Benjamin Diamond, the strangely overlooked vocalist behind the smashStardust hit "Music Sounds Better With You," has quietly been releasingsome excellent French house singles on his Diamond Traxx imprint.Having enjoyed his solo releases, I was pleased to discover this 12" ofelectro-disco from The Eternals, a group who previously recorded forDaft Punk robot Guy-Manuel's Crydamoure label. "Walk For Me" is a deep,groovy track of warm squelchy bass pads and retro drum hits. Aneffected vocal sample echoes the title of the song repeatedly,sometimes seeming to be a command, other times more of a request orplea. It becomes all too easy to get entranced and lost here. "TheAndromeda Gate" the B side picks the tempo up considerably withcomputer voices spouting statements and status reports over oddarpeggios, haunted synth lines, and a funktastic house beat. During thebreak, the machine seems to take control, but it cannot hold back thebeat for much longer. It's a bit kitschy, but there's definitely anaudience for it. Electroclash fans should keep in mind that beforeAmericans embraced the sound popularized by Fischerspooner and MissKittin (and renamed it for their own purposes), French groups like LesRythmes Digitales and Superfunk were already writing electro-tingedunderground club classics that bubbled over to the mainstream.Therefore, The Eternals aren't trying to jump on our bandwagon. Infact, they're astro pioneers in their own right.
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