A lot of artists dream of having a hit; some actually manage it; and a few end up with a hit so big they never get away from it! In electronic music, as in any other genre, acts often end up famous for just one song - and then risk living out the rest of their lives as one-hit wonders. Mr Oizo has been haunted by his furry yellow sidekick and his techno hit
Flat Beat, whereas Superfunk never quite got over
Lucky Star. Electronic music naturally lends itself to the single format, and entire albums by artists only started appearing a few years ago, by the likes of Dimitri from Paris or Laurent Garnier.
Within a few weeks of each other, three singles artists have recently released albums: they are Benjamin Diamond, Alan Braxe and Martin Solveig. Each in their different way have tasted international success: the first two scored a hit with Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust, with Thomas Bangalter (a member of Daft Punk), while Martin Solveig owes his fame to a club remix of the Salif Keita track Madan, as well as Rocking Music.
African influences
Martin Solveig started out his career as a DJ. In 2003, he produced a brilliant remix of Salif Keita's
Madan. But the track didn't really make much of an impact outside France, as he explains: "Often, you achieve global recognition by making it big first in the UK, but an African-influenced track didn't really strike a chord over there." Solveig changed direction in 2004 with
Rocking Music, a funky house track with a booming bassline, electric guitars and backing singers. It was another hit, and both
Madan and
Rocking Horse clocked up sales of over 100,000 copies each.
"It's difficult to come back after you've had a hit. You're in a tricky position. Either you keep on with the kind of music you had a hit with, and you're criticised for doing the same old thing – only less well. Or you change direction, and you risk losing your audience." For the moment, Martin Solveig appears to have resolved the dilemma. With the recently released Hedonist, his second album, he has tried to escape being pigeon-holed, and has succeeded in making a record that you can both dance to and listen to at home.
Phenomenal success
Meanwhile, Alan Braxe has taken a different tack, and has not tried to disown a genre or his past. Braxe's latest album,
The Uppercuts, is a blend of his own tracks and remixes of other people's work. "My image is very much about house and club music, and I'm often associated with Daft Punk," he says. Although not really the type to hog the spotlight, Braxe nonetheless achieved fame in 1998 with the mega-hit
Music Sounds Better With You put out under the name Stardust with Thomas Bangalter and Benjamin Diamond. No less than three million copies of the track were sold at the time!
"It's difficult to deal with a success like that, because things quickly spiral out of control," explains Braxe. "You get well known, but I never let the fame go to my head. Today my goal is still just to sell enough records to be able to make new ones." His new album, which includes the Stardust track but also the club smash Intro, doesn't surf on the wave of his success of a few years ago. Braxe demands a lot of himself as an artist and took his time bringing out a new release. Nowadays he's happy to claim his particular sound as his own – and he hasn't added a "Stardust" sticker on the album cover to sell more copies!
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The voice of Stardust was one Benjamin Diamond. As a singer on a global hit, Diamond found himself pigeon-holed within no time. "People talk to me about that track all the time," he says, "They want to label me as a house singer and some people would like me to continue doing that, but I'm happy with my new direction." Benjamin Diamond has no qualms about his artistic U-turn. Enough of house music: his second album,
Out of Myself is very much pop-rock. "A lot of people, particularly in France, were surprised. This album has taken its time to make its mark. No doubt someone singing in English comes across as a bit suspect in France!" The proof is that although Benjamin Diamond and his group have given 18 concerts internationally in the past six months, they have only performed twice in France. "The success of Stardust kick-started my career. Above all, it allowed me to set up my own record label," explains Benjamin, head of Diamond Traxx (whose stable includes Octet and the Hush Puppies among others).
As Martin Solveig, Benjamin Diamond and Alan Braxe have demonstrated, there are many ways to deal with success: you can continue along the same path, try something completely different, or indulge in new musical pleasures entirely. "Above all, success gives you the opportunity to do what you want to do," concludes Benjamin Diamond.
Alan Braxe The Uppercuts (Vulture/Pias) 2005
Benjamin Diamond Out of Myself (Diamond Traxx/ !K7 Records) 2005
Martin Solveig Hedonist (Vulture/ULM/Universal) 2005
