Biography
Long overlooked since its disco-era origins, the endeavor known as Black Devil Disco Club experienced renewed engagement many years after its cult debut surfaced. French library musician Bernard Fèvre issued the six-track set Disco Club under the Black Devil name in 1978, an eerie electro-disco effort that initially drew little notice. The obscure recording slowly attracted attention, especially once vintage disco interest revived during the 2000s. Rephlex handled a reissue of the material in 2004, after which Fèvre resumed active recording and performances as Black Devil Disco Club, beginning with 28 After in 2006. Across the following decade and a half he sustained variations on his signature approach, shifting toward a more pop-influenced direction on the guest-heavy Circus of 2011. Later projects encompassed the playful, ebullient Lucifer Is a Flower in 2020 and Etincelles in 2023.
Bernard Fèvre belonged to French pop band Les Francs Garçons during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Starting in 1975 he began releasing albums of spacy electronic instrumentals under his own name. Employing the pseudonym Junior Claristidge, Fèvre recorded Black Devil's Disco Club, a futuristic disco album filled with cosmic synths, shuffling drums, tape loops, and echo-drenched, nonsensical vocals. Composer and organist Jacky Giordano, listed incognito as Joachim Sherylee, received credit as the other member of the group, yet Fèvre later noted that Giordano supplied only financial backing for the project, essentially serving as executive producer. Released by RCA in France as well as Italian label Out, Disco Club made little impact at the time, although disco connoisseurs gradually recognized its otherworldly charms, particularly around the early 2000s. Aphex Twin's Rephlex label eventually re-released the tracks in 2004, distributing the material across three 12"s and one CD single rather than a straightforward reissue, with a remix by Luke Vibert's disco-inspired Kerrier District alias appearing on two of the releases. The music's futuristic sound, combined with its quixotic release scheme, led many listeners and journalists to mistakenly conclude that the entire project was a fabrication propagated by Rephlex.
Fèvre resumed activity as Black Devil Disco Club in 2006 with the release of 28 After on Lo Recordings. Following the format of the 1978 debut, the album contained six tracks of ominous yet playful synth-disco featuring nearly indecipherable, sometimes scat-like vocals. Apart from the upgraded recording quality, the release could have passed for outtakes from the original Disco Club sessions. Black Devil in Dub appeared in 2007, presenting dub versions of 28 After tracks together with remixes by neo-disco artists such as Prins Thomas and Quiet Village. Eight Oh Eight, a slightly more ecstatic variation on the Black Devil formula, surfaced in 2008. The Strange New World of Bernard Fevre, a collection of beat-heavy reworks drawn from a Fèvre library release of 1975, was issued as a Black Devil Disco Club full-length in 2009. An album of dub versions of Eight Oh Eight's tracks, titled simply DUB, received digital release in 2010.
For 2011's Circus, an album of three-minute pop songs rather than six-minute space-disco cuts, Fèvre recruited several guest vocalists, including Nancy Sinatra, Afrika Bambaataa, and Jon Spencer. Remixes and dubs followed on 2012's Magnetic Circus, and the Fèvre-sung studio album Black Moon White Sun appeared in 2013. Disco Club finally received a full reissue in 2015, while a dozen remixes of the track "'H' Friend" were released digitally. In 2020 Fèvre issued the whimsical Lucifer Is a Flower, announcing it as Black Devil Disco Club's final release. However, Etincelles appeared in 2023.
Bernard Fèvre belonged to French pop band Les Francs Garçons during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Starting in 1975 he began releasing albums of spacy electronic instrumentals under his own name. Employing the pseudonym Junior Claristidge, Fèvre recorded Black Devil's Disco Club, a futuristic disco album filled with cosmic synths, shuffling drums, tape loops, and echo-drenched, nonsensical vocals. Composer and organist Jacky Giordano, listed incognito as Joachim Sherylee, received credit as the other member of the group, yet Fèvre later noted that Giordano supplied only financial backing for the project, essentially serving as executive producer. Released by RCA in France as well as Italian label Out, Disco Club made little impact at the time, although disco connoisseurs gradually recognized its otherworldly charms, particularly around the early 2000s. Aphex Twin's Rephlex label eventually re-released the tracks in 2004, distributing the material across three 12"s and one CD single rather than a straightforward reissue, with a remix by Luke Vibert's disco-inspired Kerrier District alias appearing on two of the releases. The music's futuristic sound, combined with its quixotic release scheme, led many listeners and journalists to mistakenly conclude that the entire project was a fabrication propagated by Rephlex.
Fèvre resumed activity as Black Devil Disco Club in 2006 with the release of 28 After on Lo Recordings. Following the format of the 1978 debut, the album contained six tracks of ominous yet playful synth-disco featuring nearly indecipherable, sometimes scat-like vocals. Apart from the upgraded recording quality, the release could have passed for outtakes from the original Disco Club sessions. Black Devil in Dub appeared in 2007, presenting dub versions of 28 After tracks together with remixes by neo-disco artists such as Prins Thomas and Quiet Village. Eight Oh Eight, a slightly more ecstatic variation on the Black Devil formula, surfaced in 2008. The Strange New World of Bernard Fevre, a collection of beat-heavy reworks drawn from a Fèvre library release of 1975, was issued as a Black Devil Disco Club full-length in 2009. An album of dub versions of Eight Oh Eight's tracks, titled simply DUB, received digital release in 2010.
For 2011's Circus, an album of three-minute pop songs rather than six-minute space-disco cuts, Fèvre recruited several guest vocalists, including Nancy Sinatra, Afrika Bambaataa, and Jon Spencer. Remixes and dubs followed on 2012's Magnetic Circus, and the Fèvre-sung studio album Black Moon White Sun appeared in 2013. Disco Club finally received a full reissue in 2015, while a dozen remixes of the track "'H' Friend" were released digitally. In 2020 Fèvre issued the whimsical Lucifer Is a Flower, announcing it as Black Devil Disco Club's final release. However, Etincelles appeared in 2023.
Albums
Singles
