social and political injustice) is accompanied by the two other members of the group; The trio tune in their instruments to put up a smokescreen, mixing epochs and references, unravelling the rough outlines of an event to build up to an immersion within layers of sound and production details – all the while combining various musical influences with their already overcharged DNA: We can pick up on hints of contemporary classical music or electroacoustic music, from GRM to Morton Feldman, to the experiments of Coil, Scott Walker or more recently the work of electronicists such as Lee Gamble and Vatican Shadow.

Despite all of this work around textures, timbres and frequencies (facilitated by long epistolary exchanges between Eric and Vincent Robert while the latter was working on production and mixes in Nantes) combined with a strong presence of vocals and singing (Les Bêtes even includes a section of spoken-word by Philippe Poirier from Kat Onoma) does not mean III’ totally breaks away from the trio’s previous style; it rather deepens and characterises their ambitions.

Using dance, trance and profane rituals to enthuse liberated bodies through repetition, difference and event, Electric Electric’s music continues to be political in its own way. Although less by direct evocation (as with Dassault, Black Corée or Klimov which references the Russian author of a Soviet War drama film Come and See) than by the mission the trio has given itself: liberating bodies, making one forget oneself, causing elation and allowing people to live an experience fully, candidly and without constraint if only for the duration of a concert.

‘III’ therefore asserts and confirms Electric Electric’s identity and style. It is an album that doesn’t resemble the trio (inasmuch as it is not what we expected from them) yet it resembles them greatly (in that it reflects what they truly are). Isn’t it often the case that when searching for the most intimate things and the most personal experiences that we touch upon something we might call universal? It is without a doubt that many people listening will recognize themselves in this re-birth.

LINE-UP
Éric Bentz : guitar, vocals
Vincent Robert : keyboard, voice
Vincent Redel : drums


LINKS


PRESS


CONTACT

Booking: xavier.muraillesmusic[at]gmail.com Promo: adrien[at]brown-bunny.fr

DISCOGRAPHIE

  • ‘III’

    Murailles Music, Kythibong2016
    CD / LP / digital
    Buy
  • Discipline

    Murailles Music / Africantape / Herzfeld / Kithybong2012
    CD / LP / Digital
    Buy
  • Sad Cities Handclappers

