Focus on France: Cassius

Focus on France: Cassius

1 September, 2010 | 6.00AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News : cassius, focus on, france, french touch, la funk mob, motorbass, zdar

Beatportal presents a new series in which we take an in-depth look at a particular country or city, interviewing veteran musicians, rising stars, and record labels to find out what makes their scene special. To coincide we are releasing a compilation of French musical delicacies to download for free. Our first track is courtesy of our featured artists Cassius.

The duo’s members, Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass, established themselves in the early ‘90s as La Funk Mob, one of the few French acts on the legendary Mo’ Wax label; Zdar is also his known for his role in Motorbass, one of the seminal French house acts.

Cassius broke out in a big way with their millennial album ‘1999’, a classic example of French house that sounds just as relevant 11 years later. They took it slow in the late ‘00s, but they returned last year with ‘Youth, Speed, Trouble, ‘Cigarettes’, and this year, their re-released single ‘99’ (remixed by Tim Green and Reset!) has helped them find a whole new generation of fans.

Read on for Philippe Zdar’s thoughts on what the scene was like in the old days, what went wrong with the “French Touch”, and which French producers are setting Paris on fire these days. 

Which were the most important clubs, local DJs and local record labels for you when you were first getting into electronic dance music? What were they like, and how did they influence your own music and career?

The most important place for me was a record store called Bonus Beat, then BPM. It was the best shop in Paris—the only place with all the Detroit new releases coming up every week. You could meet everyone there, the DJs like Laurent Garnier to the next-to-be-famous Frenchy.  It’s there that I met the Daft Punks for the first time, and in 1993 it was really like a beehive. People everywhere fighting for the only copy of the last UR or Plus 8.

The clubs were not my thing yet; I loved the rave or the boat where the afterhours were taking place. I loved Mozinor, a fantastic rave where we could hear Francesco Farfa or Armando, and I loved La Peniche Ruby, where we were dancing to Guillaume La Tortue or Jerome Pacman, who were great French DJs before all the hype.

Also, one of the most important things for us was Radio F.G., which was the only techno radio, with a guy called Patrick Rognan who gave all of us all the indications for all the raves on Friday evening. It was like a Sunday Mass for us.

What is it that sets your music apart from the music of other countries? Do you think that it’s possible to define a French or Parisian “sound”? Has this changed over time?

At the time of the “French Touch,” the sound was a copy of the pure Chicago sound with a bit of soul samples, like in hip-hop but faster. It all became a recipe, and like all recipes, an artistic disaster.

Nowadays, a kind of distorted sound mixed with Todd Edwards-style chopped sounds is again quickly becoming a recipe, and again, not for the best.

As always, some artists are going further, some taking the future back badly. I don’t think it’s a French thing; it has always been like this. And I guess with the technology getting so easy to use, this movement is universal. We can hear it in the German minimal to the Italian maximal. Luckily, everywhere some people are searching for something special in their heads.

Which artists and labels from your country should people be looking out for, and why?

SebastiAn, because he’s really good.
Torb, a new techno band, because they are the only sound I have heard in a while which is totally out of any fashion and really singular, and also because they manage to do tracks that are sad and happy at the same time, like in old Detroit techno music.
I also like Chloe when she produces music, and I’m sure dozens of kids that I’m not aware of yet. Generally, I like timeless stuff.

Ed Banger, Sound Pellegrino, Institubes, and all the “big” labels always have some good EPs or 12-inches—they’re quality labels whatever happens.

Explore Cassius on Beatport

Free ‘Focus On France’ Compilation

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