French House Arrest Episode XII: 1999

Gonna revive an old series I do here on the development of the best damn genre of dance music there is.  This is French House Arrest.  You can check out the earlier episodes by clicking on the link under Best of AwB.  This episode will be the first on the great year of 1999.  I've got one of the best damn French House albums of all time, along with two tracks from some great French dudes.

1999 - Cassius

I love Cassius.  At the time, they were like the 'other' Daft Punk that didn't really make it.  And deservedly so, they aren't gods, but they did put out one of the best damn French House releases ever.  Cassius is Boom Bass and Philippe Zdar, who was a member of Motorbass (the first French House group, read about it HERE), produced the latest Phoenix album, and is producing the new album by The Rapture.  Why is this album important?  It's a great definition of the genre, that is, the sound they create is cooler than you can ever hope to be.  Listening requires lighting up a cigarette.

ALSO, Cassius just released a new EP on Ed Banger Records TODAY.  It's not that great, unfortunately, but it's nice to see that Ed Banger still exists and is working with some legends of the past.

My Kind of...Chicago - Jackson

Meet Jackson.  Sometimes, he goes by Jackson and His Computer Band.  However, back in 1999, he was just Jackson.  He's sort of fallen into obscurity, unfortunately, but he will always be a legend among the French DJ scene.  Here's a little rare gem he released in 1999 that I picked up a while back.  Who ever said drum machines have no soul?  And if you're looking to cop his recent IDM album, you can do so HERE.

Vous Voulez De La Musique (Sébastien Léger Remix) - Fafa Monteco

Meet Sébastien Léger.  He's another French House giant.  Here's a funky track by him that was released in the fine year of 1999.

French House Arrest Episode XI: 98 Degrees

To finish up the year 1998, I figured that I'd put up some tracks that also came out that year to give a wider perspective on what was happening that year outside of French House in Electronic music. Pretty varied selection, let's do it, and get super pumped for 1999.

*Also note new poll on the right

-M

Renegade Master (Fatboy Slim Old Skool Edit) - Wild Child

Breakbeat was dominating British dance parties, and Fatboy Slim was killing it with his funky, Hip-hop inspired jams that pretty much everyone can instantly recognize and sing along to. This track is no exception. He's definitely one of the best samplers the world has ever seen.

Sexy Boy - Air

Though not French House, Air was right there this whole time helping to develop the French Touch sound. This song rules, you probably already have it.

Copa - DJ Hell

Meanwhile in Germany, DJ Hell was pushing the German Techno scene forward, and would eventually come up with the worst genre name ever, Electroclash. Despite that horrible name, he made some awesome tracks. Some of his tracks get WAY too repetitive for me (and I can handle really repetitive), but this one's very cool. Great sampling.

Cruel Summer - Ace Of Bass

When I think of Pop music, I usually think of Sweden (my glorious ancestry!). Fun Fact: The masterminds behind some of Britney Spears' early hits were random song writers from Sweden. Ace Of Bass, also Swedish, released this in 1998. No comment on my particular opinion of them, but once again this post is all about perspective, right?

*Note the expression of the dude in the top right

Find A Way - A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest are incredible, and have released some of the best produced Hip-hop tracks, ever. They released an album called The Love Movement in '98, and it has this amazing track on it.

French House Arrest X: Bob Sinclar - Paradise

In the height of the french house boom, around 1998, Bob Sinclar (Cristophe Le Friant), also known under his Breakbeat pseudonym the Mighty Bop, released his breakthrough album 'Paradise' which included the infamous Thomas Bangalter co-produced track 'Gym Tonic'. This is his most classic sounding album, coming before his careening into pop-stardom, reminiscent of early Daft Punk, Cassius, and I:Cube, good stuff, funky, disco-ey, jazzy, and cool as a cucumber. A must have for any French House fan. Enjoy>>>

-Jumpman

Bob Sinclar - Paradise

Happy Halloween!

*For new readers, this is a continuation of a little series we've been running on French House, which you can check out HERE
-M

French House Arrest Episode IX: Trouble In Paradise

Continuing along our journey, we're gonna stay in the year 1998 for one of the more interesting stories of a little feud between two of the biggest producers of the time. Also included is an early track from one of my favorite house producers. Short post today, I feel like I've been packing too much into these so this one's sort of a break.