    Herzfeld2009
    CD / LP / Digital

Past shows

Click on "date", "city" or "venue" to change the list display
  • DateCountryCityVenuewith 
  • 05/05/2018BelgiqueBruxellesLes Nuits - Botanique DJ Laginfos event
  • 07/04/2018FranceMetzLes TrinitairesProtomartyrinfos event
  • 05/04/2018FranceBesançonL'Antonnoir event
  • 04/04/2018SuisseGuin - CHBad Bonninfos event
  • 03/04/2018FranceDijonGrange Rose des Lentillères event
  • 02/04/2018FranceAmiensL'Accueil Froidinfos
  • 01/04/2018FranceCaenFestival Palma - Quartier Lorgeinfos event
  • 31/03/2018FranceLillePZZLE festival - Maison Folie Moulins event
  • 09/11/2017FranceParisLa Station Gare des Mines event
  • 08/11/2017FranceLimogesLe Doggo event
  • 07/11/2017FranceFelletin La Petite Maison Rouge event
  • 06/11/2017FranceBeauregard (Lot)Le Presbyt'hair event
  • 05/11/2017FranceAgenLe FloridaPostcoïtuminfos event
  • 04/11/2017FrancePavieLa Fenière - Domaine de Besmaux event
  • 03/11/2017FranceMarseilleL'Embobineuseinfos event
  • 02/11/2017FranceLyonLe Sonicinfos event
  • 29/07/2017AllemagneHirschfeld (DE)L*Abore festivalHyperculte, Partout Partout, Africaine 808...infos event
  • 17/06/2017FranceParisPetit BainIt It Anita, La Jungleinfos event
  • 10/06/2017FranceDunkerqueLes 4 Éclusesinfos event
  • 15/04/2017FrancePauFestival À Tant Rêver du Roi (La Centrifugeuse)Api Uis, Winter Family, Les Agamemnonz, Nurseryinfos event
  • 14/04/2017FrancePoitiers Auditorium du musée Sainte-Croixinfos event
  • 13/04/2017FranceBrest - ANNULÉLa CarèneLysistratainfos event
  • 11/03/2017FranceRennesFestival Les Embellies - Le Jardin ModerneMnemotechnic + Braziliers + Bornor + Nurseryinfos event
  • 10/03/2017FranceParisLe SupersonicFranky Goes To Pointe à Pitres, L'Impasse Mexicaine, Hush Frequency event
  • 24/02/2017FranceBrainansLe Moulins de Brainans
  • 23/02/2017FranceAngersFestival les Z'Eclectiques (Le Chabada) infos event
  • 03/02/2017FranceToursFestival Allotropiquesinfos event
  • 02/02/2017FranceNantesLe FerrailleurMiëtinfos event
  • 21/01/2017FranceParisPoint ÉphémèreF.U.T.U.R.OS.C.O.P.E.infos event
  • 20/01/2017BelgiqueCharleroi (BE)Le VecteurUséinfos event
  • 19/01/2017BelgiqueBruxelles (BE)Madame Moustacheinfos event
  • 10/12/2016FranceReimsMaison de quartier Val de Murigny - Espace Le Ludoval event
  • 09/12/2016FranceAllonnesPéniche Excelsiorinfos event
  • 08/12/2016FranceSaint EtienneNNY Fest -(Ursa Minor) event
  • 07/12/2016FranceMontpellierLe Rockstore event
  • 26/11/2016FranceBoulogne BillancourtFestival BB Mix - Salle Carré Belle-FeuilleGoat, The Pop Group, Fantastic Mister Zguy, Dj Cambodian Knivesinfos event
  • 25/11/2016FranceVilleneuve-d'AscqFestival Tour de Chauffe - La Ferme d'en HautJapansinfos event
  • 19/11/2016FranceChalon sur SaôneLapéniche
  • 18/11/2016FranceLyonFestival Riddim Collision - Marché GareFrancky Goes to Pointe à Pitre, Quadrupède, Maria Rockmoreinfos event
  • 11/11/2016AllemagneFreiburg im Breisgau (DE)Slow Club
  • 10/11/2016FranceNancyFestival Musiques Volantes - L'Autre CanalSUUNSinfos event
  • 21/10/2016FranceLe HavreFestival Ouest Park - Fort de TournevilleNaïve New Beaters, Super Parquet, etc. infos event
  • 15/10/2016FranceStrasbourgLe MolodoïKGinfos
  • 14/10/2016SuisseVevey (CH)Festival du bout du mondePapier Tigre, Service Fun, Frank Waxmaninfos
  • 13/10/2016FranceGenève (CH)L'UsinePapier Tigreinfos event
  • 12/10/2016FranceLa Chaux-de-Fonds (CH)Le Bikini testPapier Tigre
  • 01/10/2016FranceClermont-FerrandLe Raymond Barinfos
  • 30/09/2016FranceToulouseLe Metronuminfos event
