Monday sees the release of the Paris version of this (currently) three city series. I’ve already had a look at The Other Side of London and it might be that because I know London quite well that I thought the Paris side of the DVD is much better.

Covering the same sort of ‘themes’ art, shops, clubs, hotels, Caribbean caravan café, etc, Ivan Smagghe and Arnaud Rebotini (aka Black Strobe) mainly guides us through the city and give us some insight into their favourite parts.

Arnaud lets on that he’s got a heavy metal past and takes us to a goth/metal restaurant where you can get one kilo Argentinean Steak (why?) and Ivan goes to his favourite second-hand clothes shop and gives us some thoughts on cowboy shirts.

If you didn’t know that they Black Strobe are mutli-genres DJ’s that dip into punk/new wave/indie, you will after watching the DVD, that’s why Bauhaus get on the CD. For younger readers, also track down ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ by Bauhaus that originally came out on Small Wonder Records of Walthamstow (also see The Other Side of London).

They take us to their monthly club night and tell us a little of what Black Strobe is about and about the mix. This personal touch is missing from the London version and it would have been good to see something of Mr. Lazarus/his record label/the artists on the CD or even, Get Lost.

Having said that, I prefer the Lazarus mix and given the choice, Hectic’s Other Side Of Paris would definitely include MOD X, Heavenly Sounds (Thunderbird Service/Wirz), Soulution, Chez Le Coiffeur and possibly, One-Two for a contrast. Perhaps that’s one for another day.

I’ll definitely keep hold of this DVD as I already need it to check out Triptyque (21 September with MOD X, Kid Loco , Paul Murphy, and DJ Snooba) whilst Smagghe could look at the London version. He’s a regular visitor to London’s Fabric and he’s there next Saturday in Room One before Craig Richards. Might be worth checking his latest leftfield eclectic show as he continues to scream against any type of pigeonholing. Hey, I’m all for that as it sounds very Hectic. See you on The Other Side of London?

Reviewed: V/A - Time Out Presents The Other Side of Paris : Black Strobe Cat. No. ResistCD67 Release Date 10th July 2006
Tracklisting:
01. Black Strobe - Intro
02. Solid Groove - This Is Sick
03. Märtini Brös. - Darkroom
04. Hell - Jack Your Body
05. Front 242 - Operating Tracks (Instro)
06. Bauhaus - Terror Couple Kill Colonel
07. DS - Like It, Like That
08. The Sun God - Return 2 Saturn
09. Midfield General - Error Dub
10. Basteroid - Schicking Data Per Post
11. Bastards Of Love -Wheel Of Passion
12. The Customers - Furious Sail Away
13. Boys Noize - Volta 82
14. Trentemøller - Beta Boy
15. Mickey Oliver - Intensity
16. Black Strobe - Abwehr Disco
17. Huntemann - 50.1
18. Black Strobe - Deceive/Play

Links
www.blackstrobe.com
www.myspace.com/blackstrobe
www.fabriclondon.com Sat 15th Jul 06
10:00pm - 7:00am £15 (£12 nus & Fabric First) Smagghe: “This is the scream of the guy who did not want to be pigeonholed.” [Fabric 23 Mix]
www.timeout.com/otherside
www.resist-music.co.uk
www.bauhausmusik.com
Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Small Wonder Records)
TRIPTYQUE, 142 Rue Montmartre, Paris - www.myspace.com/letriptyque