Young, gifted and techno

Montpelier duo The Youngsters are one of the finest acts in France’s small but perfectly formed techno scene. Although Olivier Mateu and Gilles Escoffier have only been making music together for five years, they have already delivered a succession of deep club EPs for F Comm and are about to put out a second album for the label.

They seem an unlikely pair – Olivier is younger and reticent, while Gilles is older and gregarious – but a common love of electronic music brought them together.
Gilles started DJing 18 years ago, playing jazz, funk and new wave. He underwent a conversion to house and techno in the early ’90s when he visited Junior Vasquez’ New York club, The Sound Factory.
Returning to France, he opened up a record store and started spinning at all the big raves and parties as Gil Le Gamin.
By his own admission, Olivier was annoying his parents at home as he attempted to fuse his love of Detroit techno, Kraftwerk and Jean Michelle Jarre, realised through the technology he had been obsessed with since childhood.
Having recorded some tracks, Olivier decided to approach Gilles for advice.
“He was a well-known DJ in the south of France and I went to his store. He enjoyed the music, we talked and found we had the same taste in music,” Olivier recalls. “We shared the same feelings and decided to start working together. It happened very quickly. I’m a musician, so I love chords, strings and melodies. Music should talk to the body, but also to the brain and the heart.”
The duo’s first release, issued on Gilles’ label, G Funk, and the deep, Detroit-themed techno tracks were supported by Laurent Garnier, whom Gilles calls ‘the ambassador of French techno.’
Ever the astute A&R man, Garnier also signed The Youngsters to F Comm. In keeping with the label’s open minded agenda, the duo’s first few releases spanned deep techno, driving dub tracks, balmy, deep house and even some electronic pop.
“If we made just one style of music, we would be really depressed,” Gilles says with a smile. Being on F Comm is a huge advantage. They let us release whatever we want, even if it’s tango, as long as it’s good quality.”
While The Youngsters’ debut album, Lemon Orange, was a predominantly dancefloor-based affair, the follow up LP, Army Of 1-0, is the culmination of a year’s worth of conceptualising, recording, touring and living – and represents a range of tempos, moods and styles.
Taking in mournful, down tempo beats, sweet electronic pop, glitchy deep house, new takes on acid trax and early ’90s bleep’n’bass as well as the duo’s love of powerfully melodic Detroit techno, it’s a well-rounded, polished work.
“We love melodies and the Detroit sound, but we have collected so much good music over the last few years and have so many influences,” Gilles says. “It’s very difficult to make something brand new, so we take good things from each style and put them together. In doing so, maybe we have found our own style.”
Unlike most electronic albums, whose sole focus is just the music, Army also has strong socio-political and personal themes.
“It represents many things in our life, it’s like a blueprint of what has been going on for the past few years,” Olivier explains. “It’s about the people we meet, what we see and our personal stories. It’s called Army because it’s saying that we are fighting to exist in a more difficult world, a place full of pollution and bad politicians, where it’s harder to earn money and have a decent life, where human relationships are more difficult and complicated. Our music is not just about aesthetics, it has a message and it is our weapon.”
Meanwhile, The Youngsters are struggling to put their message across at home.
“We’re not considered French producers because we either sing in English or not at all so they don’t play us,” Gilles says. “We’re also fed up with people saying ‘techno is dead’, that’s why we created an Army to fight against this idea. Maybe we are one of the last techno acts, but we can’t and won’t change.”
Let’s hope they stay forever young and angry.

Army Of 1-0 is out on F Communications on March 29