THE GENRE PROJECT - January 5 - Frenchcore

Genre of the Day - Frenchcore

Album of the Day - Neurophonie by Micropoint

Today’s genre is Frenchcore, a variant of hardcore, core core core. Sorry if this entry is scrambled, I am quite sick at the moment and have really been in bed all day, which was a sharp contrast with the genre at hand. Frenchcore is essentially a ‘dance’ genre, if this really resembles what we commonly know to be dance music, characterized by extremely fast BPMs around 200 and off-beat hardcore techno rhythms. It started in the late 1990s in, you guessed it, France. 

Rate Your Music’s top album for Frenchcore is also the first album release of the genre’s first major act, just like yesterday’s genre, showing how it is the forerunners of experimentation who often are most favorably looked upon retroactively. Micropoint was a collaboration between French DJs DJ Radium and Al Core, and has released music as recently as 2019. The genre has grown considerably in the last two decades, from five releases in its inaugural year—1999—to the genre peaking recently in 2021 with 55 releases. 

I don’t really have much experience with techno, but my roommate is quite the hardstyle fan. There is a bit of an ironic quality to his love for it, but I think he also genuinely just enjoys the genre, so I’ve had a little exposure to this sound. I really can't imagine what this listen would’ve been like had I not had any exposure, because this is music that could probably cause anyone born pre-1940 to go into a state of shock. Over 57 minutes, Micropoint unleashes a frenzy of bouncing bass and drums at dizzying speed and frequency, peppered with the occasional French voice. 

I honestly really enjoyed this album, mostly because it just feels like a feat of sound in a way. There is something insistent, deeply primal about these extremely fast beats that embody the sound of a racing heart and gleeful abandon to the rave. Micropoint explores soundscape considerably well, such as through the sonic thunderstorm of Lunatic Park. Additionally, this album’s sound quite literally mirrors the effects of commonly popular drugs at the same scenes producing this music. Before anyone goes saying I’m stereotyping, the stats don’t lie—according to the Global Drug Survey in 2022, 71% of techno fans reported taking molly in the last year. I think the way this genre teases out the feeling of taking these party drugs so popular at raves and brings it to the music is a craft of its own. But honestly, one doesn’t even need molly to enjoy this album. There’s a ludicrousness to its extreme speed and ferocity that sucks you in, although the album ends up dragging a bit by track 12. However, I honestly see this as good music to work to while under considerable stress (an insistent beat will always assist my work, at least!) or you can stick to basics and enjoy this as it was meant to be enjoyed: deliriously rolling in some warehouse in France.