from the 12” single, Astralwerks Records, 1999Progenitors of a sound that became widely known as “La French Touch”, the duo of Philippe Zdar & Hubert “Boom Bass” Blanc-Francart, known to most ravers as Cassius, actually have roots that reach back over a decade and are planted in hip-hop, as La Funk Mob long before their later rise to fame alongside crews like Daft Punk and Air; frankly, their LP 1999 was far more diverse in sound and beats than their contemporaries’ albums were around the same time, perhaps pointing to the widely varying influences at play in their minds. This track, which samples Gwen McCrae’s “All This Love That I’m Givin” both generously & successfully, teems with creative energy and easily established the fact that, indeed, “…Cassius in the house…” The French are often ahead of the curve with trends, and it was no different in electronic music, as Parisians found themselves toward the end of the ‘90s unwilling to wait another decade for that ‘80s synthtastic sound to come back, a vibe which the rest of us have only embraced in the last few years over here. Good lookin out guys, merci!
