Le Syndicate Electronique

Interview for SINFESTIVAL / New York 24 / 25 August 2001

Secret agent Alexandre, aka Le Syndicat Electronique, heads France’s electro terrorist label Invasion Planete. Back from his latest mission, he is debriefed by" Le Cuban Ninja" in a hidden compound deep beneath the earth’s surface…..

-How did Invasion Planete get started? Did you release any material prior to I.P.?

"Invasion Planete" (code name of the electro victory) started officially in April 1999. Before that, I organized, with some masked people and friends, little underground "Electro fights"/ parties, for specialists only (no suckers, no opportunists.) We were a small committed unity with special minimal cold releases and special raw machines. We played Electro New Wave rightly, no Techno, no House, no Jungle... without concessions!! Ever! We are the first in France to do that! I began my electronic creations for special people in 1995, on tapes only. Here, in my city, Toulouse, southern France I have a lot of enemies for that 'cause I've not a social attitude with Electronic freaks like Junkies techno, hardcore, squeers house and suckers disco. I think that I am too old for that crap. I prefer to create music for mature people with a real background and attitude. INVASION PLANETE records and its subdivision N.E.S.S. OBSCUR are my responses.

-How has operating in France ("the House capital of the world") affected your music? What has been the response in France compared to other countries?

House is a problem!! For me, that's real shit for the hype and opportunist people!! I hate this easy style, I hate the House French artists; this music is like a prostitute! No relations between us and that. Our music is the antithesis of all actual French productions (House, Techno...) In France, Invasion Planete is like the "Fight Club" system from David Fincher's movie. Secret and confidential, but now, there are more and more fighters. We've real "fans" in Belgium, Poland, Finland, and Italy. But at present the best responses come from USA and Germany. -What is the Electro Conspiracy and how are you involved? The Electro Conspiracy is a combat, a state of mind, a global attitude. We are soldiers with an ideal: to build the perfect society, without corrupted politicians, fucking consumers, "marketing artists", mafia (without capacities but smelly money) etc... Our weapons are the Art: Music and Graphism. Those are the real ways to send messages to the masses "Invasion Planete" comes from our artistic culture: computers, pornography, horror movies, and terrorism / propaganda acts. We think it's important to show to the people that we aren't zombies, but we are humans with different tastes and centers of interest.

-What is your musical background?

First influences: the synth music of John Carpenter and Kraftwerk!! They are the masters for me! The new wave style is for us very important too: the European white cold electronic wave stuff like John Foxx, Anne Clark, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb. We think the New Wave has a real French background: the neo romantism period. A lot electro bands take a French name: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (UK), Le Car (US), and Depeche mode (UK) for instance. We like that! Because we want to show people that France is capable of creating real good electronic music with feeling and culture.

-How did you land a release on Kobayashi? They are known more for their techno. Did you have any "inside" agents?

The boss of Kobayashi is not a close friend but an ex-Italo punk with a "special "attitude and lot of humor. I like that. He contacted me for a "LE SYNDICAT ELECTRONIQUE" mini LP. He gave me total liberty, carte blanche! That's a good way to convert people to our Electro combat: a propaganda system for us, simple and free!

-I.P. releases have all been very limitted. With rapidly growing interest in I.P., do you plan to do any represses or rereleases?

No...Only one luck to get our releases!...That's more interessant! They are real pieces of collection ( 600 copies )...Our fans like that! Currently, i know that a lot of people are looking for IP001, IP002, IP003 and the most popular IP005...But they are ultra sold out!! Perhaps the next year we will produce a bit more quantity...

-Can you give us a bit more info on the rest of the I.P. roster?

Our sub society is constitued by :
KARL KUBLER, the first artist that rejoined us ( ip003, ip005, ip006,ip009)...In his real life he is a biological scientist, a special guy with a cutting mimimal electronica style.
PORN.DARSTELLER, a popstar, sure !... an ex great ( two meter ) porno actor...Eh eh ( ip005, ip006,ip007,ip008,ip009).
OTTOMAS, the most retro futuristic...He comes from the Electro bass world...His music is a mixture between Electronica and old school style (ip009).
STRUKTUR, a new and secret band from URSS !! I'm proud to discover that ! Raw Electronic ! ( ip010...September)
RAISON FUTURE, the new minimal electronic project of Porn.Darsteller ( to discover soon !) ROLLINKA, painter, electronica musician and my companion in life... ( ip009) and
IT & MY COMPUTER my other special Electro project ( ip004, ip007).

Another thing, in September, INVASION PLANETE records, for the tenth record, becomes PARALLEL CITIZEN ,the new division( with N.E.S.S.OBSCUR, of course). Now, the invasion is done...the operation, code name " INVASION PLANETE", has been succeeded... Now, we are The Parallel Citizens !...In the shade , ready to fight !!

-Both the I.P. website and releases seem to involve a lot of art work. Who is/are the artist/s responsible for this?

Artwork is very important for us! Drawings, paintings, photography... music and artwork are bound. The ones responsible for the artwork are me and Rollinka. We both came from art school backgrounds. For me, the "plastic art" is my first passion! I created violent dark comics and FX photos with latex. Rollinka is a painter. She has a lot of fans. She displays her paintings in art galleries in France and Germany. Her works come directly from pulp and pop culture. You can see more of her work on our website www.invasionplanete.com.

Discography 1999 / 2001
Le Syndicat Electronique - Defending Man (IP001)
Le Syndicat Electronique - Super Science (IP002)
Le Syndicat Electronique / Karl Kubler - Split LP (IP003)
V/A - Pornographication (IP005)
Le Syndicat Electronique - The Men Who Killed the Beat (IP006)
V/A - Terrorification (IP009) Le Syndicat Electronique / Retro Commando (Kob 021)
Le Syndicat Electronique / Patcha Kutek & V8 Black Gold Arsenal (BB8.5)

Related: Invasion Planete

www.invasionplanete.com

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