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Cassius, survivors of the French Touch
New album from the French duo
Paris
15/09/2006 -
RFI Musique: The title of your new album, 15 again, seems to imply that you’ve rediscovered your teenage zest. Is this an "anti-maturity" album?!
Zdar: I'd say it's more about letting go, you know, not stressing out about things and doing your head in over the smallest details. It's an album where we decided working fast was going to be our main priority. When we reached our deadline, we'd bring out what we had and that would be that! Hubert's finally taught me how to get out of my Stanley Kubrick phase (smiles) and stop trying to do impossible things that never work…
Boom Bass: 15 again is about making music in a laidback, carefree kind of way. In the past we tended to over-analyse things, listening to what we'd done 48 hours non-stop to check everything was OK…
Z: And then those 48 hours would turn into a week and the week would turn into a month!
This time round the guiding idea was to remind ourselves we were doing music not rocket science…
BB: And especially that what we produced at the end of the day should be enjoyable to listen to. Don't get me wrong, we're not doing jazz here. We don't take ourselves for Miles Davis or Coltrane!… The fabulous thing about the music those guys produced was that it was extremely complicated on one level but very simple to listen to on another. But music that's complicated to make and complicated to listen to is really hard going. It's only interesting for the people making it.
Z: I think it's also a question of learning from experience. This time round we really tried to keep the freshness and spontaneity of a first take – and that’s something I've learnt from experience mixing other people's records – is always the best! When we started out we were always faced with what we called the “cassette syndrome” where the demo would sound better than the final mix!
Your last album, Au rêve, came out just as the buzz around electro 'made in France' was dying down and it got a pretty mitigated reception. Looking back on things now, do you feel that the timing was all wrong?
Z: Well, I'm beginning to believe in what the Brits call momentum. Let's face it, all music fans know there are some absolutely fantastic albums out there that never took off commercially. And that's not just because the guys that made them didn't look right or because they had a crap manager. That's just the way it is sometimes. Looking back, I'd say Au rêve definitely had its weak points - and so did our record label come to that – but expectations had changed by that point, too. It's like the French football team in the World Cup. You had exactly the same guys playing this year who messed it up four years ago!
BB: I lay the blame at their door. One thing's for sure - if the French team had won, we'd have shifted a hell of a lot more copies of Au rêve!
So would you say you made the same mistake as the French football team, committing the deadly sin of pride?
BB: Well, I don’t think we ever came along and claimed to be geniuses or anything! But it's true that we, like our record label, were cresting on the wave of success generated by the "French Touch" and we really believed that the world was our oyster and we were going to sell truckloads of records. We thought all we had to do was stick a label on our album saying “second album by French duo” and that would be that... But however you choose to analyse things the album's still there!
15 again veers off in a 'chanson' direction with real choruses and a clear rock vibe. Is this an attempt to move away from being labelled as an electro group, a means of artistic survival?
BB: No, I don't think so. Anyway, you always have to have some kind of label, don’t you? I believe we should definitely continue being an electro group in the future. But we've always stopped to question what we do along the way, ever since we started working together, since the days of Solaar, Motorbass and La Funk Mob… There's been a constant evolution and a different feel to just about every record we've ever put out. Having said that, however, there's never been any sort of deliberate calculation about throwing off any kind of label…
Z: I think our survival stems from the fact that we've both got very high ideals when it comes to music. We knew we had to move on, evolve and keep doing new stuff. If not I'd never have been able to get up and face myself in the mirror every morning!
BB: The thing is, all musicians want to have their own identity. There was a point when we got a bit lumped in the 'dance' category and I have to admit that made me really mad! That's a style of music I absolutely loathe, all those so-called 'trendy' DJs with their bandanas… The problem is, as soon as you score a hit on the club circuit, you're lumped in with all that. I don't have a problem with being labelled as an electro group, though, because there are a lot of totally brilliant electro things out there and the scene's constantly evolving. But I have to admit it gets pretty complicated sometimes when you're lumped in a category where you don't belong.
And do you think that’s led to a bit of a misunderstanding as to where you're coming from?
BB: You know, a lot of time with the mainstream public, if you're not in a band with greasy hair and tattoos, then you're seen as being 'electro'! Alternatively, if you dress Parisian-style, you're lumped in with 'French chanson'. There's a lot of stuff out there, French chanson, black music, rock and electronica. And it's getting very complicated for someone who only gets out there and buys an average of three albums a year to distinguish between them. For some people, the only contact they have with electronic music is the dance music they see on television.
I wouldn't say Cassius are exactly a secret electro group only known to a select elite!
Z: Nor would I, because we're not really doing electro any more! I'd say I simply take elements from electronica and use them to make chanson, pop or whatever else you want to call it! I'd love to walk into a record shop and find our albums in the same section as Prince – or Outkast or George Michael! I mean, why not? I'm a DJ and I get out there and buy records every week in the most obscure places and I know what real electro is. Believe me, it's hard to track down the real thing – and what we're doing is a million miles from that!
Cassius will be appearing at "Popkomm", in Berlin, on 21 September 2006
Loïc Bussières
04/10/2002 -
03/02/1999 -
