Club goes platinum, with a French twist

Features

Published: 12 Jan. 2006, 23:24

Club goes platinum, with a French twist

Finally, you can leave your MP3 player at home in peace and get down with the real-life French dance action. Tomorrow night, Club M2’s “The Platinum,” the fourth in its party series, features Bob Sinclar, a DJ best known for popularizing French house music with a sexy twist of disco. Cool club mixes like “I Feel For You,” “The Beat Goes On,” and “On the Drum” are just a few pieces by the famed DJ, who is visiting Korea for the first time.
Born Christophe LeFriant in 1968, “Mr. Sinclar” grew up in Le Marais, the happening gay district of Paris. The calling came for the aspiring DJ and producer when he saw a DJ play two records at the same time at Le Palace, an exclusive club in the 1980s. When he started DJing, using the name Chris The French Kiss, he was only 18. He started off with funk and hip-hop music, and the first club hit was the by-now famous “Gym Tonic,” featuring vocals taken from Jane Fonda’s fitness tape.
With a DJ friend named Yellow, Mr. Sinclar started the influential Yellow Productions and collaborated with other big-name French DJs such as Dimitri From Paris. Yellow Productions is the first French label of electronic music to branch out into the funky disco groove that came to be recognized as the leading French sound of the mid ’90s.
The latest DJ compilations include the original club mix of “I Feel For You” and “The Beat Goes On,” both of which feature Mr. Sinclar’s trademarks: breezy female vocals, catchy hooks and sleek melody.
Having dabbled in hip-hop, soul and acid jazz in his early days, Mr. Sinclar’s music is made for dancing. Funky house music, such as “Love Generation,” featuring Gary “Nesta” Pine, has been updated and remixed for club versions in 2005, successfully embracing the retro disco of the 1970s and electro tango of the ’90s.
Clubbers, partiers and dancers alike can readily recognize popular hits like “On the Drum” and “Viel Ou La” from Mr. Sinclar’s project “Africanism,” whose second album from 2004 was all the rage last summer. The “Africanism” series, now in Volume III (2005), features an ensemble of artists who produce house music with a combination of Latin, jazz, African and tribal flavors. His mixed compilation, “Bob Sinclar III” (2003), comes with effectively light dance smashes such as “The Beat Goes On” and “Kiss My Eyes.”
Trends come and go, but classic is here to stay ― by tapping into older and familiar sounds dating back to the origin of music, Mr. Sinclar is only making sure his new classic stays longer in DJ boxes and MP3 files.

by Ines Cho

“The Platinum 004” also features Club M2’s resident DJs. A presale ticket to “The Platinum 004” with Bob Sinclar costs 25,000 won ($23) at www.interpark.com, Music Library in Apgujeong-dong (02-511-1555) or City Beat in Hongdae Ohoo Building (02-323-5746), and 30,000 won at the door. For inquiries, call 011-9887-6076 or visit the Web site, www.clubm2.co.kr.