Telex

Biography

Telex was a Belgian synth-pop group formed in 1978 by Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers, with the intention of "making something really European, different from rock, without guitar—and the idea was electronic music".

History

In 1979, mixing the aesthetics of disco, punk and experimental electronic music, they released a stripped-down synthesized cover version of "Twist à St. Tropez" by Les Chats Sauvages. They followed up with an ultra-slow cover of "Rock Around the Clock", a relaxed and dispassionate version of Plastic Bertrand's punk song "Ça Plane Pour Moi", and a mechanical cover of "Dance to the Music", originally by Sly Stone. Telex built its music entirely from electronic instruments, employing joyously irreverent humor. The group's debut album, Looking for Saint Tropez, featured the worldwide hit single "Moskow Diskow×Moskow Diskow1988 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Moskow Diskow (88 remix)6:472Moskow Diskow (88 re-edit)5:163Moskow Diskow (French version)5:254Moskow Diskow (original '79 mix)3:11".
In 1980, Telex's manager asked the group to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. The group entered and were eventually sent to the finals, although they apparently hoped to come in last.

"We had hoped to finish last, but Portugal decided otherwise. We got ten points from them and finished on the 19th spot."
The group's song "Euro-Vision×Euro-Vision1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAEuro-Vision (English version)2:43BEuro-Vision (French version)2:43" was a cheerful bleepy song with deliberately banal lyrics about the Eurovision Song Contest, which they competed with in 1980 and placed 17th of 19 with 14 points.
For their third album, Sex, Telex enlisted the US group Sparks to help write the lyrics. However, the band still refused to play live and preferred to remain anonymous—common practice in the techno music artists the group later inspired but, nevertheless, unusual in 1981. The fourth Telex album, Wonderful World×Wonderful World1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1L'Amour Toujours3:21A2So Sad3:35A3Raised by Snakes3:52A4It Could Happen to You3:08A5Second Hand3:27B1Tell Me It's a Dream3:18B2Vertigo3:42B3The Voice3:39B4Radio-Radio3:49B5Wonderful World3:57, was barely distributed. In 1986, Atlantic Records signed Telex and released the album Looney Tunes×Looney Tunes10 October 1988 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1I Don't Like Music4:462Temporary Chicken3:593Spike Jones3:294Beautiful Li(f)e3:335Dingo Bells1:186I Want Your Brain4:207Baby, When?3:588Peanuts3:099Happy End (I Wanna)3:0710Rendez-vous Dans L'espace4:25 in 1988. In 1989, Telex revisited their old tracks and remixed them to resemble house music and other genres then prevalent in electronic pop. The result was Les Rythmes Automatiques, released in 1989.
After a long hiatus, Telex returned in March 2006 with How Do You Dance on EMI Records. It contained five original compositions as well as five covers. The group's last single was a cover of "On the Road Again", originally by Canned Heat. They also produced remixes for other artists' single releases, including "A Pain That I'm Used To" by Depeche Mode and "Minimal" by the Pet Shop Boys.
Following the death of band member Marc Moulin in 2008, the surviving members of the band announced their retirement from making music with the band's final release, a compilation album titled Ultimate.

Albums

1979: Looking for Saint Tropez
1980: Neurovision
1981: Sex (released in some countries as "Birds and Bees×Birds And Bees1982 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Mata HariA2DummyA3Haven't We Met Somewhere Before?A4Drama DramaA5BrainwashB1L'amour ToujoursB2Dream-O-MatB3Carbon CopyB4The Man With The Answer" with a slightly altered track listing)
1984: Wonderful World
1988: Looney Tunes
2006: How Do You Dance?

Compilations and remix albums

1982: More Than Distance (includes singles, album tracks, B sides, and newly remixed/recorded tracks, two with English lyrics by Jo Callis)
1989: Les Rythmes Automatiques (album of re-recorded back-catalogue)
1993: Belgium...One Point (a box set of the first five albums plus bonus tracks)
1994: Is Release a Humour? – We Love Telex (Japan only. remixed by Japanese DJs)
1998: I Don't Like Music (remixed by Carl Craig and others)
1998: I Don't Like Remixes: Original Classics 78–86 (a 'best-of' compilation)
1999: I (Still) Don't Like Music Remixes Vol. 2 (DJ remixes)
2009: Ultimate Best Of
2021: This Is Telex (1978–2006 tracks newly mixed with 2 unreleased covers—"Dear Prudence" from the Beatles and "The Beat Goes On" from Sonny & Cher)