Gym Tonic - Bob Sinclar

In 1998, Bob Sinclar released a track called Gym Tonic, an awesome French House groove with a great sample from a Jane Fonda workout. However, turns out the track was actually made by our hero Thomas Bangalter, and Mr. Sinclar released the track on his album Paradise without his permission. In fact, Bangalter would experience several problems just like this, due to his notoriety for finding the best samples. Bangalter wanted to hold on to this track himself and use it as a secret weapon to drop in his own sets, but it was clearly too big to be contained.

We Are - Sébastien Léger

Sébastien Léger rules, and has pretty much dominated every sub-genre of House music that he's taken a stab at producing, though it seems like his favorite is his own little brand of Progressive Tech House. This track, however, is his awesome French House jam from 1998. Cheers to Ilictronix for the track.

French House Arrest Episode VIII: Music Sounds Better With Roulé

Finally, we have moved on to 1998. While I still stand by my saying that the year previous was the most important/awesome year for French House, this year saw the release of THE French House track as well as more releases from the undeniable master of the genre. Also came the first release of one of my favorite french house acts.

-M

[Roulé 305] Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust

This is it. This is French House. This is the giant mega-hit that the genre produced. Eveyrone knows this song and can very easily sing along to it (its not like the lyrics are that difficult anyways). Stardust was born when Thomas Bangalter, Alan Braxe, and singer Benjamin Diamond were playing live together in the famous Rex Club in Paris. While Bangalter and Braxe looped a very short sample from Fate - Chaka Khan and turned it into a House groove, Diamond instinctively sung these infamous lyrics, and the track was born. It was clearly fate. And now for some remixes of the track you won't find on its official remix album:

Music Sounds Better With You (Dimitri From Paris Remix) - Stardust
Of all the tracks in this post, this is my favorite to play live. It's all about the second drop.

Music Sounds Better With You (Bob Sinclar Remix) - Stardust
Has the cooler, more lounge-y French sound.

[Roulé 306] Trax on Da Rocks Vol.2 - Thomas Bangalter

His second batch of original tracks for his label. Contains the colossal track, appropriately named Colossus. God is Thomas Bangalter.

[Scratché 701] Buffalo Club - The Buffalo Bunch

The first release from French House superstars The Buffalo Bunch. Possibly my favorite French House group, but its terribly difficult to make a certain call on that. Although this is certainly not my favorite release of theirs, it's their first and happened to fall in the year 1998. For ALL OF THEIR TRACKS, check out our previous post on them HERE.

Everyone should check out the blog Boards Of Electronica. They have so many awesome releases that you pretty much will not find anywhere else, except the few I've re posted in some of these episodes. Use the tags on the right side to help find what you're interested in.

French House Arrest Episode VII: Oizoliscious

Man, I'm so happy to be posting again. This is the last post on the godly year that was 1997. In this episode is the first release from one of our favorite producers. Also, I'm posting the album that defined rave music during its time, and it sure wasn't house.

-M

#1 - Mr. Oizo

Jumpman tells me that this release is the result of Oizo handing in some demos to Laurent Garnier, who then told him that he should be making music. In fact, most of Oizo's pre Ed Banger Releases were on Garnier's label, F Communications. Now Mr. Oizo rules, and surely you all know that. Every time he releases something, it has a completely new sound but still contains that unique sound that's undeniably Oizo. However, this release is somewhat French House, but much more along the lines of the Motorbass / I:Cube techno-y / deep house sound rather than the disco sounds that were becoming more and more popular during this year. This is not an accessible EP by any means, but my guess is that if you're reading this, you're a fan of Mr. Oizo and are at least curious to try it out. If you haven't heard of Oizo, then just take my word for it: this shit is cool as hell.

The Fat Of The Land - The Prodigy

This album is the shit. While the French were making house cool again, those British blokes by the name of The Prodigy (but everyone knows it was all Liam Howlett) were tearing the rave shit up with their undeniably awesome hardcore sound. I'm gonna bet that Breakbeat music comes back soon. I mean all the big names have been touring recently, and there are NO Breakbeat producers getting any rep on blogs. It may take a year a two, but when 90's culture rears it's head back into popularity, you can bet that underground Breakbeat producers and DJs will too. I'm actually really excited.

