Mr. Oizo

Quentin Dupieux (, born 14 April 1974), also known by his musical stage name Mr. Oizo, is a French filmmaker, electronic musician, and DJ.

Dupieux is credited with his legal name for his films, while the name "Mr. Oizo" is used for his musical works.

Quentin Dupieux was born on 14 April 1974 in Paris.

At the age of 18, he found a camera and started taking photographs.

At the age of 19, while making one of his first short films, he added a soundtrack to the movie by using music from a record.

However, when a TV channel wanted to buy the film, he realized they needed to have the rights to the music.

This led to Dupieux buying a synthesizer so that he could redo the music for his film.

A few years later, he discovered the house music scene and started making music.

The EP features the track "Patrick122", which is a re-working of the 1979 disco track "Do It at the Disco" by Gary's Gang.

In 1997, Laurent Garnier of the record label FCom bought a car from Dupieux's father.

Garnier then found out about his talents and let him direct the music video for his song "Flashback".

Dupieux was subsequently signed to FCom, which saw the release of his first EP, #1.

Under the pseudonym Mr. Oizo, he is best known for his 1999 single "Flat Beat".

His pseudonym is a corruption of the French oiseau, meaning "bird".

He is signed to F Communications, Ed Banger Records and Brainfeeder.

Dupieux released "Flat Beat" in January 1999, a track consisting mainly of a repeated bass loop and a drum sample from "Put Your Love in My Tender Care" by The Fatback Band.

In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Dupieux stated that it took him only two hours with a Korg MS-20 to produce.

Flat Beat became a hit throughout Europe in 1999, becoming the best-known Mr. Oizo release.

The track was featured in a series of Levi's jeans TV commercials, which featured a yellow puppet named Flat Eric nodding his head to the rhythm while riding in an old, beat-up Chevelle.

Flat Eric was also featured in the song's music video.

The Flat Beat EP has sold over three million copies.

The song reached number 1 in the UK.

After "Flat Beat", Oizo spent two months creating his first full album, Analog Worms Attack, which was released in 1999.

The album's name was derived from the fact that it was produced entirely using analog equipment.

The record scratching effects were provided by Mr. Oizo's friend Feadz.

"Flat Beat" appeared as a bonus track after the five minutes of silence following the final track "Analog Wormz Sequel".

A total of three singles were released in support of the album.

A version of "Monday Massacre" from the Flat Beat EP featuring sampled record scratching appears on the album, titled "No Day Massacre".

Moustache (Half a Scissor) was Mr. Oizo's second studio album.

Released in 2005, the album was composed exclusively using computers as he had by that time decided to eschew the use of analog equipment.

The extensive time it took to remodel his studio and master the use of computers in composing electronic music is cited as the reason for the long hiatus between Analog Worms Attack and Moustache (Half a Scissor).

Before its public release, a promo CD was released onto the internet featuring three tracks not on the original release: "CPU", "Nazis", and "A Nun".

Some songs on the promo differ from the released album versions.

For example, "Nurse Bob" is much longer on the final release whilst the promo version splices vocal samples into a much shorter version.

The track appeared on Mr. Oizo's MySpace page in 2006 under the title Patrick122.

Dupieux has directed numerous films including Rubber (2010), Wrong (2012), Wrong Cops (2013), and Reality (2014).

This is the only Mr. Oizo album not to have its debut release on vinyl; a vinyl version would first be released in January 2011 through Brainfeeder.

Mr. Oizo's first EP released on Ed Banger Records is called "Transexual / Patrick122".

After initially producing his films in the United States, he began making films in France in 2018.

Since then, he has released Keep an Eye Out! (2018), Deerskin (2019), Mandibles (2020), Incredible but True (2022), Smoking Causes Coughing (2022), Yannick (2023) and Daaaaaalí! (2023) which have been primarily filmed and produced in France.