Cassius ‎– 15 Again

Ahh, Cassius. Hailed as one of the pioneers of "La French Touch", their resurgence album, named 15 Again, claiming their influence was the sound of the music Phillipe Zdar and Boom Bass enjoyed as teenagers. This album as a follow-up to the fairly decent "Au-Reve" album from 2004 is a major disappointment. The whole album is very-electro based with a rock feel added in. While I do like the main single from the album "Rock Number One" (the female vocals are rather pleasant compared to Phillipe Zdar's screaming voice on almost all of the other tracks), the rest of the album just really falls flat for me. Almost the entire album consists of minimal electro tracks with some rock influence with Cassius on vocals on almost every track. Songs that fit this category: "15 Again", "Cactus", "All I Want", "Toop Toop", "Eye Water", and "Jackrock". There are a couple of slower tracks that aren't as bad as the electro drivel found on the rest of the album, such as "See Me Now" (Which features Le Knight Club as producer) and La Notte, but neither of these tracks are really extremely interesting either compared to some of Cassius' other stuff.

Before Cassius could dip into different genres and still make some great house tunes. (Case in point: Thrilla) But aside from Rock Number One, this album falls really flat. If you're looking for French House, don't expect to find any here. Rather, all there is to find is a lot of crappy electro house that in the end isn't worth it. Pass.

I wasn't very pleased with Cassius's second album "Au Rêve", which was a very linear Electro/Rock opus with some recurrent sounds and attempts to distant themselves from the frenzy of "1999". With the new "15 Again", Zdar and BoomBass are back again with an unequal mixture of tracks. Some of the best are late to arrive: "Cactus", "La Notte" and "Cria Cuervos" are excellent. "See Me Now", exploring Dub/Reggae territories, is also a potential summer anthem. Other tracks are mostly Electro influenced, with vocals included, which is not necessary always a good thing considering Cassius being more an instrumental band at the basis. There are no samples credited, although some elements sounds like if they were. Etienne De Crécy and Le Knight Club adds their touch on some tracks, so it's a nice gathering of French Touch maestros overall.

OLDSCHOOL IS BACK! Yes, "15 Again" indeed. Cassius's two protagonists were probably fifteen when Oldschool House and Techno ruled the music world with what I call "almighty novelty". This album is a very successful and brilliant tribute to this mythical period.