When it comes to the ‘French Touch’, as some like to put it, a lot of people look to Daft Punk. But during their many absences from the scene, others have stepped up to take to the mantle. I’ll throw out some to start with, many of which I’m sure you’ve seen. SebstiAn, Justice, Feadz, DJ Mehdi and Busy P, who are all part of the Ed Banger stable.

They push a genre that doesn’t really exist, but knowing the proliferation of sub-genres and styles today, I’m sure a lot of people have been classifying these guys in one way or another for a while. These guys have been producing some of the coolest sounding music released in the past few years, most notably the religiously themed Cross by Justice. However, whilst most of these guys have only been building their profiles in the last few years, there’s another guy who is part of it all that’s been working on the scene for a much longer period of time. Over 10 years in fact. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? His name is Mr Oizo.

Marking his return with his third album Lambs Anger, Oizo has put together a positively vibrant mix of eclectic electro madness. He kicks things off on the highest note possible, with the delectable sounding Hun. Providing a mix of thick kicks, vocoders, and twanging bass, this big number serves as a perfect introduction to the ensuing 45 minutes of Frenchified electro. A kick to the gut comes with the hilariously titled Bruce Willis Is Dead, a desperate sounding puncher which stabs with trance synths and waves around with sirens and screaming. It all makes for a great little horror sounding track. Straight after comes the laidback Bangalter-esque groover Jo. With filtered synths, glitched vocals and a great light-hearted Sunday afternoon beat, this one is right up there as one of the highlights of the album.

Positif, the first single off the album, is another high point. A killer bass coupled with punchy kicks comes as a woozy warning to anyone wanting try the wonky stuff. Don’t mess with Oizo, as the lead synth consists of the wonkiest electro synth work I’ve heard in a long time. Another desperate sounding thumper is the (again) hilariously titled Gay Dentists, consisting of vocal chops dropped over some pitch bent lead synth work along the lines of (again) Bangalter’s edit of DJ Mehdi’s Signatune. Lambs Anger does have one unfortunate short coming, Oizo’s collaboration with Uffie on Steroids, no doubt the weakest point on the album. I find that a lot of Uffie collabs are quite sub-par (see: Ttttthhheee Ppppaarrttyyy), so it’s little surprise.

There’s a fantastic mix of filtered beats, synths and vocals all squished together throughout Lambs Anger, and there’s a definite tongue in cheek vibe when you listen. One of the let downs is that it does sound similar to what you’ll hear coming out from many Ed Banger artists, but there’s a strange freshness to it that makes it easy and enjoyable to listen to.