Cerrone at RBMA Paris

We catch up with Cerrone at Red Bull Music Academy's recent event in Paris

Feature by John Thorp | 07 Dec 2015

Since its inception in 1998, Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) has delivered a yearly programme of cutting-edge and unexpected musical programming to a host of international cities. Following on from recent trips to Tokyo, NYC and Madrid, this year’s event saw the brand set up camp in Paris, combining the usual range of impressive public events with the core of the Academy itself, where 60 up-and-coming producers develop musical ideas in state-of-the-art studio surroundings.

RMBA also hosted a series of afterparties in conjunction with Pitchfork Paris, featuring sets from Galcher Lustwerk, Andre Bratten and Omar S, alongside Academy participants such as K2K and Cosmo. However, for the final night of the Pitchfork festival, the vast Grande Halle Villette’s two stages played host to the afterparty itself, with the vast majority of the attendees remaining ecstatic and involved until 6am. Spiritualized, on visually and musically blinding form, blended seamlessly with Run the Jewels’ self-referencing, jovial hip-hop, mercifully free of the cat memes littering their recent, crowd-funded feline remix project, Meow the Jewels.

Dance music dominated the evening, however. Hudson Mohawke may have wisely moved away from the EDM-nudging excesses of TNGHT, but following the comparatively light-footed material from this year’s sophomore LP, Lantern, his band still dutifully reels out and thrashes about to crowd pleasers Bugg’n and Higher Ground. John Talabot and Roman Flugel’s set expertly raises the roof with a more cosmic techno atmosphere, still nonetheless satisfying the vast expanse of the room. Flowing seamlessly, the pair hit upon an emotional collective moment when unexpectedly reaching for Arthur Russell’s This Is How We Walk on the Moon. Laurent Garnier disposed with such whimsy – greeted with a typical hero’s welcome in his home city, he took no prisoners with nearly three hours of house and techno that alternated between pummelling and soaring.

Always cutting an enigmatic figure, Garnier was one of the initial subjects of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture series in Paris, having days earlier shared his expertise and experience in the ludicrously comfy surroundings of the academy’s lecture hall. (Two lectures daily feature seriously impressive guests including Air founder Nicolas Godin and affable US production legend Craig Leon, who recorded such seminal outfits as Blondie and The Ramones at their peak.) Meanwhile, in a public lecture halfway up the Eiffel Tower, Ceronne lent his expertise in attempting to define that unique ‘French touch’ in music. And although the undoubtedly legendary 70s pop artist seemed ironically keen to distance himself from the style and attitude of his homeland, he was on affable form earlier in the day, comfortable and jovial in the surroundings of RBMA’s purpose-built studio.


 Denis Sulta interview: Tweaking Things

 Hidden: Shaking up Manchester's clubbing scene


“There was no calculation at all. I didn't want to pass my life as a drummer in the studio. I decided to produce my last record, Love in C Minor, at Trident Studios in London, and I used that kick,” he recalls, purposefully rapping his knuckles on the studio desk to recreate the rhythm that helped shift over three million copies in 1976.

“What, that? 16-and-a-half minutes? How can we play that on radio?” exclaims Ceronne, recalling the reactions of record executives when the former A&R man and drummer in cult group Kongas first presented what was due to be the opus signalling his musical retirement. “And I explained, it wasn't for the radio, or even for the club. It was for the discotheque. The music industry don’t understand why I put the drums on the front, but they were so important to me.”

Creating sprawling and unusual house music before it was even a genre, Cerrone became an unlikely best seller, having hustled his own records to the West Coast, and catching eyes with his notoriously saucy and then controversial cover sleeves. By the time he found his way to Atlantic Records’ head office in New York, the label were already searching him out. He became an unlikely pop star, too, gamely appearing on US TV to play up his image as a very French, very talented instrumentalist. Arriving in the city as Studio 54 blossomed in glitter and excess (“It was the first time people really went crazy in the club,” Cerrone remembers), how does one of the forefathers of commercial disco feel about the genre’s recent renaissance?

“First of all," he says, "there are two styles of disco: the real disco, and the pop.” Later, half way up the Eiffel Tower, he will characterise the spirit of disco as ‘an atmosphere’. “Now we can say that it’s still dance music, it’s the music for the groove. I don’t want to say lyrics aren’t important. The lyrics to Supernature were important. It is about ecology.”

‘And I explained, it wasn't for the radio, or even for the club. It was for the discotheque’ – Cerrone

Supernature, Cerrone’s commercial and creative opus, has arguably aged with a grace and timelessness the producer could never have predicted. Sounding as fresh in a club today as it did soundtracking the opening credits of The Kenny Everett Video Show on British television in 1978, it’s an odd legacy for a satirical disco tale of artificial chemicals enraging subterranean creatures to seek revenge on the human race. Still dedicated to the studio, now a DJ late in his career and surrounded at RBMA by the musical trailblazers of the near future, does Cerrone hope to incorporate any more current social themes into his work?

“It’s really difficult to be contemporary today. The importance to me is that my LP is to have fifteen tracks, and just have a record with a concept, not just two or three tracks,” explains Cerrone. “I have some nice featuring guests like Aloe Blacc, and the bass player of Beyonce. It’s a real funk album.”

While Cerrone continues to find meaning and evolution in his studio process decades into his career, many of the participants of Red Bull Music Academy are only beginning to find their feet. Some have already enjoyed celebrated underground releases – like Detroit-based footwork producer Wheez-ie and ethereal Japanese house musician Sapphire Slows – whereas others, such as Toxe and Corey K, are already producing vital and versatile tracks while hardly pushing 20. With studio space, time and a vast range of classic and contemporary equipment to experiment with, there’s also the unusual sight of established artists such as Modeselektor and Just Blaze dipping in and out with hands-on assistance and industry expertise. On the doorstep of Paris’s naturally inspiring cityscape, delicious coffee, ludicrously comfy futons and local Parisian catering (‘Red Bull Meal Academy,’ they half joke) – all this cements the appeal of an expertly constructed creative environment.

With all the artists working towards public showcases throughout atmospheric local clubs, the tangible and sometimes audible vibe between the group is supportive, with the eclectic nature of the musicians feeding into an unusually diverse atmosphere. Those critical of the energy drink’s involvement in underground culture will find little reassurance, if not plenty of free Red Bull, but what could easily be a soulless corporate exercise in taste making isn't afraid to throw challenges and curveballs at those fortunate enough to be involved. “I want to hear what you guys have been making,” concludes Craig Leon at the close of his lecture, and after only a relatively brief foray into this year’s portfolio of talent, we can’t imagine the revolutionary producer would be disappointed.

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/paris-2015