ABSTRACT
The Micronauts deplored the fact that though their first productions were released on pioneer French labels Rave Age and Fnac Music, they only encountered success in foreign countries. Yet their transformation into valuable fashion items proved problematic, for most French youth remained suspicious of the genres’ unpleasant associations with the facile enjoyment offered by the discothèque. The period of gradual international expansion for French electronica began in 1995. French techno gradually got beyond the purely mimetic, and started to affirm openly it’s French-ness abroad, using it as a promotional rationale. ’French connection’ – one of the catchphrases used to describe the new wave of popular electronic music – explicitly confirms the global significance of the scene as a network of artists and aficionados. In order to affirm a French identity in a pan-cultural movement, one has to one’s words at the very moment the national claim is expressed.
