You my baby And I was first released in 1999. An effortlessly funky debut long player, Gopher's star began to rise late in the French dance scene with the release of a silver wrapped ten-inch, also called 'You My baby And I'.
Prior to this he'd apparently worked as an engineer in a production studio in Paris, cutting discs for other French artists who were gradually taking the dance world by storm.
In fact Gopher was a long overlooked pioneer of French electronic music, having once been a part of mid-Eighties indie band Orange – alongside Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel (now the duo behind Air) and Xavier Jamaux (now Bang Bang).
He left the band to pursue electronic music (briefly teaming up with Godin) and began releasing a series of underground classics, beginning with Gopher EP, followed by appearances on the Super Discount compilation, the 'Gordini Mix EP' and 1998's 'Poumtchak EP'.
His journey to releasing his debut album began after the birth of his child and a subsequent change in lifestyle and priorities.
Gopher's style is even more deliberately funk driven than his already funk loving French compatriots. 'Time', the album's opening track, is an unashamed acknowledgement of George Clinton's influence, using Parliament/ Funkadelic's Clip Payne for the Starchild-like rap, while ' The Child' rips up Billie Holliday's 'God Bless The Child' – and asks exactly what the child has got?
Moments of his former colleagues Air creep into 'Ralph & Kathy' (a tune that has its roots in a Dunckel collaboration), but Gopher is a different fish and his standout tracks are the hip shunters, such as 'With U' – a dirty funk groove that indulges in a healthy dose of vocal trickery – the fun but cheesy 'Party People'. Meanwhile the cut and shift swing of 'Consolidated' suggests Gopher was at times looking over the channel at the London's garage scene.
On the more mellow, Parisian chic tip, the title track is closer to the Super Discount sound, while 'Quiet Storm' is a strung out dub affair.
One reason for the reappearance of the album after a year its original release is the attachment of a second CD of re-workings of the original tracks. Another would be that despite Gopher's mug shot covering the pages of every French magazine last September, the album failed to take-off to its anticipated level.
The most frequently re-cut track here is 'The Child' and Gopher's own re-edit confirms at least passing interest in 2Step – which strangely broke in Paris earlier than London. Demon turns 'The Child' into a slab of deep brooding house, while 'Time' gets a future funk re-working and Romanthony turns up the Nineties disco feel on 'Party People'.
Faze Action work 'Child' into a typically building deep house work out, adding an early disco bass line, hand claps and gusting synth effects – in the process stripping the vocal line. Kenny Dope happily applies a straight-forward four to the floor beat, while adding breaks to allow the track to breath and finally Mr Oizo takes his sense of humour for a walk over 'Time'.
