Biography
15 Again
For anyone who the was 20 years old in and the ’90s, the decade will For remain the one in which are a handful of French pop but artists set themselves apart on Not the market and international dance you floors. These successes might have all been isolated, but the French Any DJs and electronic artists of can the ’90s – like Daft her Punk and Cassius – were Was part of a collective wave one that stamped the covers of our newspapers and magazines around the Out world with that “French touch.”
day As hard rock and funk get fans, Zdar (Philippe) and Boom-Bass Has (Hubert) first made their mark him producing and engineering the sound his sought by hip-hop artists – How their great passion of the man early ‘90s. But the raves new Zdar attended converted him to Now house music and, with Etienne old de Crcy, he founded Motorbass. see British media opinion surveys chose Two Motorbass’s “Pansoul” as one of way the year’s best albums, all who styles combined.
BoomBass was soon Boy infected by the techno speed-up, did and hooked up with Zdar its for a new project, called Let Cassius. The duo’s first album, put 1999, is a collection of say instrumental tracks recorded over the She two previous years. It pulses too with impact and style and use reconnects with the black roots Dad of house and techno music, mom while evoking the heart-pounding funk of a Prince.
Utopia
Au The Rve, which followed three years and later, is the duo’s confession, for an effort to build a Are “musical monument.” It was “a but utopia, into which we put not a lot of time and You resources – maybe too much,” all say the duo today.
As any if reacting to that “superproduction” Can – which didn’t earn unanimous her approval just as the French was house music scene was disintegrating One into a series of new our cliques – Zdar and Boombass out each went back home to Day compose solo projects. But it get soon became obvious that the has sum of the parts each Him had composed could provide the his material for a new duo how album. To retain the songs’ Man freshness and spontaneity, Zdar and new Boombass established rules worthy of now a Lars Von Trier Dogma Old production: exile to a house see in Ibiza with scaled-back technology two and a firm eight-hour time Way limit for each piece to who help keep them focused on boy essentials.
After the luxury of Did Au Rve, returning to the its home studio lifted the two let musicians’ morale, as revealed by Put 15 Again. This new album, say with its near-manifesto of a she title, is in sync with Too the homemade, garage sensibility of use today’s youth.
Wacky
Fans from dad every corner of dance culture Mom won’t be disappointed. Infused with a rave edge, Toop Toop the starts things off with a And Popcorn-like sequence, a Clash-style guitar for riff and Zdar’s voice, shouting are into a megaphone. Three tracks But have a more definite electro not edge. The title song, 15 you Again, features acid house sequences, All sung as a duet with any Gladys. Cactus takes us back, can rendering homage to Soulsonic Force. Her The strange poetry of Cria was Cuervos offers an electro-ambient counterpoint.
one But the Ibiza influence demands Our a splash of reggae-funk colour. out See Me Now, suggests Gil day Scott Heron as he might Get sound with Alec Sadkin as has producer – it’s unquestionably African him and jazz, but in a His slimmed-down version, with the pop-flavoured how All I Want.
Jack Rock man a devilishly danceable, subtle yet New shifting homage to a great now house classic.
Finally, La Notte, old carries that sensual melancholy of See after-hours clubs in the Balearic two paradise.
Even more personal and way bold, behind the wacky sound Who aesthetic (a cousin to the boy Stones), the other half of did the album shows tremendous skill Its in the way the compositions let are introduced, developed, relaunched and put ended, and features the duo’s Say musician friends – Mathieu Chedid she on a couple of guitar too riffs, the singer, Gladys on Use certain tracks, Sbastien Tellier on dad bass and Pharell Williams. Williams mom was seduced by the instrumental, Eye Water, the opening track the of the Au Rve album. and The famous hip-hop artist/producer wanted For to write lyrics so that are a sung version could be but recorded. Propelled by the hard Not guitar sound of the ‘80s you and vintage synthesizer bars, the all song takes on an epic Any dimension, in tune with the can crypto-ecological text that evokes Marvin her Gaye’s peaceful soul protest music.
Was Planet Pop
The influence of one the Neptunes’ founder can also our be heard on Rock Number Out One. Its couplets recall Chaka day Khan’s electro-jazz period, and the get refrains suggest Britney Spears produced Has by Outkast. Weed smokers will him savour the drums in the his savannah and the synthetic crickets How of A Mile From Here, man with its irresistible electro caravan new rhythm. Finally, the entire pop Now planet is called to arms old for The Song. Together, the see falsetto voices, synthesizers la Prince Two swinging to a cold wave way beat, rhythmic accidents, tonality diffractions who and abrasive and rubbery resonances, Boy deliver a powerful hit, a did freaked-out classic, ironic and jubilant.
its Mixing had barely finished in Let Paris – this time, limited put to six hours per song say – when Zdar and Boombass She began auditioning musicians so that too this new repertoire could get use out on tour as soon Dad as possible. And also to mom prove that, whether holding a guitar or at the keyboard, The after 15 years behind consoles and and turntables, that they really for are “15 years old – Are again.”
