Cassius - 1999

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

Cassius

1999

(Astralwerks)

France has given us many things: fries, twists, bikinis, intense loathing. And, recently, damn good music. France is the unlikely home of Daft Punk, Air, and Dimitri from Paris, all of whom are such pioneers that they've basically invented their own electronic-music genres. The newest duo to emerge from the land of high-fat foods is Cassius. And they're pretty good.

1999 is an hour-long onslaught of beats, anonymous vocal samples, and funk-influenced synth lines. Each track establishes a groove and holds onto it until the end. While this is great dance floor material, it's not necessarily good for the living room.

But where Daft Punk's Homework was so headache-inducingly minimal that listening to it was less enjoyable than actual homework, 1999 keeps you interested. Hubert Blanc-Francard and Philippe Zdar, the people behind Cassius, are electronic veterans, and their collaboration is a marriage made in house-music heaven. 1999 sounds like you've heard it a thousand times before, but you haven't. Catchy, beaty, slick and sterile, it's the perfect house album. Whether the perfect house album is worth listening to is another issue entirely. - tony carnevale