LES RYTHMES DIGITALES

at Axis Nov. 10

"My whole motivation for everything came from me thinking 'what would I want if I bought this record?' And if I'd bought my album and I'd gone to see it live, I would want some surprises, I would want to be entertained for a start, and I would want to hear alternative versions and slightly remixed versions, yet still be able to know the songs."

Jacques lu Cont, lead singer, producer, writer and overall head honcho of Les Rythmes Digitales, has certainly thought about what it takes for a live dance act to succeed--tricky ground for so many artists before him. He wants to create a live act that audiences can relate to. He wants to be a star. He wants to conquer the American market with his '80s-influenced dance album Darkdancer. It seems to have worked somewhat: LRD recently claimed the honor of being the first act to ever play live at New York's legendary Twilo club. But before that, their Boston gig was one of the test grounds for the act.

Half-past ten and house music was pounding. Ravers and British-dance-music groupies wandered the floors at Axis, still only at half-tilt even though the concert tickets said it would start at ten. Then the strains of Imagination's '70s disco classic "Just an Illusion" came over the speakers, a hint of lu Cont's love for good dancing music regardless of its cheesy associations. This segued into the sound of a robotic voice. "L... R... D...".

T minus 1. All dressed in futuristic silver space suits, lu Cont walked out with Jo Reynolds, his good-looking blonde guitarist and proceeded to launch into a robotic dance. Perhaps it would be better described as a winking, ironic take on dancing: efforts to banish thoughts of that Volkswagen commercial where the guys dance to Styx's "Mr Roboto"(or my actual efforts in to do the same dance in the '80s) failed. In any case, it was the start of a show, all right. Lu Cont and Reynolds had chemistry and were having a laugh camping it up, shrugging their shoulders to the beat. In the background was a blown up version of his album cover, with lighting set to highlight lu Cont's flaming crimson hair. Jim Carmichael, the drummer, dressed in somber black, was the more sedate counterpoint to all that energy. Somebody had to hold down the fort, apparently.

It's not as fully live as was earlier promised: the first vocals we heard, the "rock your body" refrain of "Dreamin'," were pre-recorded, and throughout the show all the vocals were lip-synced. Perhaps this was due to the nature of LRD's vocals, which rely heavily on vocoders and other effects to achieve their '80s sounds. Still, with Carmichael drumming up a storm and the Arthur Baker-esque electro synthesizer bassline kicking in, the crowd didn't seem to care, starting to bounce.

Not caring, apparently, was the point. Lu Cont has been known for railing against the anti-pop sensibilities for many other dance music acts (see interview), and he was as good as his word, throwing in a exaggerated slap bass effects and general goofing around on his sling-on keyboard. LRD blended in the familiar if childish "Popcorn" melody into "Dreamin'" and went on to do a version of the catchy "Jacques Your Body" that inserted an interesting Roland 303 break, and perhaps more unique, a cheesy guitar face-off, a la hair-metal rock concerts.

Then it came to their dancefloor hit "Hey You (What's That Sound)." Proceeding along very much like the album version, "Hey You" was fairly warmly received initially. Then, drifting in, under the radar, under the bassline of "Hey You," came the insertion of the familiar strains of another melody. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. So the infuriatingly catchy intro to New Order's "Blue Monday" has no words. Didn't stop any of us from singing along.

The strobes were going crazy, the crowd was jumping, the people onstage as effervescent as could be. About the only thing lacking was audience interaction--LRD never once talked to the crowd. Two more nondescript album filler songs later, a long, long house music introduction played, lu Cont and Reynolds led the audience into double handclaps and arm wavings, before the synth chorus of "From: Disco to Disco" finally kicked in.

And then it was over, all too soon. Lights went up. Blinking, the crowd members stared at each other. Encore? He'd played almost all the songs on the Darkdancer album. But the encore was not to come, nor would there be surprising covers or stuff from the first album (Liberation). It was short, sharp. For an hour and 15 minutes, LRD had avoided being faceless and anonymous. For an hour and 15 minutes, LRD had personality. For an hour and 15 minutes, Jacques lu Cont had achieved his goal. But the fact remained: an Axis that was only half-full meant LRD were in this case preaching their gospel of fun dance music to the converted.