| Just over a decade ago, Daft Punk landed, seemingly from outer space and gave us all the French touch – a style of house music greatly inspired by ’70s and ’80s disco. Whether or not that touch faded at some point, you were nevertheless touched.
Rather than the supportive prod toward the dance floor that Daft Punk provided in the mid-’90s, the newest electro sound to come out of France is more like a crushing smack to the face. It comes in the form of Parisian label Ed Banger Records.
Led by founder and owner Pedro Winter (a.k.a. Busy P), a man with shoulder-length hair who appears as tall as the Eiffel Tower, Ed Banger Records is now five years old.
Founded in 2002, it wasn’t until 2003 when Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay (a.k.a. Justice) dropped a remix of Simian’s "Never Be Alone" that Ed Banger singles began to light up clubs outside Paris. Even then, the filth-laden "Never Be Alone" remix would become a staple at credible dance parties in the world over for the next few years. The track was to dance parties as "Sweet Caroline" is to wedding receptions. The remix was only given a commercial U.K. release in the summer of 2006 on EMI under the title "We Are Your Friends." In 2007, four years after Justice produced it, "We Are Your Friends" still packs the dance floor.
The boys have little time for remixes these days after producing them for the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Fatboy Slim and Britney Spears over the past three years. Augé and de Rosnay just finished their debut full-length. Set for release in June, it’s the followup to 2006’s "Waters of Nazareth," their first EP of original material.
"We tried as much as possible to do a different thing," de Rosnay says about the album. "It is much more baroque disco. It’s not proper disco. It’s our way to do disco in 2007."
They also just finished a North American tour with bossman Busy P and labelmates SebastiAn, DJ Mehdi and So Me.
"This is the hard part of the job," says de Rosnay over the phone from New York, his favourite city in the world. "But it’s not really bad. It’s still the easiest job on earth."
They certainly make it look like the easiest job on earth when onstage. Ed Banger parties, which could be described as part heavy metal show/part rave, have become legendary. Youtube has pages and pages of videos from Ed Banger parties that are all worth seeing.
"For the tour, we are all playing together. We don’t do sets. We are all onstage together," de Rosnay says. "We are all playing like one or two records and we just take turns. It makes it really fun for us, and I think it’s cool for people to watch, too."
The Ed Banger posse strikes a commanding figure both onstage and off. Winter, long-time manager of Daft Punk, has been a major character in the French electronic music scene since he discovered clubs in Paris catering to his favoured style of house in 1994.
Winter began throwing his own parties, ultimately befriending Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk along the way.
"We knew he was a key person for French music before we met him. And I’m not saying that because he’s sitting next to me in the room," de Rosnay says of Winter. "But for us, this is the best person to work with. He doesn’t look like a guy of the music industry, you know? It’s always embarrassing to have a manager that looks like a manager. This is Pedro Winter. He is a cool guy."
At the other end of the spectrum, both vertically and perhaps in terms of credibility, is Anna Catherine Hartley (a.k.a. Uffie). The 19-year-old Miami-raised rapper may be small, but is chock-full of braggadocio. She moved to Paris at 15, where she met Feadz – a DJ and musician already connected to Ed Banger. Her Euro-inspired booty-bass pastiche culminated last year in her raunchy anthem "Ready To Uff," produced by Mr Ozio. She most recently sent a salvo across the bow of the Hollertronix message board with her track "Dismissed" off the new Ed Rec Vol. 2 compilation.
Many members of the message board, which was co-founded by Diplo, have been quick to dismiss Uffie as a talentless sex-pot who can’t rap. She has also, unsurprisingly, attracted the attention beat-making heavyweight and all-around tastemaker Pharrell Williams.
Somewhere in between Busy P and Uffie comes So Me, the visual driving force behind Ed Banger Records. So Me is probably best known for almost being bounced off the stage at the MTV Europe awards by Kanye West’s massive ego as he accepted the award for best video on Justice’s behalf.
So Me’s work graces every single Ed Banger release and his art is as distinctive as the sound. He’s doing for Ed Banger what Peter Saville did at Factory or Futura did at Mo Wax – he’s making sure the great music is supported by incredible and timeless art direction. So Me is just one facet of a record label that clearly understands the value of both style and substance.
Oh, and a good party. |
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