Neural Newscast

Welcome to Stereo Current, a neural newscast special. I'm Sloan Rivera, and tonight's headline has, like, a glossy French filter on it, plus a little museum-grade reverb. Julian Vance here. Think of this episode as crate digging through a nation's memory, and then realizing the whole thing is filed under heritage. Needle drop first. France just expanded its national intangible cultural heritage list to include French electronic music. We're talking everything from the Andaman to No all the way to French touch, that disco sampling filter-swept universe we associate with Cassius, Justice, Air, and, you know, the international booster duo Deafpunk. And it lands right after UNESCO added Berlin's techno culture to its intangible cultural heritage list last year. Then this summer, Emmanuel Macron goes on Radio FG and basically hits the talkback like a hype man. Like, we invented Electro. We've got that French touch. It's a very French kind of mixdown, pride, policy, and a little side eye. And the question is, does canonizing a sound keep it alive, or does it kind of embalm it in a velvet-lined display case with perfect lighting and zero gain? Deep cuts. One detail I really love is the scope here. This isn't just clubbangers and filter house. It nods to the Yandem Martino too, which feels like saying the whole signal chain matters, not just the drop. Another deep cut is the politics of timing. The piece basically points out the irony. France is late to its own party. Berlin gets the UNESCO flowers and suddenly Paris is like, excuse me, we brought the champagne in the scents. And there's a real generational swing in this quote from Tommy Vaud Crane, Technopolis president and the Paris Technoparade organizer. He talks about, you know, first shedding tears for electronic music under tear gas back when it was demonized. And now he's tearing up because it's finally inscribed as heritage. That's the emotional b-side of this story. If you've ever had a venue shut down, a scene policed or a sound dismissed as noise, this feels like a late apology pressed onto official letterhead. Also, quick vibe note, Paris Technoparade started in 1998 and pulled more than 100,000 people. That's not some niche subculture. That's a city deciding the kick drum belongs in daylight. Now for the part everyone's quietly thinking, but pretending they're above, daft punk. The article kind of toys with the idea that recognition like this could tempt them toward one final reunion. They ended it in 2021 with that cryptic epilogue video, Helmets Off, Myth Intact. If they ever came back, yeah, it wouldn't be a standard comeback cycle. It'd be something ceremonial, like a one-night set where the whole world hears French touch as a living artifact, not a nostalgia preset. Vibe check to close. I'm into the recognition, totally, but I want it to stay messy. Electronic music is supposed to be a little unstable, a little too loud, a little overdriven. Caratid should mean preserving possibility, not just preserving a playlist. My vibe check is simple. Put the culture on the list, sure, but keep funding the spaces where new tracks get stress-tested. The next French touch won't come from a plaque. It'll come from somebody with a cheap interface, a fuzz pedal mentality, and a fearless low-end. That's Stereo Current, a neural newscast special. If you're listening on headphones, consider this your permission slip to revisit the classics and then, you know, dig for the weird B-sides. And if you're playing it on speakers, give it a little headroom. If you liked this, follow the show and share the episode with a friend who still argues about the best French touch record. Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. View our AI Transparency Policy at neuralnewscast.com.