Nice to find ourselves talking to Étienne De Crécy. Nice because he is an old friend who hasn't met for almost twenty years, but he hasn't lost any of his friendliness and good nature; beautiful because in any case we are talking about a DJ/producer who has literally made the history of electronic dancefloor music, contributing like others and more than others to outline the boundaries of the celebrated, highly celebrated French Touch (that stylistic arc that goes from Daft Punk to Air passing through a sophisticated house, full of filters and samples); nice because too often when you have a moment of great fame there are those who take it badly when this hype passes, but that's not the case with Étienne.
He continued to do, tinker, produce, create, explore (even in the field of video art, «for me it's like a hobby, but I really enjoy it»). He continued to release a lot of music, and we talk about it, and he remained relevant in his own way: in a strange balance between mainstream and underground, between iconicity and humility, between research and fun, between irony and dedication. Which can also be seen clearly from the roster of remixers he has assembled for Warm Up Remixesthe more dancefloor-oriented upgrade of the album released last year (an album with some not exactly irrelevant guests, like Damon Albarn or Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip). Precisely this latest feat of (more) dance-like recombination, put into circulation in recent days, is the excuse for a chat that begins by talking about common acquaintances and Apulian encounters from a summer ago.
So, know that last summer I was with Air at Viva! Festival and talking to them about music and the surrounding area, at a certain point the conversation fell on you. «Oh, Étienne, a delightful person, indeed. You went to high school together, right?” The response was: «You say it's delicious! Look, he was a bully, he bullied us all the time! Well, now that I have Étienne in front of you I can ask you how things really are…
(He bursts out laughing) Nicolas must have told you this…
Yes, here, I confirm: of the two, it was he who told me, not Jean-Benoît.
It wasn't me who was a bully! No: if anything, it was he who let himself be mistreated (more laughter).
Ok, ok, more seriously: going back to the phase in which we met, that is when for a few times I happened to act as your tour manager for the Italian dates, I ask you for a retrospective analysis, we are talking about the period 2005, 2006. It was a strange period, musically speaking: in the sense that on the one hand the French Touch was very popular, it was a brand that worked in the clubbing circuit, but on the other hand among the most aware professionals there was already a sense of saturation heavy: this French Touch thing was already seen as an inflated label. Maybe even disgraced or good just to attract those who had a good mouth, but wanted to pretend to be an expert. What memories do you have of that period?
I remember everything was easy. And I didn't really realize how easy it all was… Let me explain: I didn't think about this hype around the French Touch, I didn't pay attention to it. But in reality everything went without the slightest problem: I made music, this music came out, everyone immediately called me to play, the magazines wanted to talk to me, everyone was kind, everyone was looking for me. A perfect drive chain. It was only when the hype around the French Touch finally waned that I realized how truly privileged I had been through a phase of my artistic life. Suddenly, once the fashion had passed, I had to work. Yes, work. I had to work hard at promotion, work hard to get noticed, work hard to convince people to listen to my music: all things I hadn't been forced to do for quite a few years.
Was this transition traumatic? For many artists it is.
Sincerely? No.
Safe?
Do you know what the truth is? I'm not comfortable having status. Already. I prefer when I have to work to convince people. I prefer it when I play in places where no one knows who I am, and it's up to me and the records I play to make the night work. You see, when you have status people tend to applaud you regardless, whatever you do. Even when you suck, or in any case you don't give your best.
Well…
It sounds nice, but it gets depressing after a while. It makes you lose the taste for things, that's it. I am much more comfortable today, in the role of outsider.
In fact, the way you built this remix album linked to is also very outsider Warm Up of last year. I look at the list of remixers involved and it's bizarre: there's Bob Sinclar, but there's Marie Davidson, there's A-Trak, but also KiNK… In short, you move seamlessly from the mainstream to the gems of underground connoisseurs. It's really difficult to understand where you really stand today.
Quite simply, they are all artists that I admire greatly. There are people who are completely outside the trend dynamics on that list: I'm thinking for example of Felix The Housecat, he's truly a veteran. But A-Trak is a veteran too, even if he looks like a kid if you see him in person. It's just that he's good at tricking you… (laughter)
When the final remixes arrived, did they surprise you? I'm asking you because the album, which I listened to before having this chat with you, has a very different feel from the original version.
This remix album is much more clubbing, true, much more dancefloor-friendly. But it was exactly what I wanted. Not that Warm Up was completely detached from the world of clubs: World Away for example, the track with Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip on vocals, I still play it in my sets around the world; Brass Band well, in fact, I usually use it as a closing track, a sort of ending theme. But yes, overall Warm Up it's an album with tracks that are difficult to play on the track. Except that one day a few months ago Bob Sinclar called me and said «Beautiful Etienne album, beautiful, beautiful. But you don't have a remix of Brass Band? That track drives me crazy, but come on, as it is it can't be played in a club…”. «Do the remix too, if you want», I replied. And that's how it all started. After Bob did the remix, I said to myself: «Come on, great, but I can't just release this; at this point we might as well do a remix of all the tracks.” And so it went. I set out to contact artists I respect and I'll tell you, what I came up with Warm Up Remixes it's a bit like a very personal dream team of mine.
