Heartbeat City //

Sarah Goldfarb + Jhk // Treibstoff //

We don't really know how often Jean-Vincent Luccini has been asked for the reasons to christen himself "Sarah Goldfarb", a name chosen in honor of that old lady on speed from the congenial movie "Requiem for a dream". What we do know, however, is that the producer from Marseille loves puns, genredefying credentials and synthetic sounds with lots of thrust. Since 2003 Jean Vincent produces quality techno under his always slightly irritating monicker, endowing a long-ranging array of labels old and young with his hypnotic beat pattenrs, and now he's set to release his first artist album on Treibstoff. "Heartbeat City", labeled after the seminal album by 80s New Wave band The Cars, isn't just the next logical step in a well-funded career, it's the result of a labour of love and the need to evolve musically. First, Jean-Vincent wasn't to keen on writing a whole album, as he deemed the dance floor and the 12" to be the best fit for his tracks, but the idea stuck with him since. It even developed into a personal challenge, meant to broaden his own horizon. So he invited a good friend and neighbour to his studio, the highly talented but virtually unknown Jean-Christophe Hallary, to climb this mountain with him. It took them both over half a year of intense bricolage, but we at Treibstoff are not the only ones to think that they reached the top several times in a row. The final product, as detailed as it is accessible, is a multilayered and danceable beast of an album, offering perfect dramaturgy and pinpointed kicks galore. It's the album we've hoped for the label, the floor and last but not least Jean-Vincent himself, who arrestingly proves how well the fan and the artist can go hand in hand. Sarah Goldfarb: not a junior anymore.