  • 29/09/2016FranceBiarritzAtabalJessica 93, Uséinfos event
  • 28/09/2016FranceChâteaurouxLe 9 Cubeinfos event
  • 17/09/2016FranceOrléansFestival Hop Pop Hop - Centre Chorégraphique National D’OrléansBlast, It It Anita, La Mverteinfos event
  • 31/08/2016CanadaMontrealLa Sala RossaPapier Tigre, Pneu, Marvininfos event
  • 09/07/2016FranceTournan-en-BrieLa Ferme Electrique
  • 02/06/2016FranceDijonLe ConsortiumChocolatinfos event
  • 07/05/2016FranceChabeuilFestival Rencontre entre les mondesinfos event
  • 04/05/2016FranceBourgesEmmetropSheik Anorak, Braziliersinfos
  • 23/04/2016BelgiquePont-à-Celles (BE)Pacrock FestivalLætitia Sheriffinfos
  • 22/04/2016BelgiqueHoutain-Saint-Siméon (BE)Houtain Rock Festival infos event
  • 21/11/2015FranceStrasbourgANNULÉELauterinfos event
  • 27/06/2015FranceCosne d'AllierFestival Au Coeur de CosneBurning Heads, C*nt
  • 08/05/2015FranceBesançonFestival CircasismicJC Satan event
  • 07/05/2015FranceTroyesChapelle ArgenceJessica 93, Mars red skyinfos event
  • 22/01/2015FranceJoué lès ToursCocktail Pueblo Festival, Le Temps MachinePneu, Don Vitoinfos
  • 06/12/2014FranceVendômeFestival du Film à Vendôme, Le Minotaureinfos
  • 28/11/2014AllemagneHamburg (De)Fabrikinfos event
  • 25/10/2014FranceBruxelles (Be)Magasin 4, Festival Hexageninfos event
  • 23/08/2014FranceCarellesFestival Terra Incognitainfos event
  • 27/06/2014FranceLärz (De)Fusion Festivalinfos event
  • 23/06/2014RussieRybinsk (Ru)Palais de la culture 'Aviator' event
  • 22/06/2014RussieIaroslavl (Ru)Plyazh Cocktail Bar
  • 21/06/2014RussiePerm (Ru)"Village" du festival Les Nuits Blanches
  • 20/06/2014RussieEkaterinbourg (Ru)Parc Central de la culture et de la Récréation Mayakovsky
  • 18/06/2014RussieNovossibirk (Ru)Parc du 1er Mai
  • 17/06/2014RussieNovossibirkTime-café Campus
  • 14/06/2014RussieIrkoutsk (Ru)Club Akulainfos
  • 31/05/2014FranceMetzLes TrinitairesNisennenmondaiinfos event
  • 24/05/2014FrancePantinFestival Coax, La Dynamoinfos event
  • 26/04/2014FranceLa Roche sur YonFuzz'YonDub Trioinfos event
  • 20/04/2014AllemagneNürnberg (All)Misty Mountain Road Show, K4 - Zentralcafeinfos event
  • 19/04/2014AllemagneBerlin (All)Misty Mountain Road Show, Jägerklauseinfos event
  • 18/04/2014AllemagneHamburg (All)Misty Mountain Road Show, Hafenklanginfos event
  • 17/04/2014AllemagneDresden (All)Misty Mountain Road Show, Sektor Evolutioninfos event
  • 08/03/2014Grande-BretagneManchester (Uk)Klondyke Clubinfos event
  • 07/03/2014Grande-BretagneLeeds (Uk)Brudenell Social Club, British Wildlife Festivalinfos event
  • 06/03/2014Grande-BretagneSheffield (Uk)The Harleyinfos event
  • 05/03/2014FranceEdinburgh (Uk)Opiuminfos
  • 04/03/2014Grande-BretagneGlasgow (Uk)Bar Bloc +infos event
  • 03/03/2014FranceStirling (Uk)The Basement event
  • 02/03/2014Grande-BretagneNewcastle (Uk)The Tyne Barinfos event
  • 01/03/2014FranceCoventry (Uk)The Tin Music & Arts Centre at the Coal Vaultsinfos event
  • 28/02/2014Grande-BretagneLondres (Uk)Suryainfos event
  • 25/01/2014FranceSaint-OuenMains d'Oeuvres, Festival Mo'Foinfos event
  • 15/12/2013FranceClermont-Ferrand Raymond BarFordamageinfos event
  • 14/12/2013FranceCholetLe Bar'oufSeilman Bellinsky, Fordamageinfos event
  • 06/12/2013FranceMassyPaul-BPoni Hoaxinfos
  • 29/11/2013LuxembourgLuxembourg-Hollerich (Lu)Carré Rotondes, Exit07infos event
  • 28/11/2013BelgiqueHasselt (Be)Muziekodroominfos
  • 27/11/2013BelgiqueBruxelles (Be)Autumn Falls Festival - Atelier 210infos
