Hypo (Anthony Keyeux) is a persistent figure in French independent electronic music. Revealed in 2001 by the English label Spymania (Squarepusher, Jamie Lidell), he has since produced about fifteen unclassifiable records, acclaimed by the International press. Within the labels Active Suspension, Tsunami-Addiction and Lentonia, his music marked the years 2000 and 2010 alongside his acolytes dDamage, O. Lamm, Konki Duet, Domotic, La Chatte and many others… In 2007, his album "The Correct Use Of Pets" (collaboration with musician EDH) received the first prize at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards. In 2016, with his musical alter ego EDH and commissioned by Gaité Lyrique, he designed the musical show for young audiences Forrrrrrrest which gave rise to two tours in Latin America. Since 2018, Hypo joined the American label Powdered Hearts Records ("Domino Cascade") alongside Jon Sheffield, Harald Sack Ziegler and Anne Laplantine. Hypo's music seduces by its immediacy but also by its humor. By transplanting heterogeneous musical genres (from cold wave to R’n’B by the way by concrete music), Hypo composes an effective and deviant pop at the same time, where derision the dispute with melancholy, where the ritornello disputes it with experimentation. To get out of this inner dialogue, he multiplies collaborations. On his previous albums, he gave the answer to EDH, Momus, Kyoka, Carl Stone, His Name Is Alive, Insides, dDamage, Sawako, Kumisolo, Davide Balula and many others.
EMO ERECTUS
With a title which does not derogate from the rule of schoolboy puns loved by the artist, Emo Erectus is Hypo's first disc truly qualifying as “solo” since his first album in 2000. Indeed, only one external intervention comes. visit Hypo in his bunker: that of the Japanese artist Kumisolo on the flute on the title Charkie. Many will see in this solitary retreat a desire to come full circle after 20 years of an intense career in featurings and collaborations of all kinds. The point is, with its somewhat precious ambient dominance, this new, all-instrumental album is much more intimate than its predecessors. It is nonetheless a playground, a portrait gallery, a pudding of winks and sniffing at the present and past musical landscape. Flashy, sometimes dripping pianos, new wave guitars, 90's rhythms, glitches, noises, and disco beats punctuate a record that takes the listener with feelings, without succumbing to nostalgia. The lo-fi approach to musical play, although still present, is counterbalanced by a new type of collaboration, since for the first time, Hypo did violence to himself by delegating the mixing of his music. The producer DEF (Diamanda Galas, Von Magnet, Balkan Beat Box, Ant-Zen label…) thus brought to the disc a polished, open and spacious sound, supported by the mastering of Norscq (Staubgold, Optical Sound). Attached to family work, Hypo always uses his relatives to ensure the graphics. The cover is thus provided by his partner Evelyne Erviti from photos taken by his father Jean-Claude Keyeux using a night vision camera in the family garden where many wild animals venture out at night.
credits
released July 2, 2021
All tracks by Anthony Keyeux except “Charkie” by Anthony Keyeux & Okamoto Kumi (Kumisolo). Recorded in Paris. Produced and mixed at Sustainable Sound Factory in Avignon by DEF. Mastered in Saint-Malo by Norscq. Graphic Design by Evelyne Erviti. Pictures by Jean-Claude Keyeux.
Many thanks to Jon Sheffield, Nikho Georgiades, Jean-Louis Morgère, Evelyne Erviti, Okamoto Kumi, Nathalie Bles, Romain Dejoie, Jean-Baptiste Hanak, Michael Patin, Arthur Soubrane, Jean-Claude Keyeux, Odile Keyeux, Fabien Vandamme, Delphine Le Gatt, Emmanuelle de Héricourt, Paul Spymania, Miki Chan.
"Long-time readers will be aware of my affection for producer Hypo aka Anthony Keyeux, whether in his solo guise or as duo with EDH, for the way his quirky, jerry-rigged takes on pop and electronic music styles are always suffused with deep melancholy as well as joy. Hypo’s world, one in which Asian pop, cold wave, easy listening, lo-fi and glitch have coalesced into a singular but hauntingly, emotionally diffuse aesthetic.
Even without EDH, Keyeux’s albums usually feature a cast of collaborators; this time, with the exception of Hypo regular Kumisolo, Emo Erectus is as close to solo as he’s been for a while. But it’s also a more muscular affair than usual, given extra heft by producer DEF, who has worked with the likes of Diamanda Galas and Balkan Beat Box. While there’s still something delightfully vague about ‘Charkie’, it builds impressively to a point of climax/collapse where rippling piano and Kumisolo’s haunting flute circle each other and the beat starts to fold in on itself. On ‘Faire Et Défaire’ and ‘Slowdown’, the hip hop or electro-based beats are satisfyingly chunky vehicles for hymnal half-melodies, and the brief ‘Déjàvu83’ isn’t shy about its disco-punk inspirations but has a genuine spring in its step. And maybe it’s just my imagination but, given Hypo’s penchant for skewed homages, it is possible that ‘Pianobar’ is a pretty spot on Felicia Atkinson pastiche. "
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