WOEBOT

DJ Gilles is a a pal o' mine, a great local DJ, though his sets lean way to much towards goth/ebm, which he feels is his market. I spun one of his parties and tried to convince him that the gayest italo-disco and New Edition were both New Wave, but he wasn't having it. He often bills himself as "New Wave since 1982" or something. He was definately playing this stuff in the pre-electroclash days and despite fliers for parties called "Frequency 7" that were styled after New Order's Movement, never caught on with a huge crowd, despite being a favorite of many local hip types. Do I get points for recognizing the picture used on the cover? It's from the excellent first album by french Magazine/X-Ray Spex/Blondie/Dr. Mix and the Remix hybrid Edith Nylon.

to Dan
Aaah! He had to be a mate of yours Dan :-)
I'm surprised he's a Noo Yorker (meaning these CD-Rs would have to be imported ?!?!?!) You do get points for spotting that cover, as does Bas Van Hoof who emailed me this jpeg of it...

It's a really good album! On ILM Stewart Osborne said something to the point of "I wish their 2nd and 3rd albums would come out on CD" making me think maybe the first one did? Never seen it though...

that was me posting just now.

I'm the guy who commited those DECADANSE cd mixes in NYC. A friend of mine just send me the link of your website. Very good and interesting. Loads of infos and opinions. Great! I just wanted to say thanks for your .... bad review. Even bad reviews are good! I take it.
And Dan (Selzer), thanks for coming to my rescue. Free Decadanse mix for the first person who reconnize the visuals used for the first and third volume (another french classic album) which -sorry Matt- are actually better i think. [Leave a message on this board for the contest].
The one you reviewed, i actually did it after friend's suggestions who wanted me to put on a cd the stuff that i was deejaying almost five years ago, the pure synth-pop/new romantic kinda new wave cliche stuff. I love it -go get it!- but i prefer the other ones (especially the last one) : darker, angrier, rougher, weirder, funkier and... better. They explore and preview different aspects of the so called New Wave planet which splitted in so many sub-genres like white funk or cold wave and are very relevant these days when you look at the local scene.... See what i mean!
Yes, almost five years ago at Blu Lounge in Wburg' ("From the Tea-Rooms of Mars..."), Double Happiness ("FAC 215", the Factory catalog number for the Hacienda house red wine or... white) and some other places. That's what i was deejaying. Around the same time, Dan was doing Transmission at Plant and Andy, from Prosaics now, was at Route 85. And that was about it for good new wave parties in NYC. Larry Tee was still spinning house somewhere. Before the hype, before electroclash -beuh! quel gros mot!!!- before The Chameleons played at The Hammerstein Ballroom... Oh! I'm sorry, i mean Interpol. Before Soul Jazz Records reissue A Certain Ratio so the kids can play "Shack Up" at Red & Black on thursdays calling it "death disco"!!!??!!! Before the rediscovery of the Factory stuff. By the way my first radio program, in 1983, in France, was called Factory Wave. So....
Yes, as you can see, i'm a kind of a finicky fanatic. I'm also old enough so i can say that i was around in 1980 and saw live most of those bands when i was 18. Dan, just for the record, it was "DJ Gilles, New Wave since 1979". I just like the way the number 1979 sounds. So those Decadanse cd -originally a party that lasted a year, with DJ 3:1:G and myself- are kind of a tribute to the whole scene and music "from february 1978 to september 1983" as i used to say. That will be from "Warm Leatherette" to "A Day" of Clan of Xymox. The end of a synth-analog era. Real good angry lo-fi new wave/after-punk was gone.
And sorry about the cdr thing but the majority of those bands are obscurs or totally unknowed in this country (not talking about the volume 2) and not reissued. Yes, it is illegal; it is stealing in some ways but for the good. I don't have Dan's guts to contact those bands, work with them and their former labels to reissue their recordings. I wish i had. And also the money by the way. Here is a chance for listeners and others deejays to get to know those bands and research them.
So thanks for your good bad review, Matt. People, listen to the mixes. Copy them for your mums and friends!

Friendly yours. Gilles "New Wave since 1979"

PS.not doing any parties these days. anybody wants to have me as guest?

=DECADANSE cds are available in NYC at Other Music, Bleecker's Bob and Rebel Rebel ($12); and at Rough Trade shops in London.

*Volume 1, "A mix of Minimal Synth and Cold Wave" featuring End of Data, Kas Product, Tanit, Spizzenergi, Charles de Goal, Cabaret Voltaire, Yello, Johny Analog, Rational Youth, Stephan Eicher, Robert Gorl, Die Form, Hysterica Passio, Factual, Trisomie 21, Band Apart, Nini Raviolette. Playlisted in the november's WFMU "Heavy Airplay" list and also #1 in their "RPM" playlist.

*Volume 3, "A Mix of White Funk and Cold Wave" featuring Second Layer, Pink Military, T.C. Matic, Marquis de Sade, Bunnydrums, Minimal Compact, Blurt, Au Pairs, Simple Minds, End of Data, Kas Product, Charles de Goal (again my favorites french synth-punk bands), The Sound, Orchestre Rouge, Complot Bronswick, Mecano, And Also The Trees, Danse Macabre.

Ha! Super! Thanks for dropping by DJ Gilles, though I hardly think mine was a bad review. (smiles) I bought the thing ferchrissakes! While I'd prefer the tracks cold, the mix is good. Bonne chance!