Day 291: Telex – Looking for Saint Tropez

You know what time it is, it’s Friday night disco time. Today, I thought I’d pick something that I’ve never heard before, so I thought I’d go for the Belgian electronic music group Telex.

Album cover courtesy of RKM

They were formed in 1978 by vocalist Michel Moers, radio DJ and jazz musician Marc Moulin and programmer and sound engineer Dan Lacksman. Their goal was not to do something very serious, but instead do semi-satirical music, like robot-sounding electronic covers of songs like “Rock Around the Clock”. They were active between  1979 and 1988 and briefly came back in the mid-2000s, but disbanded when Marc Moulin died in 2008.

While they’re not that well-known today, they inspired many pioneering house and techno DJs at the time and have a place in music history as an influential group in electronic music. Apparently they also represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest, hoping to finish last but eventually getting to the semi-respectable spot of 17th place out of 19.

Looking for Saint Tropez was released in 1979 as the group’s debut studio album, and the three singles they released charted in several countries. It features deadpan disco-pop that’s delivered with a cool detachment and covers of songs like “Ça plane pour moi” and the aforementioned “Rock Around the Clock”, along with some original songs.

I’ve discovered something that isn’t really up my street today, or maybe I just don’t jive with a Belgian sense of humour. I thought I’d like the big hit from the album, "Moskow Diskow", but even that is a bit… reductive is maybe the wrong word. Repetitive and eventually just not that interesting. There’s better stuff on the album, but not by a lot – everything on it that I like, I’m only going so far as saying I kind of liked it. It’s all made a bit in jest and I usually like things that are a little bit off-kilter, but this one I just couldn’t get into.

The caveat to this is that a few of these songs could probably grow on me if I listened to them a bit more, like an old friend who’s kind of annoying but you still like her. At this point, though, it’s a 6/10 – not unenjoyable, but not that enjoyable either.