Minimal Wave Records

We’re pleased to an­noun­ce that the re-press of the De­cad­ence LP by French duo Deux is now avail­able. Gérard Pel­leti­er and Cati Tête for­med Deux after meet­ing in Lyon in 1981. Their music can be de­scribed as minim­al synth with stripped-down rhy­thm com­posi­tions and suitab­ly cold duets. Their in­flu­ences are a per­fect blend of Kraftwerk and French syn­thpop.

Bet­ween 1983 and 1992, they re­leased a cas­sette and sever­al rare singles. They also ap­peared on the V/A BIPP LP (2006) and on the V/A The Minim­al Wave Tapes: Vol 1 LP (2010). Check their love­ly videos li­nked below. The De­cad­ence LP fea­tures selec­tions of their old materi­al, newly re­mas­tered. It is a li­mited edi­tion of 999 co­p­ies, pre­ssed on 180-gram black vinyl and housed in a heavy matte jac­ket lined in pale pink. Check the sound sam­ples below. Pre-order, here.

Re­view by Scott Mau, “An­oth­er great find from Minim­al Wave, Deux’s style can be hard to pin down; theirs is a rare com­bina­tion of Kraftwerk pre­cis­ion and a col­dwave co­ol­ness flavored by the vibe of French songwrit­ers like Serge Gainsbourg and Fran­co­ise Hardy. There is at times a basic similar­ity to Stereo Total (li­st­en to “Paris Orly”) as well as Gina X, but the com­parison only goes so far, as Deux are ut­ter­ly elegant and cool. They never allow their songs to go into the hyper, spaz­zy new wave pogo cliché zone. “Dance With Me” is a per­fect ex­am­ple of a Kraftwerk/Ser­ge col­labora­tion. “La Cam­ion” comes ac­ross like a Fran­co­ise Har­dy/Gainsbourg duet for some lost film’s end credits. “Sex and Troub­le” al­most sounds like a French take on the dark­er side of Al­tered Im­ages (no squeak­ing voices here though). Aside from these, the best final com­parison I can make is to fel­low Minim­al Wav­ers, Li­near Move­ment. There is just some­th­ing about a mal­e/­female duo that can write such varied, elegant songs, as sult­ry and sexy as they are cool and laid back. It’s also worth point­ing out that though these are syn­thpop songs that are com­plete­ly aut­hentic and of the time, the band are not near­ly as ob­ses­sed with over-arching dramatic synth and bleepy robot pop as was typ­ical. While many of their peers could be ac­cused of being drenched in styliza­tion, Deux man­age to in­fuse the qualit­ies of their genre with a rare de­gree of in­tima­cy. For ma­ture audi­ences only per­haps? Re­com­mended!”.

R.I.P. Gérard Pel­leti­er (1952-2013).