Cassius: 1999 : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Cassius are Hubert Blanc-Francard (a.k.a. Boombass) and Philippe Zdar, twothirty-one-year-old dance-music makers who previously helped supply forward-looking French acts like MC Solaar, Daft Punk and Air with their zip. The duobases its music on the finely calibrated roar of house: constantly unwinding,nonstop rhythms; shiny-toned pointillist beats; and stray voices from old funkjams, cartoons and ad spots. Rebellious jams such as "Cassius 1999,""Planetz," "Hey Babe" and "Supa Crush" seem to develop their own kind of freeforce. Cassius can't conceive that their technological means might limit them;instead, throughout these sixteen tracks, they just keep pulling off uncannyimpersonations of the funkiest little band on the planet. (RS 805)

JAMES HUNTER