"Young Parisians are so French", as Adam Ant so unforgettably put it, and they don't come much Frencher than Jacques Lu Cont. Hailing from the excruciatingly hip Paris brainleu of Midiville, the scarlet-haired 22 year old behind Les Rythmes Digitales is the latest reason why French music, especially electronic dance-pop, is enjoying previously unimaginable levels of credibility right now, with the likes of Air, Daft Punk, and Cassius reaping respect and pillaging the charts. But although sharing much in common with his compatriots, there's a willful individualism to Lu Cont's sound that sets LRD apart. In fact, it's almost as if he's from another country altogether...

"I've got maximum respect for the current pioneers of continental house music, but I'm not riding on a wave," he explains in good baccalaureate level English.

Jacques is intensely proud of his nationality, but why the broad Berkshire accent? It all begins to make sense when Jacques reveals that he is born prematurely while his parents were on holiday in Paris, and given a French name out of respect for his birthplace (a tradition Jacques has continued with the name of his band, although it does contain a deliberate grammatical error for linguistic trainspotters: it should be Digitaux). North America will no doubt opt for the simpler "LRD" anyway. Lazy bastards!

Having spent only the first year of his life in Paris, the Lu Conts returned to England and settled in Reading, where his mum and dad, both classical concert pianists, subjected Jacques to an ultra-strict musical upbringing: the lowbrow pleasures of popular music were banned from the household until he was 14. This, perhaps, explains the joyous pop sensibility which informs LRD's work: He's still rebelling against that parental ban! Furthermore, the respect of elitist connoisseurs means nothing to Jacques:

"I've got no interest in making records for a few people in their bedrooms to prove to their mates how cool they are. I can't understand that ghetto mentality: you spend all that time working in a studio, and dealing with record companies and publishers, and you still want to remain underground at the end of it!"

Lu Cont also has no time, for the taste fascists and their tyranny of hip. 1996's debut album Liberation was a free and easy melange of anything goes eclecticism: sassy Chicago house, four to the floor disco delirium, funky slap bass and 80's synth hooks all messed together without giving half a hoot about whether these influences are okay to like.

"That's a massive part of what I do, It's usually blokes going 'Argh! Fuckin' ell! Why's ee used that pony 80's loop?' Honestly, I'd rather sample Phil Collins than some trendy record from the 60's or 70's."

Despite his tender age ("I was three when the 80's started...I was there, but I wasn't conscious of it,") Lu Cont feels a particularly strong fascination with the synthpop explosion of the early 80's, alongside Arthur Baker, Mantronix and Todd Terry, he lists the Human League and New Order as his primary influences.

Jacques addiction to electropop began in the unlikeliest of places. At the age of 15, for reasons lost in the midst of time, he was admitted to a mental institution. It was here, in the Day center, that he first encountered an electronic keyboard, "I was in group therapy sessions with the other patients, and we did musical recreation as a communications exercise. I was like the kid who wanted all the chocolate. As soon as I heard a bit of electronic music, I kept wanting more and more." Like the Aphex Twin before him, the teenage Jacques began amassing hours and hours of experimental tapes, which he still raids for samples to this day. It was one of these tapes which found it's way to Wall of Sound (his UK label) supremo Mark Jones, and the rest is histoire.

So what sets LRD apart from all the other French dance acts? Well, it's their G.S.O.H. (good sense of humor in dating agency talk) of course! LRD has an instinctive wit and sense of playfulness to shame their po-faced peers (Darkdancer was almost called No Jaquet Required.) "It's not a comedy edge, it's a fun edge, a party edge. We're just not as...anal as some people, but at no sacrifice to musical integrity."

It's this commitment to entertainment that explains why LRD are yet another nail in the coffin of the tired old "Dance music acts can't hack it on stage" coffin. Jacques, accordingly, has been known to wear a read PVC cape and glowing devil's horns onstage, with his drummer kitted out in a scary "Friday the 13th" hockey mask. Scarier still, to some ears, is their infamous live version of sleazy old Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love."

Jacques has also found himself elevated to remix aristocracy, having been invited to rework Cornershop's "Sleep on the Left Side", Pavement's "Passat Dreams" (a particular honor as they had never been remixed before), Placebo's "Pure Morning", and Cassius' "Feeling For You." "Such unlikely cross-pollinations are", says Jacques, "exactly what Les Rythmes Digitales are all about."

Darkdancer is a labor of love and devotion, brilliantly combining all of Jacques' sonic obsessions, in a plethora of tracks irresistibly seductive to pop kiddies and club folk, young and old alike.

The action kicks off with "Dreamin" in which we are instructed: Don't just sit there dreamin'...dance! This is backed by a soundtrack evoking poignant nightclub scenes...in episodes of Miami Vice, that is!

"Music Makes You Lose Control" has already been making people lose control on dancefloors all over the world. Downright spooky are "Soft Machine" and "Damaged People", both recorded between London and New York and drenched with the emotion-racked vocals of former rock god, Thomas Ribiero. "Thomas is a very cool dude", confides Jacques.

Succumb to the sleazy "Hypnotise", with its repetitive, eponymous refrain: "I originally sampled the word 'hypnotise' from a Scritti Polliti song", he explains. "But then I decided to sing it myself." Presumably he inhaled a helium filled balloon before doing so?

"(Hey You) What's That Sound" is another twisted take on 80's electronic pop- ain't that fresh? "Take A Little Time" was a dream come true for Jacques, as he wooed New York divaesque Shannon (of 80's "Let the Music Play" fame) to lend her formiddable tonsils to the tune. "She was a little apprehensive at first, but once she realized I wasn't treating her as a novelty she got really into it," he reveals. The result can be filed alongside any of her previous (now often hailed as classic) dancefloor friendly ventures.

"From: Disco To Disco" captures perfectly the uplifting, head on hedonism of a non-stop crawl from one manic nighterie to another. Then there's the pulsing, bass-heavy "Brothers"- with chunky funk stomped all over it, and just a smudge of Chicago house.

You're destined to become that maniac on the dancefloor when you hear the disco delirium and funky slap bass of "Jacques Your Body". As for "About Funk", just imagine a keyboard with bowel problems, linked to a deliciously catchy hook and performed by a kissy-huggy Kraftwerk on E, and you'll get the picture...

Jacques approached his long-time pop idol (And former mullet sporter) Nik Kershaw (of 80's "Wouldn't It Be Good" fame) to work with him on "Sometimes". "Someone like Nik wanting to work with me was the highest kind of compliment," he reckons, ridiculously modestly. "I initially sent him some tapes and he called me up the next day going 'I really like them, but I don't know what you want me to do'...I said I want to do a song with you and he was like 'brilliant!' An obviously awe-struck Jacques continues, "I went to his house- he's got a big recording studio there. It was weird being there and just hearing Nik Kershaw singing right next to me because, to me, he is the highest caliber of artists." The finished collaboration is as instantly mindbending a track as anything you will hear all year. The US version of Darkdancer also includes an exclusive extra track, "MDC Venedri."

"I am 100% happy with how the album turned out," concludes Jacques, adding: "I don't just want this to be a cool record that doesn't sell. I want it to be a cool record that sells loads! I want to see this go through as a complete pop item. I want people to look back in 10 years time and see Les Rythmes Digitales as something they either loved or hated."

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