BONUS:
The Party (Splitloop Remix) - Rico Tubbs
Contemporary, probably the only new Breakbeat track that I've gotten from blogs (Pelski specifically). It's awesome, and I want more from Splitloop. Big Electro influence. DJs looking for something different to drop in their sets should definitely pick this up. If anyone has ANY Splitloop, PLEASE hook me up.


Once again, for those of you that follow this blog, if the blog for some reason disappears without warning again, just head on over to apeswithbarrels.wordpress.com where we'll continue our mission to become the greatest pirates to ever surf teh interweb.

French House Arrest Episode VI: Ice Cube?

No, not Ice Cube, but rather I:Cube, the awesome Frenchman whose work contributed to the evolution of the French sound. Also featured is a random track which I can't recall where I got it from but it was released in '97 and is awesome so I'm including it. Also, a little insight into what was happening in House music outside of France.

Also want to give a big shout out to our one reader from Budapest, Hungary. Major props.

-M

Picnic Attack - I:Cube

This album is a lot more like the 'Motorbass' sound with big inspiration from the disco sounds coming from everyone around him. Also, Daft Punk remixed on of the tracks on it, and it's definitely one of their best (Grab it HERE).

Faithfull - Fantom

Awesome track, great example of the genre. EP includes an Etienne De Crecy remix, although the original mix definitely wins.

Insomnia - Faithless

Famous track from the UK in 1997, one of those that everyone recognizes when it gets to "that part." Ishkur calls it Anthem House, makes sense. Shit's epic as hell, but corny as shit. Doesn't matter though, its pretty awesome.

For those interested in a blog that posts rare albums, I highly recommend Boards of Electronica. Great source for all sorts of music. The best way to use this blog is to check the labels and find what you like.

French House Arrest Episode V: Party Like It's 1997

Back on track and in our favorite year ever (the year I picked up Piano actually) 1997. This year marked the release of the quintessential French House/Touch album, being Super Discount from Etienne De Crecy (pictured). However, it was actually released a few days (really days) after Homework, so it definitely was not the first like many claim. Also, I'm including the first release on the label Crydamoure, a label set up by Guy-Manuel De Homem Christo of Daft Punk and Eric Chedeville. Discogs describes the label as such: "Deep French House label bringing together the finest filtered sounds from the likes of Paul Johnson, Daft Punk and DJ Sneak." Definitely the most important of the French House labels, everyone should head over to Solid Goldberger to grab its entire discography.

-M

Super Discount - Etienne De Crecy

If anyone every asks you what French House / French Touch is, this is its defining album. It's extremely cool and stylish. Collaborating with such artists as Alex Gopher, Etienne De Crecy definitely made one of the most awesome albums ever, definitely a big step up from his work with Motorbass. Even if you're not sold on your first listen, I promise you that you will appreciate this. Also, I couldn't find this shit posted ANYWHERE and had to buy it on iTunes a while back. Figure I should give him money for this though. Funny how iTunes Plus gives you 224 kbps mp3s when I steal 320s every day. What's the point of buying music if I can get better quality for free? P.S. If anyone is thinking of buying me any gifts for any particular reason, this on vinyl would be optimal :)

You should also head over HERE for some remixes by Mr. Crecy.

[CRYDA 001] Santa Claus / Holiday On Ice - Le Knight Club

First release from Le Knight Club, made up of the label owners Guy-Manuel and Eric. Holiday On Ice is my favorite of the two, such an amazing groove.

BONUS:
Aurora - Alex Gopher
Guaranteed to get your crowd jumping. This track is from 2008*

French House Arrest Episode IV: Backtrack

I do still insist that 1997 is the biggest year for French House, but I realized that I left out some important/awesome developments that occurred in 1996.

-M

Venus (Sunshine People) - Cheek

Now I can't really speak for its significance in terms of the evolution of the genre, but this did predate '97 and is just awesome. The true winner is the remix from DJ Gregory (my favorite track in this post), but the I:Cube remix is also amazing. I:Cube is another important DJ in the creation on French House, and you'll be seeing his album in one of the upcoming '97 posts.

Le Voyage - The Mighty Bop

The Mighty Bop, more commonly known as Bob Sinclar, was another very important name during the foundations of French House. He even had a little incident with Thomas Bangalter over a certain track, to be posted eventually. This particular track that I posted is very Hip-hop/Breakbeat influenced along with the funk/space influences of the French Touch and, of course, is just as cool as everything else his peers were releasing at the time.

