RCRD LBL

Jean Nipon

MusicPhotos

"I am not young enough to know everything"

Location: Paris, France

Website: http://www.myspace.com/anipon

Bio: I don’t expect you to know who Jean Nipon is because, frankly, neither do we. And yet, he’s one of the Institubes originals, he was ... (more) behind our third record ever, under the name Teamtendo. And yet, he is a fixture of the Paris club scene, building bridges between all the various, dysfunctional crews. He’s even roommates with one of us, but let me tell you: snoring patterns, however entertaining and quirky, say very little of the heart of a man. Nipon is a fractious, peculiar creature. He agrees to no rules and no higher power, and under the veil of unassailable coolness, remains an enigma.

Jean Nipon started out as a drummer in Hardcore bands and got into DJing circa 97. At first it was a cheap ploy to get more in touch with his fellow humans (read: get girls). Then it became something of an art form, and many a reveler remembers his seven-hour sets at Paris Paris where, as a resident, he would play the latest bangers in custom-edited form, plus Prince, Minor Threat, Aphex Twin and the Beastie Boys, Dinosaur Jr and Lio, Pink Floyd and Shellac, My Bloody Valentine and KRS One. What he does with those CD decks... Nobody can touch him. We’ve also seen him funcrush a couple of yuppie parties that didn’t deserve to dance: he’s a man of principles.

Let’s rewind it back: hardcore drummer, DJ, designer, lives in Japan for a year, designs a Coke bottle, sells records for two years in Paris at Katapult where he meets DJ Wet with whom he starts I.Y.M. (a 12” on Wwwilco) and Teamtendo. Teamtendo was a duo of giant plushies who played 8-bit-gabber-electro on tricked-out Gameboys (a 12” through Institubes and one via Deco). Does some remixes for TTC, Ark, Micronauts, Cosmo Vitelli, Lesbians On Ecstasy, Adam Kesher, David Rubato. Directed three volumes of the DJ-oriented "Eurogirls" vinyl project for Arcade Mode with Orgasmic.

Now Jean Nipon is stepping up on his own as a member of the Institubes family, with full privileges. He brings with him a precious knowledge of the obscure and the mainstream, of the rare and the common, and that’s what makes him so definitely necessary.

Three tracks, three bangers about which the modifier “relentless” comes to mind. 4WD mixes repetitive-stress-injury drums with a funhouse-of-horrors mood, complete with atmospheric strings and spooky build-up. You need this for your enlightened dancefloors.

National Kids originated as a remix for French band Adam Kesher and morphed into a weird rockabilly techno number almost exclusively made out of vocal samples, as if Jean Nipon was directing an orchestra of tied-up young rockers, torturing them into hitting the right notes and uttering the right yelps. The fact that it sounds recorded in a damp basement adds to the illusion. It’s the last track Nipon produced with his trusty ATARI 1040. Yes, that’s right, remember those? The set-up also involved guitar pedals.

Lost In Music is what Nipon is all about: it’s rough and brutal, as far as electro goes, but it has this fey, cheery, feminine core, with a whimsical metallic pixie-dust melody and glittery vocal stabs and kiddie hiccups sprinkled everywhere. Hey cute little leprechaun lost in the Forest of Glassy Tones, the exit is right there under the Mirror Tree, just follow the web of the Bass Widow. But beware the Jabberwock, my son! (less)