sound of the suburbs

Before you start scratching your heads, yes they are French as are smelly cheeses, Brigitte Bardot, Luc Besson, Renault (both the singer and the car) and of course not forgetting the ever present political scandals, much a case of boys will be boys! If any of you don't Know Rinôçérôse, then shame on you, they are a top of the range house/rock/electro/indie cross over band from Montpellier with friends in very high places.
Going back a few months and I was on one of my rare trips to the Rockstore and chatting away with friend when someone told me that Rinô had had one of their songs chosen for the all new apple ipod Nano advert, you probably know the song by now it goes on about a cubicle. I was intrigued as I have known Jean-Philippe and Patou, the founding couple and both practicing psychologists, for years, an hour or so latter and Jean-Philippe walked in and confirmed this good news to me. Now if I am to be honest I was never a great fan finding them a little bit too house/techno for my tastes, but on discovering that their latest album 'Schizophonia' was available on E Music I thought why not give a try, and was I surprised. It rocks! On my recent trip to Paris the album had been on constant rotation on my Archos, and if truth be told I think my ears were begining to suffer but I was a happy man. What really makes the album stand head above the competition is its effortless mixture of big dirty rock guitars and licks and their more electro oriented dance side. This explosive cocktail comes as no surprise when we examine their influences; Rolling Stones, dub, My Bloody Valentine, flamenco, Happy Mondays, AC/DC and nineties house in fact just about anything worth listening to for the last 40 years. After meeting and getting on with one of their heroes, Mark Gardener (Ride), they hit upon the idea of recording with guest singers the result is an impressive list of vocal chords on the album including Bnaan (Infadels). There were of course regrets, Ian Brown had to decline as his own record commitements would not allow him. Then there is the Debbie Harry story, Rinô met up with here when they were both playing a festival in Santiago de Chile, and a meeting was arranged to discuss the project. Jean-Philippe spent an afternoon is Miss Harry's hotel room (hands up all those who are jealous), after several listens to 'Stop It' she was very enthusiastic about singing the song and so phone numbers were exchanged to prepare the recording. As with all fairy stories there is a wicked witch and in this case it was Debbies manager who agreed to the project if the band would pay a fortune for a voice and so it was not to be. Still he got to keep her phone number!

So some music for you to taste before running out and buying the highly recommended 'Shizophonia' or their newly released record label cash-in compilation. 'Bitch' was the first single taken from the album and should have been a very big hit and illustrates their knowledge of AC/DC with some tasty funky guitar thrown in. The album closes with only non English title 'Fahr Zu Hälle' which reminds me of the best of NY indie dance, and that can't be a bad thing .

As with many bands the Rinô couple have a history, look upon it as job training if you like, in the late eighties early nineties they were the driving force behind the Maracas, a French indie inspired pop band, one of their more popular songs was 'C'est Plus Fort Que Moi', not really in the same league but nothing to be ashamed of.