I have loved Telex since they ended last in Eurovision in 1980. I bought the album (Neurovision) on the following monday. I was 13 years old. Now I am 56, and I am still a big fan of Telex.
I made a quick and dirty translation. Better than nothing. - (music play) - Interviewer : Is it possible to make a record without using any instrument ? - Dan Lacksman : Euh, Yes, Yes, It is precisely why I thought of Telex and that in Telex everything is synthetic. It means, no sound is an accoustic sound, except the voices, sometimes, a little instrument. But really, the rythmic base and the keyboards are made with a synthetizer. Interviewer : If you will, we're going to take one of the pieces you made with Telex, that is Moscow Discow - DL : yes - ITW : and we're going to decompose it. - DL : okay - ITW : step by step - DL : okay - michel's vocoded voice : generation 80 - DL : we started from a bass (bassline ?), and… I'm going to try to program it. So I put the device in program mode. I choose a sequence. (play) - DL : here is how the programmation is made. But, let's say to shorten the thing, because it actually take a fair bit of time, I already programmed it. So, I switch to another sequence, euh, voilà, I'm going to play the sequence sequence plays - DL : Bon, here it's on continuous impulsion, so, we can't strip of some of these impulsions, so we can change, euh, the rythmic figure, and here is what it does. (2:00) playing - DL : the tempo is not the right one. The sound… (manipulate the synth) (cut) - DL : alors voilà, so we have, recorded the bass, I've got the bass on one off the tracks, and, heu, I'm now going to add the rythmic… kick drum… - DL : alors heu… We just have to record the keyboards… (cut, Marc playing keyboards) - DL : Alors voilà I trigged the sound by the impulsion that come from there, now we're going to be able to record this sound… on the playback. - DL : this is a vocoder, it is a device that make possible to give the sound of this keyboard… - DL : to Michel's voice - Michel (singing) : Moscow, Discow, Moscow, Discow, génération 80 _ DL : so, the penultimate phase of the recording before the mix, is the dubbing/doubling (? doublage) of the singing and the vododer. I'm going to start the multitrack, and Marc is going to play the keyboard that Michel will trigger, and is going to sing at the same time - (Moscow Discow playing) - ITW : that means a sound engineer, alone, could make, or can make, a record, without ever learned music ? - DL : euh, non, that's not true at all, because you must have some notions of music, you have to be able to play keyboard, and you have to compose, so you need some notions of music to realise, but theoretically, it is possible, it became more and more possible with the evolution of technic.
Amazing how these guys had a clear understanding of what future music would be, 130BPM !! I was a DJ in 1980 and remember pretty well that nobody could dance this track with 130bpm, there were just a few tracks with BPM like this.
They did however underestimated the importance of the kick DB level, by then we had M pop musik , the buggles that emphasized for the first time a real cutting bassdrum level
Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman, mais également Michel Moers, qui est aussi comme les deux autres, un auteur-compositeur de génie. Telex mon groupe préféré 😊🎤🎹😘. Pensée à Marc Moulin 👏
aout 1979 je ne l'oublierai jamais en plein ete sur europe 1 l'apres midi ce titre MOSCOW DISCO illico enregistre sur mon magnetophone pour le repasser en boucle j'avais 11 ans
aout 1979 je ne l'oublierai jamais en plein ete sur europe 1 l'apres midi ce titre MOSCOW DISCO illico enregistre sur mon magnetophone pour le repasser en boucle j'avais 11 ans
When they entered the Eurovison festival with their song Eurovison and almost finished last i was the only one from my friends who loved this song. I couldn't understand why nobody loved it, I think at that the time the people where not ready for this but they where really pioneers for the electronic music and opened the door for other groups.
The switch of the sound at 2:08 like from toy robot to terminator, i love it! Great artists and real pioneers. Unlike today, you had to be an electrician and a musician at the same time to produce high quality eletronic music. Today you just need ableton. Not saying today's electronic music is bad in any way, but watching this video and how they produced their stuff, it feels more "true". Best regards.
Cette chanson est toujours aussi dingue, des années après. Sans ces mecs, Giorgio Moroder et Kraftwerk, il n'y a pas de Daft Punk, pas de David Guetta, etc.
cuando no habia ni fl studio , ni otro software , ni controlador ni vst ,que te facilitara la produccion , quizas habria ordenador que ayudara ,pero no como en estos tiempos , pura inspiracion de los pioneros , grande TELEX
@Bill Dunn "ITALO SONG" ??? First of all Telex are from Belgium, then their music hasn't much to do with the so called "italo disco" that came a few years later ... !
Tenho este disco vinil. Gastei ele ouvindo. Saudades destes caras. Acho que o mais recente trabalho do Dan foi Deep Forest onde ele usou uma das suas características de baixo com som bem destacado. RIP Marc Moulin.
Every single piece of electronic equipment i see in this is awesome, er i mean super chic lol (especially that sequencer!) But what caught my eye most is that groovy chair the main guy is sitting in. How cool is that? Thanks for this awesome piece of history!
Paul Beckett You're right Paul I think Telex were underrated as an inventive, visionary band with a great taste of style and conception. No matter they resembled musically Kraftwerk or G. Moroder - it was the same scene but they had their own charm full of humour, irony and cheerful view on this world. I believe people occured to be too serious to accept the genius of Telex. :-))))
This song was the inspiration for Billy Jean from Michael Jackson. Also ZZ-top was inspired by Telex' work for 2 albums "Eliminator" and "Afterburner".
Great BAND ... They are now re-living a "second Youth" , signing with MUTE and the spirit of MARC MOULIN (R.I.P.) is still with them ... As i wrote to Michel and Dan "The appetite comes by eating" .... They always said that they will never release new stuff, now they are just publishing their remasted work BUT ... WHo Knows ? :-)
mi cancion favorita estuve años y años intentando averiguar .... como se llamaba y quienes la interpretaban hasta que lo descubri eso en un programa de tv temazo el moscow discow
DO You know Dan Lacksman is the creator of the melody/bass line from "born to be alive" ? I hope one of these day meet with him at brussels! Friendly from belgium
This is one of the best dance records of all time and it hasn't dated though electronic music doesn't date anyway it's already before it's time..... Can't help but feel there is a little of kraftwerk inspiration going on as well as moroder