  • 16/11/2013FranceMontpellierFestival '34 Tours' - Victoire 2Chokebore, Verdun event
  • 15/11/2013FranceColmarFestival SupersoundsJC satan, Parbuffle event
  • 09/11/2013FranceLyonFestival 'Riddim Collision' - le TransbordeurTima Exile, Aucan, Dope D.O.D.infos event
  • 04/10/2013FranceLa RéunionLa cerise sur le chapeauRiske Zero event
  • 31/08/2013FranceLochesPad'Non FestivalDownsetinfos
  • 17/08/2013AllemagneSchnaittach-Lillinhof (Nuremberg - ALL)Festival Misty Mountain infos
  • 15/08/2013FranceSaint Malo Festival La Route du rockinfos
  • 10/08/2013FranceBidartFestival BALEAPOPETIENNE JAUMET - ALBA LUAinfos event
  • 20/07/2013AllemagneEsslingen (de)Komma Summerfestival infos
  • 19/07/2013BelgiqueDour (be)Dour Festival Fourt Tet, Simian Mobile Disco, Dan Deacon, ...infos event
  • 12/07/2013FranceLuz Saint SauveurFestival d'Altitude JAZZ à LUZinfos
  • 06/07/2013AllemagneWürzburgXYEAHX SummerfestSCHNAAKinfos
  • 05/07/2013FranceCravancheFestival Les Eurockéennes - Club LoggiaSmashing Pumpkins, Archive, ...infos
  • 01/06/2013AllemagneCologne (ALL)Kalk
  • 31/05/2013AllemagneHeilbronn (ALL)Komplex 23
  • 30/05/2013AllemagneLeipzig (ALL)Ortloffinfos
  • 13/05/2013FranceParisLe GibusCatholic Spray, Futur event
  • 12/05/2013FranceParisLe TrabendoDeath Gripsinfos event
  • 10/05/2013FranceLe BleymardFestival d'Oltinfos event
  • 09/05/2013SuisseGenève (Suisse)La Gravièreinfos
  • 08/05/2013FranceLyonFestival 'Les Nuits Sonores'JC Satan, Crime and The City Solutioninfos event
  • 04/05/2013FranceMouscron (BE)Century Festivalinfos
  • 03/05/2013FranceNamur (BE)Le Belvédèreinfos event
  • 02/05/2013FranceReimsL'Écluse
  • 27/04/2013BelgiqueLiège (BE)La Zoneinfos
  • 26/04/2013Pays-BasHeerlenNieuwe Norinfos event
  • 25/04/2013Pays-BasHaarlem (NL)Patronaatinfos
  • 24/04/2013FranceOpwijk (BE)Nijdropinfos event
  • 20/04/2013FranceDijonL'Abbey Road event
  • 19/04/2013FranceAlbiFestival 'Complot sur le campus' event
  • 18/04/2013Clermont FerrandLe Raymond's Barinfos
  • 13/04/2013FranceSt NazaireLe Vipinfos
  • 12/04/2013FranceCherbourgLittle big place infos
  • 11/04/2013FranceRennesL'Antipode MJC - Festival 'Roulement de tambour'Fordamage, Microfilm, Ed Wood Jrinfos event
  • 10/04/2013FrancePoitiersLe Zincinfos event
  • 30/03/2013SuisseNeuchâtel (Suisse)Queen Kong Club
  • 23/03/2013FranceRouenLe 106 - Festival 'Les Pluriels' Seal of Qualityinfos event
  • 22/03/2013FranceAgenLe FloridaLa Terre Tremble !!! infos event
  • 21/03/2013FranceNantesLe StereoluxPowerdove, Double Nelson event
  • 20/03/2013FranceParisLe Petit BainChausse Trappe, Seal of Quality event
  • 15/03/2013FranceNancyLe HublotScorpion violente + you Freud, me Jane event
  • 23/02/2013FranceBesançonLa RodiaShiko Shikoinfos
  • 22/02/2013FranceYverdon-Les-Bains (Suisse)L'Amalgameinfos
  • 09/02/2013FranceMagny le HongreLe File 7Mermonteinfos
  • 08/02/2013FranceLorientLe manègeJC Satan, We are Van Peeblesinfos
  • 07/02/2013FranceBrestLa CarènePapaye, No Pilotinfos event
  • 06/02/2013FranceLa RochelleLa SirèneJC Sataninfos event
  • 19/01/2013ArgenteuilLa cave dimièreLa Terre Tremble !!! infos
  • 18/11/2012RoubaixLa Condition Publique
  • 17/11/2012St Germain en LayeLa Clef
  • 16/11/2012Château-ThierryFestival 'Picardie Mouv', La Biscuiterieinfos event
  • 15/11/2012GrenobleLa Bobine
  • 14/11/2012NîmesLa Paloma
  • 13/11/2012St martin de Lansuscle (48)Le Temple
  • 12/11/2012PerigueuxLou Vessiou (Homes show) infos
  • 10/11/2012OrléansL'Astrolabe
  • 09/11/2012ParisLe Nouveau Casino infos
  • 19/10/2012Toursle Temps Machine