I know you have a long-standing friendship with Bob Sinclar. Then it makes me strange to imagine you two together: him all flamboyant and surrounded by beautiful women…
Look, I'm full of beautiful women too! And I'm as flamboyant as Bob, I just don't reveal it to the public! (Laughter)
Okay, okay, okay.
No, jokes aside. Chris (Bob Sinclar's real name is Christophe, ed) has a certain type of image and is fun, but he is first and foremost a huge music fan. But just a lot, a lot, a lot. He has a knowledge of electronica and hip hop that is encyclopedic. People see his current image and wouldn't say it, but actually he and I have a very similar approach to things and we're both great DJs. But yes, I understand that we only see a more superficial side of Chris and don't understand his background. But the truth is a little different.
Here, speaking of uncultured backgrounds: in hindsight, what are the forgotten gems of the French Touch? I mean, albums or artists that didn't get the exposure they deserved.
At the moment of maximum hype around the French Touch I think everyone had the right amount of attention, you know? Everyone. Even albums or artists that are a bit shit (he smiles slyly). Well, if I have to give you a name, I'll definitely give you Alex Gopher. With the fact that he stopped playing as a DJ and making records himself to return to dedicating himself to the role of sound engineer, we haven't talked about him for years, people have forgotten about him a bit, but I think he made an absolutely fundamental contribution, one of the most important contributions ever to create that sound and that scene. It deserves much more credit.
“Shitty records too,” you said. Well. Appreciable critical sense. Here: have you ever made shitty records?
I'm fairly self-indulgent, I would never be so harsh and ruthless with myself in defining my music (bursts out laughing). Seriously speaking: I actually love every single one of my releases very much. Every time I put something out, it's because I was in love with it. I've made some shitty music, and I make a lot of it; but you can only find that on my work hard drives. I'm careful not to let it circulate.
However, I know that at the time of its release you were not very satisfied with albums like Tempovisionyou said it was mixed badly.
Real. I could and should have done a much better job in that regard.
Instead, I have to say that I really like your recent production After EP: for me it shows that you still have a lot of things to say regarding pure club music.
I thank you. And I add: I, even today, am called every weekend to be a DJ, I'm this lucky. I continue to have a very close relationship with dancefloors. And, after thirty years, I still am not at all tired of being in a place full of euphoric and sweaty people who want to listen and dance to music at a fairly high volume. Making people dance is a blessing. It always will be.
But you know that many of my peers and yours, i.e. the generation that lived through the 90s, the early 2000s, are increasingly saying that today club culture is all half a farce, that it's all just for festivals, all good only for social networks, that real club culture is something completely different and today you can barely breathe it anymore…
I know, but I don't agree. I don't agree in the slightest. I still feel a lot of enthusiasm and energy. The truth is that every new generation brings something new and every time a new generation brings something new the old one complains that there are no longer the cool things of the past… Do you know how many times I've heard «The new techno is no good, it's too fast, it's packageable». But it just so happens that this new generation techno is the one that has brought a lot of twenty-year-olds closer to electronic music, who otherwise would probably have looked elsewhere. My rule is always: look at the glass half full. Twenty, thirty years ago did everything seem better to us of our generation? I believe it! We were twenty years old, we lived things better, with more enthusiasm, energy and innocence… But I still love life a lot, and I'm still having a lot of fun now seeing what happens and being around people and clubbing things.
Are you an ambitious person? Even today?
Yes a lot.
And so, what are you about to prepare for us that will amaze us, after this this Warm Up Remixes?
A whole series of things related to the thirtieth anniversary of the first Super Discountwhich falls next year.
Ah! Good, good. Question: given that the first Super Discount it was an absolute cult and is considered in some ways the founding act of the French Touch, in the following years a volume 2 and 3 also arrived: between these last two, which is your favourite?
The second volume went very badly in France, because it came out that no one there wanted to hear about the French Touch anymore, it was almost a stigma, and they didn't even realize that this volume 2 was actually a very eclectic, multifaceted work. However, in other countries where these problems did not arise it went great, I am thinking for example of Germany, Belgium: thanks to the second Super Discount a whole market opened up to me that I didn't have before. The third volume in the end is the one that feels closest to me as I am today. And it went well almost everywhere.
Who is your favorite DJ today? Except yourself, of course (laughter)…
So, aside from me: Chloé Caillet. Yes. I really like her a lot.
