09 July 2009

French House Arrest Episode II: Thomas Bangalter


Jumping back to 1995, House music was of course not doing so well, but their were some guys, like Motorbass, working to revamp House music into something much cooler than ever before. Then along came Thomas Bangalter. This man is the MOST important person in house music history as far as I'm concerned. His solo productions along with his collaboration with Guy-Manuel De Homem Christo, otherwise known as Daft Punk, pretty much defined the French House music. He is to House what Miles Davis was to Jazz. Miles Davis fostered the creation of Cool Jazz (very similar to French House in it's undeniable cool factor) and then pioneered the evolution of Jazz into fusion. Many say that Jazz stopped evolving with his death, and that may very well be true. But I digress.

-M




So Mr. Bangalter set up his own little label called Roulé for the purposes of releasing his own material and eventually others. This, obviously, is one of the most important French House labels. Trax On Da Rocks was released in 1995 and contains what I will call the first French House track ever, Ventura (once again, all statements that I make are based on my knowledge at this point). He introduces the use of filtering samples in House music, which was a HUGE step in its development.  Acid House was using filters to get that super resonated sound, but he was filtering his samples to make that effect that  pretty much every House track uses now. However, this is still not a French House record, as the other tracks don't quite fit the mold. French House is waiting for 1997 for its giant coming out party.




By god, this is a fucking French House track. Its funky, housey, dancey, cool, awesome, and everything else that French House is. Bangalter just opened the flood gates, as this track was released in 1996, one year before aforementioned coming out party.

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