NEWS

BIO

‘III’, the aptly named third album by Strasbourg trio Electric Electric sets an inner revolution in motion: While curbing their electric arc in order to better develop the trio’s foundational repetitiveness into an increasingly singular and assertive sonic entity, ‘III’ creates a cohesion just as massive, dense and transcendental as a pyramid.

Formed in 2005 within Strasbourg’s underground punk scene (amidst squats, fanzines, self-production and self-management) the trio made up of Eric Bentz (guitar, vocals), Vincent Robert (synths, vocals) and Vincent Redel (drums) has quickly gained a reputation for their both electrifying and danceable concerts; mixing krautrock highways with math-rock accidents, noisy scratches and integrated electronics. This musical hot-rod has criss-crossed highways from here to there, from the ZXZW Festival in Tilburg to the Eurockéennes in Belfort, over to Tapette Fest, on to the Route du Rock via Jazz à Mulhouse, Les Rockomotives, Musiques Volantes, South by Southwest (USA) and Pop Montréal (CA) to name but a few…

The trio put its hybrid, polyrhythmic engine into serial production with their two dynamic and streamlined albums, Sad City Handclappers’ (2008) and Discipline’ (2009). At breakneck tempos they combined power (volume) with accelerations (motorik) and tight bends (virtuosity) or as one well-versed journalist put it simply: “The power of Slayer at the service of Shellac”. A kind of magic potion to which we will add a few ingredients, be they psychedelic (Silver Apples); krautrock (Can, Neu!); post-punk (PiL, Muslimgauze); futuristic (TransAm, Add N To X) or all of the above (Boredoms, Clinic, Suuns, Nissenenmondai, Beak>)

Not only having shared their tour bus with No Means No, TransAm, Psychic Paramount, Lucky Dragons, Action Beat, Monotonix or The Intelligence, Electric Electric also appear regularly as part of the savage quadraphonic venture named “La Colonie de Vacances”, offering punk concerts comprising four bands (in collaboration with Papier Tigre, Pneu and Marvin) during which 11 musicians encircle and lock down an audience who are transfixed from North to South, East to West and quite frankly don’t quite know which way to turn.

However, rather than pursuing compromise and dispersal often inherent to such cooperative endeavours, the leading trio seems to have learnt from this communitarian experiment just how important the need to confirm and assure their idiosyncrasy and inner cosmos really is.

The new-born album III’ appears to be a small revolution when compared to the original elements which built up the trio’s electricity (festiveness, frenzy and instrumentals).

Eric, mastermind of the band’s aesthetics, initiated this evolution in 2014 when he began sending demos without guitar riffs or drums to his associates. Instead, the demos thrived on ambient soundscapes, spectral and unprecedented voices and slow, distant tempos. A mutual momentum and a two-way tension were born: the possibility for personal desires to be realized within the shared space of the group as well as the thus-far unexplored opportunity to open up composing to the other band members, in the aim of finding a common style.

This personal need to slow things down and strike more softly while, in the midst of everyday violence, trying to seize a specific, radiant detail (be it an innermost thought which induces a state of trance and exaltation or a muted concern about today’s social and political injustice) is accompanied by the two other members of the group; The trio tune in their instruments to put up a smokescreen, mixing epochs and references, unravelling the rough outlines of an event to build up to an immersion within layers of sound and production details – all the while combining various musical influences with their already overcharged DNA: We can pick up on hints of contemporary classical music or electroacoustic music, from GRM to Morton Feldman, to the experiments of Coil, Scott Walker or more recently the work of electronicists such as Lee Gamble and Vatican Shadow.

Despite all of this work around textures, timbres and frequencies (facilitated by long epistolary exchanges between Eric and Vincent Robert while the latter was working on production and mixes in Nantes) combined with a strong presence of vocals and singing (Les Bêtes even includes a section of spoken-word by Philippe Poirier from Kat Onoma) does not mean III’ totally breaks away from the trio’s previous style; it rather deepens and characterises their ambitions.

Using dance, trance and profane rituals to enthuse liberated bodies through repetition, difference and event, Electric Electric’s music continues to be political in its own way. Although less by direct evocation (as with Dassault, Black Corée or Klimov which references the Russian author of a Soviet War drama film Come and See) than by the mission the trio has given itself: liberating bodies, making one forget oneself, causing elation and allowing people to live an experience fully, candidly and without constraint if only for the duration of a concert.

‘III’ therefore asserts and confirms Electric Electric’s identity and style. It is an album that doesn’t resemble the trio (inasmuch as it is not what we expected from them) yet it resembles them greatly (in that it reflects what they truly are). Isn’t it often the case that when searching for the most intimate things and the most personal experiences that we touch upon something we might call universal? It is without a doubt that many people listening will recognize themselves in this re-birth.

LINE-UP
Éric Bentz : guitar, vocals
Vincent Robert : keyboard, voice
Vincent Redel : drums

LINKS

PRESS

DISCOGRAPHIE

  • ‘III’

    Murailles Music, Kythibong2016
    CD / LP / digital
    Buy
  • Discipline

    Murailles Music / Africantape / Herzfeld / Kithybong2012
    CD / LP / Digital
    Buy
  • Sad Cities Handclappers

    Herzfeld2009
    CD / LP / Digital

CONTACT

Booking: xavier.muraillesmusic[at]gmail.com Promo: adrien[at]brown-bunny.fr