Photo courtesy of Electro Caramel

Back when roller rinks were a big deal in the early 80’s, the music that was played was intense and magnetic. Skating under the disco ball, watching the colored spotlights as they hit the floor, feeling the wind in my hair as I skated faster and faster, was always an incredible feeling that I never wanted to end. The nights would come to a close and my friends and I longed for our next roller rink adventure.

It’s been a long time since I thought about those days, skating free and fast, surrounded by sounds, lights and the endless floor upon which we skated. Listening to the Valerie collective of artists really took me back to a fantastic time in my youth. It’s almost as if they’ve gone back to that very place, taken those sounds and recreated them in a new and brilliant way.

The Valerie cast of talented artists from the West of France includes, Minitel Rose, The Outrunners, College, Maethelvin, Anoraak and more. They’ve been blogged about by friends at Discodust, Missingtoof, Knicken, Electro Carmel (French for those that read it), and will continue to be as their sounds are discovered.

Quentin, Raphaël & Romain, self dubbed, “warrior flash dancers”, that make up the band Minitel Rose, have a distinct synthetic sound that you are sure to fall in love with and enjoy listening to wherever you are. They present a nice approach to that 80’s sound that the Valerie collective does so well. The more I listen, the more I want to hear their soothing, charming voices – in the morning, whilst working, before bed. For those that haven’t heard, they’ve sent us a few of their tracks, “Continue”, “Better Days” and “The Animals vs Minitel Rose”.

They’ve also taken the time out to tell us a bit more about their unique project and you can hear more at Minitel Rose remixes. Check the Valerie blog for a listen of their latest teaser, “Business Woman” and be sure to listen to all the Valerie artists so you too can fall in love! Merci Quentin, Raphaël & Romain!! x

Lovestar: Where does the name Minitel Rose come from? When I translate it, I get ‘Blue Message Service’. Is this an accurate translation?

Minitel Rose: This name comes from the French 80’s. It’s the name of a French machine which is the father of the internet. The Pink Minitel was a kind of meeting site where you can find love and have a sexy chat.

Lovestar: Please tell us about the Valerie collective and the role Minitel Rose plays

Minitel Rose: Valerie is a real gang composed of several artists from the West Coast of France (Nantes) who have the same visual and graphic influences. Other artists from the rest of the world joined the team (like Russ Chimesf.e). But first of all Valerie is a blog – Valerie cheri blogsopt and for a short time it’s an event with the Valerie Party. Valerie is a mysterious movement, an alternative to the present, as a future dreamed in the 80’s. We are members of Valerie and we did the hymn of it: Valerie Côte Ouest (free download on Valerie jetaime).

Lovestar: How long has Minitel Rose been in existence and how did the group form?

Minitel Rose: The band was created one & half year ago, we are three childhood friends who wanted to make music together.

Lovestar: What is the vision for Minitel Rose?

Minitel Rose: Our first E.P will be out this spring in France. It will be called ‘The French Machine’. In the future we want to do more and more shows, and we would like to play in US.

Lovestar: Your influences + inspirations – music and beyond

Minitel Rose: Our influences are our childhood, the girls, the 80’s American movies. We don’t really have a specific musical influence, we are really open minded in music. We try to do our own songs, a retrofuturistic pop.

Lovestar: What is your approach when beginning a new track or remix?

Minitel Rose: Each time we make a new song we try to do something different than that we’ve already done. We try to surprise our public and ourselves. We like to be not too pop and not too electro. We have a style but no limit. For the remixes we don’t want to do something better than the original but make a real different song that people who don’t know the original think that it is.

Lovestar: When you create music, is there a specific thing you have in mind, something you may have experienced, or just something you put together as you go along?

Minitel Rose: Our text are simple and most of the time the music inspire the lyrics. People around us inspire our songs and we make music to share with them, that’s our pop side.

Lovestar: Do all three of you contribute to writing the lyrics and what do you write about?

Minitel Rose: It depends on the song, it’s often Quentin who writes the lyrics after that Raphaël composes the song. Most of the time Raphaël builds the base of a song and we build the rest together.

Lovestar: What do you have in store for the year ahead, what can we expect?

Minitel Rose: Our first E.P will be out in Spring in France, we hope that some copy of it will be arrive in US (by the Web).

Minitel Rose – Continue

Minitel Rose – Better Days

The Animals vs Minitel Rose

Minitel Rose Official Bio
Love by the way of the machine, that was the Minitel Rose, an extraordinary 80’s French invention. This is a name which also sums up the several sides of the band: the popular culture, electronics and love. It was when watching the girls on the beach that Quentin, Raphaël & Romain met each other.

Minitel Rose was born in a generation when TV was fun and the music discovered new directions with the synthetic sound, this culture from the charism of the “Ghostbuster” to the smile of Heather Locklear riddled them.

Minitel Rose is mainly influenced by the childhood of its members, marked by the graphical and musical universe of the American 80’s movies, a retrofuturistic vision, and rock music. A hooked pop chorus and a melody made for the dancefloor are the basis of the electropop sound of Minitel Rose. Not too pop, not too electro but cohesive blend, this is what defines Minitel Rose.

Though the pink Minitel of 1981 never crossed the French frontier, these three guys and their songs sung in English with a sexy french accent have decided to invade the walkman of the world.