France's electronica movement is ruling continental Europe right now -- I'd argue they're more popular than the Germans -- and one particular style reigns supreme: Air's cool, groovy, house-dominated disco-ish beats are de rigeur for French DJs. Most of the artists following Air's lead (Cassius, Dimitri from Paris, La Funk Mob) are also based in Paris. The Marseillaise Bip-Hop label seems about as far in style from its Paris cohorts as it is geographically distant. Bip-Hop Generation Vol. 2 furthers the label's pursuit of a musical aesthetic that one reviewer has dubbed "bleepcore"; that term nails Bip-Hop's style to the wall, and is more precise than IDM, although Bip-Hop's output is certainly as intelligent as any current dance music.

The most noticeable difference between the Bip-Hop style and the Parisian style is that you sure as hell can't dance to Bip-Hop Generation Vol. 2. Dancefloor mavens will probably want to give this disc a pass, unless they also have an interest in experimental techno. Laurent Garnier is philosophically similar to Bip-Hop, although he's much more melodic and loud than most bip-Hop artists. Ditto for Phoenecia or Autechre. Nearly all of the Bip-Hop artists represented here are European (with the exception of token Americans Warmdesk): Bernhard Fleischmann, Arovane, Köhn, Wang Inc. and Laurent Pernice.

Vol. 2 provides two or three songs from each artist, which allows you to get a better idea of their music than a single track would provide (especially given certain labels' tendency to use "leftover" tracks for sampler fodder, which often means that a group's most out-of-character tracks introduce them to new listeners). Just about every track here is full of blips, bleeps, whirrs, thuds and similar sounds; picture R2D2, Hal 9000, No. 5 and Marvin the Paranoid Android enjoying a combination Soul Train/Robot Wars bacchanalia in a cement mixer. Warmdesk's "Encaustic" sounds exactly like R2D2 on crank; the sound is so grating that when I listened to it in the car, I found myself driving faster in an effort to get away from it. Köhn's "S (for Hubert)" is the most melodic song here, and actually features human voices. Almost all the other tunes are instrumental/found sound pieces, which makes "S (for Hubert)" the de facto "accessible" track.

Bip-Hop Generation Vol. 2 is not the type of disc that is picked up by curious listeners, offering pleasant surprises and repeat listening. This is the sort of record that people go looking for, approaching it with certain specific expectations. Those expectations -- musical innovation, playfulness, intelligent questioning -- are easily met. Casual listeners, or those wanting to relax their minds from other study, are unlikely to find solace here.