While Cheetah Love may be running a risk of becoming a bit too electro-centric, there is one artist whom I cannot wait any longer to spotlight, and that artist is the single most bad of the badass, motherfuckin' DANGER.
Danger is the mask wearing alter ego of Frank Riviore, a 23 year-old Parisian graphic designer currently signed to Ekler'o'shock. I first heard of heard Danger early this year, after a heads up from the phenomenal blog
Good Weather For Airstrikes (R.I.P.), shortly after his first EP featuring the celebrated "11h30" dropped in Europe.
Danger's particular brand of speedelectro evokes at first a reiteration of the stark electronic minimalism and insistence of artists such as Kavinsky and Blackskirt. Also markedly present in his music is a manipulation of hip-hop bass aesthetics, highly comparable to the thunderous remix work of SebastiAn.
What makes Danger so particularly remarkable and, honestly,
better than these titans of French Electro House is his ability to so fluidly manipulate the melodrama of sound and tension to influence the real feelings and emotions imparted from his music, a feat matched perhaps only by the unfuckwithable Justice. That, coupled with the careful manipulation of image being presented by the artist help combine to make Danger sound not only like that elusive sensation of
danger itself, but to embody the very essence of it. Danger's
myspace page is perhaps the most excellent example of this, the tight composition of mysterious and sinister imagery coupled with his innately intriguing music turning the site from a mere information gathering resource into a visceral element of his music itself, changing forever the way one identifies and connects with the actual sound of Danger. Again, the only other electro group that can be observed matching such a complete degree of control with this element of their music is Justice, whose adoption of the "religious-symbolism-through-the-lens-of-70s-era-metal-iconography-and-also-leather-jackets" look has created one of the most intriguing images a band has enjoyed in years.
Unfortunately, one of the great annoyances regarding Danger is the sheer difficulty of collecting any information regarding him. Only one EP has been released, titled
09/14 2007, and both his system of naming songs - such as "00h00" - and his name itself do not exactly lend themselves to simple Google searches. Even more frustrating than that is that the most informative looking sites containing information about Danger are in French, and the French happen to be one of the few cultures with audacity to produce amazing music and then not feel obligated to explain it in English.
Information is out there, however, as evidenced by
this poorly translated interview posted at Trash Menagerie.
Equally essential to experiencing Danger is his amazing AV presentation, as can be glimpsed
here.
But, of course, beyond all of that is Danger's unbelievably fantastic music. His original work is, quite simply, mind blowing. This is evidenced by hard to find cuts of "00h00", "13h12", and "19h11". Some of his greatest achievements, however, lie in his remixes, which demonstrate beyond anything the sheer range of his versatility. In his amazing reworking of "American Boy (feat. Kanye West)" by Estelle, he is able to completely transform a wholly boring and mediocre song into an wonderfully expressive sonic adventure. Further representation of his incredible talent can be seen in his galactic remix of Sebastian Tellier's "Divine" as well as in my personal favorite, "Revolte at 22h10", original artist unknown.
"Revolte at 22h10" - Danger ((cheetah <3s))"00h00" - Danger"13h12 (Live Edit)" - Danger
"19h11" - Danger
"American Boy (Feat. Kanye West) (Danger Remix)" - Estelle
"Divine (Danger Remix) - Sebastian Tellier
