The other day my pal and esteemed music journalist /d.j. Dave Segal posted this tune on his FB wall and thusly blew my mind. I asked him to tell us all a little bit more about it :

While doing research for a project on early-’80s French duo Mathématiques Modernes, I happened upon MathMod member Claude Arto’s solo single Kwai Systeme/ Betty Boop on the renowned Celluloid label. Why the B-side isn’t discussed in the same reverent tones as The Normal’s Warm Leatherette and Fad Gadget’s Ricky’s Hand is a mystery.
Anyway, check out this 1980 cut from a French synth wizard who later went on to record the classic 1981 new-wave LP, Les Visiteurs Du Soir, which Medical Records is reissuing in the first quarter of 2013. Betty Boop is a frenzied, spastic bit of white-knuckled synth pop that possesses some of the supremely warped textures that became commonplace in ’90s IDM.