Royale with cheese

Montreal imports the iPod battle from Paris, and it’s the little differences that kick French ass

by LORRAINE CARPENTER photos by Rachel Granofsky

Round One

As glamorous and glitzy as it is small, sweaty and dog-eared, le ParisParis is a popular club in the French capital, the kind where even guest-listed patrons have a hard time gaining access. Last February, it was the site of an experiment conducted by Teki Latex and Romain Rock of the French hip hop act TTC, who envisioned a new type of DJ night with elements of competition and crowd participation to ensure an off-the-chain party.

By chance, Montrealer Jonathan Maurice attended a battle on a visit to Paris last spring. He and Zélia Lefebvre were seeking novel party ideas for their recently-launched production company, A Fly Is on the Wall. And now, as of May 27, the Québécois version of the phenomenally hot monthly event at ParisParis unfolds roughly every three months at different venues across the city.

iPod battles take place in a boxing ring, pitting teams of two against each other in an effort to drive the crowd wild with killer tracks. After each round, cheering is measured by a referee armed with an applause meter, and the winners of the first three rounds face off in the final DJ-to-the-figurative-death match. Although each team has between 60 and 90 seconds to respond as the competing selection plays, a process that repeats five times in each round, a song will sometimes play longer if the crowd demands it.

“At the second iPod battle [in Montreal], we left ‘Coeur de Loup’ for the whole song because the crowd was singing every word—it was just insane,” says Lefebvre. “That was my coup de coeur extrème, one of my best times ever at an iPod battle.”

Round Two

The aforementioned quétaine classic, by Philippe Lafontaine, is an exception to the rule that kitsch typically falls flat. Battlers are taking a chance when they play tracks like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and the Goldorak theme. The songs that tend to fare best are either dirty, slamming contemporary hip hop or nostalgia-inducing numbers from the ’80s and ’90s.

On October 4 at Academy Club, the site of this city’s third battle, winners included “Les Chinois” by Mitsou, “March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails, “Pump Up the Jam” by Technotronic, “Mr. Personality” by Gillette, “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N Roses and, in a smug psych-out by the local hip hop act, Omnikrom played one of their own tracks and went on to win the battle.

But competition was tight. In the first round, Omnikrom initially lost the crowd by making technical errors, while their opponents, Why Alex Why? and Vvilaine, got laughs with their tank tops, flamboyant hair and white-bread-tossing. Fellow Zoobizarre residents Sons of Warsaw took a similar tack, sporting Mexican wrestling masks and matching red boxer-briefs, passing pickles to ringside gawkers. But, in the end, gimmicks didn’t ignite the crowd, which was clearly stacked with Omnikrom’s friends and supporters, a factor that can easily tip the balance before the mighty applause meter. But competitors are usually invited back after a perceived injustice, so watch for a rematch.

Round Three

Also in the ring that night were iPod battle founders Teki Latex and Romain Rock, who agreed to lend their concept to A Fly Is on the Wall in return for a chance to compete in Montreal. But, to Lefebvre’s amusement, when their moment arrived, the French pair was practically quaking with fear.

This may seem absurd in light of what happened the following night, when TTC had the balls to follow Spank Rock in front of 1,000 people at Club Soda. However, after winning the first round of battle, the TTC team’s nightmare came true—they lost to Peer Pressure.

“It’s hard to know what tracks will make the crowd react in a city on the other side of the world,” says Latex, in his own defence. “And French law imposes volume restrictions on our iPods. So when we tried to play massive, devastating tracks, they sounded like whispers next to the steroid-fuelled iPods of our competitors.”

Round Four

Despite the boasting, sour grapes and foul cries that sometimes follow a battle, competition isn’t necessarily the event’s main attraction. The iPod, as opposed to more conventional DJ gear, facilitates the use of small rings and small venues, and gives competitors room to move around and work the crowd, an essential aspect of the battle. It also means that competitors needn’t be skilled DJs, allowing people from different milieus to step into the ring—past competitors have included electro musicians, music journalists and promoters, as well as pro DJs, while tomorrow night’s iPod video battle, part of the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, will feature Marc André Grondin of C.R.A.Z.Y. fame.

The competitive element is what ensures quality tunes (or at least quality entertainment—picture a pack of 20–30-somethings waving their arms to New Kids on the Block), but the crowd’s kingmaker power is what really stokes these parties.

“That’s the magic of it,” says Lefebvre. “It seems like there’s a history building on the ring, and there’s a community growing from it. From one event to another, competitors come back and the crowds come back, and that’s beautiful to see.”

iPod video battle at Musée Juste Pour Rire,
3rd floor, on Friday, Oct. 20, 10 p.m., free

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