Focus on France: Paul Ritch

Focus on France: Paul Ritch

8 September, 2010 | 7.34AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: focus on, france, paul ritch, quartz rec

Next up in our Focus on France is Paul Ritch, a rising producer whose unerring techno touch has landed him everywhere from Get Physical Music to SCI+TEC Digital Audio to Drumcode to Bpitch Control. His own label Quartz Rec, meanwhile, offers a vein thick with rough diamonds—not to mention tracks from Nic Fanciulli, Dubfire, Carlo Lio, and Slam, alongside French producers like Okain. Don’t forget to check out our “Focus On France” compilation featuring free music downloads from Cassius, dOP, Martin Solveig and more. Our latest track addition features Handycraft’s “La Folle Du 6” courtesy of Paul Ritch’s Quartz Records.

Which were the most important local clubs, DJs and 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?

For me the club where I really started getting into the electronic music scene was L’Elysee Montmartre, at parties called Scandal Night and Discotek or House of Legend, with DJs like DJ Fex and Didier Sinclair. They were the main residents and invited international guests like Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva, Francesco Farfa, Terry Francis and many more. That was around 2001, at this point I didn’t know anything about labels or DJs, I was just eating and eating music. After that I really focused on techno and started to go to Rex Club and Nouveau Casino at parties like Automatik, and had the opportunity to see DJs like Laurent Garnier and Moodymann.

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

French dance music was really famous for the French touch sound back in the days, but in the more underground scene, with artists like Cassius, Daft Punk, and Etienne de Crecy. Also, we had this big movement in the south of France with Miss Kittin, David Carretta, the Hacker, Vitalic.

I don’t think we have a specific style right now. It really goes from deep house to techno, and if you look at producers like David K, Djulz, Okain, dOP or me, I don’t think you can find a strong common point. We don’t copy each other’s style; everybody is doing his own thing. Maybe that is what sets us apart from other cities.

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

There are so many good artists from France that people should be looking for that I can’t list them all here. So I will speak about the people that are closer to me, like Okain, Alex Dee, Yakine, Varoslav, Timid Boy, Vincent vidal , Djulz and David K. They are great DJs and have some amazing stuff to be release in the next months.

I also strongly advise anyone to check some hand-stamped vinyl bootlegs from Rootz, Lezar, Mofo & Le Borgne that are all coming from our town, and be sure to keep you update with the next releases from Quartz, Jetaime, and Bass Culture. All from Paris, all with a different style and all very nice!

Paul Ritch on Beatport

Quartz Rec on Beatport

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