He came from the world of contemporary ballet and became a mysterious cult figure following his three releases which combined electro beats, tongue-in-cheek romantic darkness and strange mambo influences: "Regrets Eternels" (1984), "Fatal Reverie" (1986), and "Secret Love" (1987), which were all re-released on one CD in 2003, as part of the Crammed Global Soundclash re-issue series.
Karl Biscuit went back to his first love and formed successful modern dance company Castafiore, which he co-directs to this day, and for which he continues to create intriguing soundtracks, early examples of which are compiled in the "Aktualismus" album, which came out in the Made To Measure series in 1991.
2 Karl Biscuit by Jack Barron
The cookie has crumbled and the grains have been tumbled out of the aerosol of synth-tone poppery into a dark, dank well where turbulence and torment cling to the talents of Karl like poisonous fungi. Since seeing this singer (pronounced Bisk-wee) in Paris last year, he seems to have undergone an amputation with traumatic side-effects. Adroitly fingered at the time as a Serge Clerc character in 3-D, the accompanying stylised cocktail mannerisms have dried out and what remains is an emotional brainburn where Fairlights blink with a hangover instead of grinning like dumb robots. 'Death', 'Loneliness', 'No Friends', 'Requiem' - with song titles like these you get the idea of the horrorshow on offer, how many ways you can terminate or be terminated is equal to the pleasures of this record. Pleasures ? Hell, yes, but not of the ugly bedsit torment sort. Karl is pretty enough to have aimed for the wide-eyed-innocent end of the synth spectrum with its lure of big bucks. Instead, he's inhabiting the cutting space that both the Human League and Depeche Mode are trying to reach in vain at present. 'Regrets Eternels' is pimple synth-pop lanced until the pus runs. Vampire instrumentation sucks at the neck of linear tunes, foreign textures unfurl and infect the clean kid's ideas. Take a peek at the liner notes and everything makes sense. Aided in sections by Blaine L.Reininger and Honeymoon Killer Marc Hollander, the whole project is filtered through the hemlock hands of Gilles Martin of the great Tuxedomoon. 'Regrets Eternels' is the alternative madness in the method dance"
This text appeared in UK weekly Sounds in 1984
3 Karl Biscuit in the press
"Synthetic melodies sung by the deep voice of a metaphysical dandy... intriguing and fascinating" (Rock & Folk, France, '86)
"Serge Clerc in 3D" (NME, UK, '84)
"An eye-opener to those who think that the French contribution to popular culture stops at Michel Platini and Citroen BX cars" (Melody Maker, UK, '85)
"When he sings, his multilingual, cosmopolitan delivery conjures Slavic or Central European impressions. His show is somewhat mile a pocket opera, a post-electronic cabaret show, it's entertainment yet also an artistic statement" (Art Press, France, 1986)
