République, Paris. The scene of conception of Babylon By Car, the latest in Gallic post-punk and electro fusion conjured up by Benjamin Boguet and Julien Briffaz, often caught spewing out minimal resplendence under the guise of Bot'Ox on any and every label from DFA, to Grand Central, and back to DC Recordings. Rife with synths, samples and loops all fired down fiber optics at pulsating velocities, Babylon By Car is a record to juice hormonal epinephrine to, as distant twinkles meet the endearingly off-kilter ambience of opener Motor City, as if Alec Empire were ordained Empire Of The Sun. Bearded Lady Motorcycle Show is as raunchy as its salacious title intimates, as hefty guitars clunk away, grinding against capricious swathes of blissful squelches and thundering drums. The steely, metronomic Blue Steel is an ascending power ballad for the post-industrial, like Alison Goldfrapp trading sequins for dingy squalour with Trent Reznor, whilst Tout Passe, Tout Lasse, Tout Casse is Plastikman dropping globules of anxiety in the introversion of Black Devil as Judy Nylon disapprovingly snarls "You're bored, you're drunk, your flies' open, everything you own is expensive and broken." A rather succinct résumé of the 'Hoxton hero', then... Rue de l'Arsenal is an altogether more inviting affair, as rickety lo-fi guitars are displaced by Liquid Liquid rhythms and the infinite galactic echoes of Cluster, and Car Jacked gushes with fluctuating keys over a backing throb sturdier than Dave Gahan. The cadence to Babylon By Car, the Mark "Bogus" Kerr-featuring Tragedy Symphony and Slow Burn are exceedingly bathetic, the title track discombobulated and initially entirely chaotic, whilst Overdrive is all too fraught in a crumbled Crystal Castles-esque frenzy. Although as with any Parisian pretence, there's a riveting insouciance behind every chiming guitar and insistent drum loop that keeps you buckled up tightly in the back of Bot'Ox' voyage to Babylon. Blue Steel (Still Going Remix) by Anorak London
