a collective invincibility. “It’s a big influence for me,” he states on the post- millennial era when International DeeJay Gigolo Records was the world’s hottest label. “You have big artists like Miss Kittin, The Hacker and Oxia... but I discovered techno really late.” It was The Hacker, whose ‘First Album’ with Miss Kittin defined the glamorous sound of electroclash, that schooled Gesaffelstein, perhaps his first bromance with a small b, the pair going on to set up their own label Zone which has released the likes of Crackboy, aka Krikor, another French leftfield techno hero. “When I met him, we didn’t have to talk about my music,” says Mike on their introduction five years ago. “He understood it immediately. It’s really cool because I have the same new wave influence. For me, he’s my father in music. He introduced me at the beginning.” “Actually you have the same influence with Michel, the Hacker, that I have with Yuksek,” interjects Brodinski on another Reims-born artist who aided him in his early days and with whom he still occasionally collaborates as The Krays, such as on the pounding electro disco of 2010’s ‘We’re Ready When You Are’ featuring Ebony Bones.
Despite the international recognition of the raw funk of Daft Punk, whose debut album ‘Homework’ name- checks techno luminaries like Jeff Mills, Green Velvet and DJ Hell on the track ‘Teachers’, producers that are all likely to make it into a Bromance DJ set, France’s greatest musical export surprisingly played little role in Bromance’s own evolution into globe-trotting DJs and producers. “I never really saw them as part of the electronic music scene in some way, because I bought the CD when I was 10 at the supermarket, you know what I mean,” says Louis. “It blew my mind, but when I started to listen to electronic music, and to try to get some knowledge about it, Daft Punk was not in the plan.” “It was popular music, it was not techno,” shoots Mike dismissively between puffs on one of a succession of cigarettes, his mock moody demeanour evaporating whenever he suddenly cracks a joke or announces “interview over” to get up and follow a passing girl toward the pool.
BROMANCE The pair met at Paris Social Club, France’s most forward- thinking venue, which features regular spots from future-facing labels such as ClekClekBoom and Sound Pelligrino, after Louis sent out an invitation for Mike to play at his bi-monthly Brodinski residency. “It’s not very
complicated,” he laughs at the name. “I invite a lot of people from Kevin Saunderson to Double Dutch, every kind of style. The last one was Louisahhh, who is part of the label, and we did all night long, me and Mike. It’s just one of those parties where people come even if they don’t know the music, as they know it’s going to be good. You know what I mean? That’s really pretentious actually…” he laughs again. “But it’s true,” says Mike guarding his back. “I’m really happy about it, because people are really up for it, from T.Williams to bounce music from New Orleans.” At this point, Gesaffelstein had just released ‘Variations’ for Turbo, a punishing slice of pumping Cyberdyne- engineered brutality, 21st century techno with its laser-guided sights aimed squarely at the forehead of the dancefloor. It was followed by ‘Conspiracy Pt.1’ and ‘Conspiracy Pt.2’, the latter of which features the even more menacing ‘Viol’, a dissonant, thumping slo-mo nightmare whose title translates as ‘rape’ and which sports a dark, dramatic video of skull-faced fixie bikers tearing around Paris at night. Since Tiga’s label played an equal role in establishing Brodinski’s reputation as a producer of tunes as explosively charged as his DJ sets, most notably with the pre-Dutch house bleeps of the infectiously noisy Noob collaboration ‘Peanuts Club’, we’re soon talking about its boss, albeit not in the way we expected. “The Duck Sauce!” exclaims Mike as A-Trak stops to say hello, just one of a succession of well-wishers — including Ed Banger boss Pedro Winter — who greet the pair during the course of our chat. “He actually speaks French, he’s from Montreal,” relays Louis after he’s gone, prompting our mention of their connection to Turbo and another Montreal native, Tiga. “He’s from Montreal as well but his French is terrible!” he jokes. “I’m kidding. We talked yesterday, he sent us an email saying he’s so bummed he’s not in Miami.” In his absence, Louis does their PR for them, bigging up the ‘New Jack Techno’ compilation that they’ve been handed by Tiga’s brother Thomas, more ammo for their forthcoming shows, and outlining the close alliance that still exists. “They’re really good friends of ours and they’re still releasing music that we play. They have a lot of good stuff, those guys from Toronto called Gingy & Bordello, and the new ‘Raid Over Moscow EP’ is like old school electro-clash. It’s always the music that we try to defend, as they’re all part of our family and our gang.” “But now it’s the past,” Mike cuts off with a dramatic flourish, leading onto the fact that with Bromance they’re intent on building a family of their own, such as is the case with Pipes whom Louis describes as “…
one of those projects that we want to work from the beginning”. “I was in LA last year and saw Pipes live with 10 dancers on stage, really crazy. They’re part of this gay scene in LA, throwing parties like A Club Called Rhonda where they’re inviting people like DJ Harvey, Kevin Saunderson and Tensnake. It’s actually pretty amazing. They have this mood which we don’t really have in Europe.”
Propelled by a rumbling steamroller groove topped by the melodic vocals of Matty Pipes, their contribution to the label’s second release ‘Sleeping’ was actually picked up by Mike, who was also responsible for taking Steven Bloodbath’s production and pumping it full of studio steroids to reach Bromance proportions. “When we were in LA we were sent a lot of new tracks and the first time I heard Pipes I said to Louis, ‘I want to mix this track’. It’s the best house track of the year for me.” Club Cheval, aka early 20-somethings Sam Tiba, Myd, Canblaster and Pantera 666, have been making a name for themselves individually as purveyors of rare exotic beats, mixing hip-hop, rave, bass, electro and trance on labels such as Marble Music (run by their musical predecessors Para One, Bobmo and Surkin), but their co-productions have been few and far between, making third Bromance release ‘Now You Realise’ a thrilling glimpse into their collective unconsciousness. Starting off like The Prodigy’s ‘No Good (Start The Dance)’, it bursts into uplifting chords that could have been lifted from a mid-noughties Tiësto set, powering through in a flurry of breakbeats and R&B vocals. Which is to say, it’s not really like anything you’ve heard before. “It’s really good because we don’t have the same influences,” enthuses Louis. “They’re not influenced by music, they are influenced by this…” agrees Mike, picking up an ashtray. “And if they’re influenced by this, they’re going to do a track.” “It’s an excitement about art in general, it’s about being young,” follows Louis. “It’s next level shit.”
ALL-ENCOMPASSING It’s this all-encompassing approach that Louis wants to guide Bromance, carefully considering every aspect, from the acts that they sign and develop, to the artwork done by young artists such as LA-based Hassan Rahim or for their latest release Dutch designer Viktor Hachmang. As such they’ll only be doing 10 EPs a year, the next of which flips their script on its head with a double-sided Gesaffelstein release. “So it’s a collaboration between him and him,” jokes Louis.
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