Sacrebleu - Dimitri From Paris

Dimitri From Paris is so cool, that he's become the Playboy Mansions resident DJ. His style is a mix of House, Disco, Hip-hop, and Lounge. This is not really French House, but very much in line with the whole French Touch scene, almost like Daft Punk and Air had a child that decided to move to Cancun. And nobody can deny that the man has style.

Also, everyone should check out the blog Ilictronix. Great source for French House, among other stuff.

French House Arrest Episode III: Parisian Disco Pogo!

So we've now made it to 1997, the biggest year for French House, most importantly the year that Daft Punk released their debut LP, Homework. Some other really important things happened too, and they'll be covered as well, but this episode is about Daft Punk. I've also got a very early release from Alan Braxe, who would go on to make very important contributions to the direction of French House towards a more synthy sound with Fred Falke. 1997 was they year when French House really became known to the world as the powerhouse that it is now. Hell, even David Guetta rode the wave to fame.

-M

Homework - Daft Punk

I mean, it's Homework by Daft Punk. If you don't have this already, you're truly missing out. Completely produced in their own bedrooms, all I can say is masterpiece. This alone defined them as the masters of French House, landed them a spot on Pete Tong's Essential Mix show on BBC Radio 1, and a tour.

Essential Mix 1997 - Daft Punk

The best DJ mix. Period.

Alive 1997 - Daft Punk

Of course, not nearly as awesome or innovative as Alive 2007, but they didn't have as much material to play with yet.

[Roulé 303] Vertigo - Alan Braxe

Great EP. Not only did Alan Braxe create one funky ass track, but then Thomas Bangalter supplies one of the most incredible remixes ever. This definitely worked heavily towards defining the genre.

BONUS:
Grab a bunch of other /rarer Daft Punk tracks HERE.

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

[Roulé 301] Trax On Da Rocks - Thomas Bangalter

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.

[Roulé 302] Spinal Scratch - Thomas Bangalter

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.

French House Arrest Episode I: Motorbass

I've been meaning to do this for a while, so I've just decided to go ahead and do it. I will be beginning a series of posts on the history of French House, or the period in which Electronic Dance Music became cool again. The posts will be in chronological order and feature a bunch of different artists all affiliated with the French House sound. Some posts (like this one) will have a lot of stuff, some will not. This was very much inspired by Solid Goldberger, the mother of all French House blogs, and I highly recommend that everyone interested in French House dig through its archives in order to get yourself discographies of some of the great French House labels like Crydamoure, Roulé, and Vertigo.

House music. After it was invented by gay black dudes in Chicago and New York during the 80s, it soon lost its innovation or any real interesting driving force. This all changed when some French dudes took hold of the genre and completely revamped the sound, adding in much cooler elements of funk, disco, and just plain awesome samples. House music was suddenly cool again.

So then who started this movement? I'm pretty sure the answer is the collaboration of Etienne De Crecy and Philippe Zdar, called Motorbass. Etienne De Crecy is widely considered the originator of the French House sound, and he will be discussed more in depth in Episode V. Philippe Zdar is another incredibly important person in the history of French House, being a member of Cassius, and has even gone on to produce for other French Touch bands such as Phoenix. The work of Motorbass in the early 1990's would lay the foundation for the new emerging sounds that would become the French Touch.

-M

1st - Motorbass

1st was released in 1993 and its by no means a French House album. In fact, the best genre to place this album would be Techno. However, you can hear the influence of Deep House and the only word that accurately describes their sound is 'cool.'

Transphunk EP - Motorbass

Transphunk is where you can really start to hear the French House sound coming to life. This was also released in '93, predating the work of Thomas Bangalter and Daft Punk. Once again, all I can say is that their sound is so fucking cool, and what makes it even cooler is that no other electronic music at the time really sounded like this. But once again, still not truly French House, as there's even a Breakbeat track.

Pansoul - Motorbass

Pansoul was the debut LP for Motorbass released in 1996, and definitely their most essential release. The tracks are cooler and housier, developing the French House sound further along its path. Highly Recommended. Although this came after the early works of Thomas Bangalter, I call this the first French House album.

BONUS:
Around the World (Motorbass Vice Mix) - Daft Punk
Very strange, you can barely recognize the original in it. Once again, very cool.