Squarepusher - Beep Street (Edit)



From " Godforsaken Roads ", forthcoming Black Strobe 2nd album available in October 2014
Pre order here : geni.us/GodforsakenRoads

Black Strobe Video Live @ Transmusicales Festival : www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhJ-HZcTxq4

www.blackstroberecords.com/
@blackstroberecords
rebotini.blackstroberecords.com/
twitter.com/Rebotini

(Eng)

Godforsaken Roads (BlackStrobe Records / !K7)

A small cellar in a smart building. A carefully curated collection of analogic synthesisers. A pot of Brylcreem on a table. ZZ Top and Muddy Waters vinyl sitting in a corner in front of a gleaming guitar and an old amplifier. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Arnaud Rebotini’s lair in Montmartre, Paris.

A hulk of a man, Rebotini may look physically impressive but inside he’s really a big softy who loves singing the blues and has an almost carnal attachment to his keyboards and vintage drum machines. His musical career is now divided between two projects: one uses his own name, Arnaud Rebotini, releasing instrumental electronic albums, both nostalgic and futurist, that he plays live on stage - alone - surrounded by his favourite machines. The other is Black Strobe, where he sings and plays a steamy mix of rock and electronic music heavily influenced by blues and country ‘n’ western. The project comes to life fully on stage with the energy of a four-person group.

In September 2014, Black Strobe will release his second album, Godforsaken Roads. The record confirms Rebotini’s rock sensibility and debt to the great American tradition of songwriting, with songs touching on the classic themes of the blues - the randomness of life, the very weight of existence and the strong emotions that run just below the surface (love, lust, loneliness…). He plunges into this world of the bayou, prison and the devil with real passion and the voice of crooner often compared to Iggy Pop or Nick Cave.

Godforsaken Roads contains ten new tracks, including the latest singles Going Back Home and Broken Phone Blues. The digital edition adds Boogie In Zero Gravity and The Girl From The Bayou released as singles in 2012. On the album, Rebotini also reappropriates Folsom Prison Blues, a Johnny Cash classic, once again with the aim of keeping the blues/country ‘n’ western flame alive (the group’s first album already contained a cover version of Bo Diddley’s famous track I’m A Man). This new version, entirely synth-led with not a guitar in sight, transports the song to another space-time continuum with swathes of keyboard worthy of Tangerine Dream, perfectly resuming the spirit of Black Strobe in 2014.

However, don’t think that Godforsaken Roads is all retro - in fact it’s bang up to date, using electronics, sometimes even of a disco slant, to give Black Strobe its futurist dimension. The album allows Arnaud Rebotini to capture the spirit of America’s cowboy era and transport it to the present day with resolutely modern production, much like the spirit of the blues that seeps from the music of electro-pop idols Depeche Mode.

This contemporary western feel, both melancholic and polished, came to the notice of Quentin Tarantino – who used Black Strobe’s cover version of I’m A Man for the trailer of Django Unchained – and Dior, who chose the same track to advertise their perfume Eau Sauvage. By creating a link between the past, present and future, the group’s music has also appealed to Martin Scorsese (the trailer of The Wolf of Wall Street), Guy Ritchie (the soundtrack to RocknRolla) and the creators of the videogame Grand Theft Auto V (GTA).

Although plaudits are now coming from all quarters, Black Strobe has been around for a while. Founded in 1997, the group has released one album (Burn Your Own Church, produced by Paul Epworth) and more than a dozen singles on labels such as Kitsuné, Output, Crosstown Rebels, Supersoul Recordings and Source. As Black Strobe, Arnaud Rebotini has done more than forty remixes for groups such as Rammstein, Depeche Mode, The Rapture, Bloc Party, Fischerspooner, The Hacker and Dave Clarke.

The group is also used to touring in the USA, South America, Japan, Australia and Europe, playing both indoor venues and the world’s biggest festivals (Reading/Leeds, Sónar, Primavera, Pukkelpop, Dour, Transmusicales).

With Rebotini on keyboards and vocals, his current companions are Mathieu Zub (guitar), Benjamin Beaulieu (bass/keyboards) and Mathys Dubois (drums). These three musicians accompany the founder of Black Strobe both in the studio and on stage, and participated in the recording sessions for the album Godforsaken Roads, conducted entirely in Paris at Red Bull Studios, Studios Soyuz and using Rebotini’s home set-up.

With this new album, layered and feverish, the group is back with renewed faith in the power of the blues and a passion for motivating beats.

(Fr)

Godforsaken Roads (BlackStrobe Records / !K7)

Une petite cave sous un immeuble chic où est rangée avec soin une belle collection de synthés analogiques. Un pot de gomina posé sur la table. Des 33 tours de ZZ Top et de Muddy Waters dans un coin, juste devant une guitare rutilante et un vieil ampli. Voilà l’antre d’Arnaud Rebotini. Au pied de Montmartre, en plein cœur de Paris.

Avec sa carrure imposante, Rebotini impressionne physiquement mais l’homme a le cœur sensible. Il aime chanter des ballades blues et entretient un rapport charnel avec ses claviers et ses boîtes à rythmes vintage. Son parcours musical se décline aujourd’hui en deux projets : sous son nom, Arnaud Rebotini, il produit des albums électro synthétiques instrumentaux, nostalgiques et futuristes à la fois, qu’il défend seul en live, entouré de ses machines. Sous l’étiquette Black Strobe, il chante et signe des morceaux au carrefour du rock et de la musique électronique qui se nourrissent d’influences blues et country. Une musique qui se vit sur scène avec toute l’énergie d’un vrai groupe.

Black Strobe va publier en septembre 2014 son deuxième album, Godforsaken Roads. Ce disque affirme l’identité rock du groupe et les racines américaines du songwriting d’Arnaud Rebotini. Les chansons qu’il écrit abordent des thèmes courants dans le blues : les aléas de la vie, les tracas de l’existence, les sentiments à fleur de peau (l’amour, le désir, la solitude). Il plonge dans cet imaginaire - le bayou, la prison, le diable – avec une réelle passion et avec une voix de crooner qui évoque parfois Iggy Pop ou Nick Cave.

L’album Godforsaken Roads comprend dix morceaux originaux, dont les nouveaux singles Going Back Home et Broken Phone Blues (l’édition digitale inclura aussi les morceaux Boogie In Zero Gravity et The Girl From The Bayou publiés en maxis en 2012). Sur ce long-format, Arnaud Rebotini se réapproprie aussi Folsom Prison Blues, un classique de Johnny Cash, avec toujours cette envie de faire vivre le répertoire du blues et de la country (le premier album du groupe comprenait déjà une réinterprétation du célèbre I’m A Man de Bo Diddley). Cette nouvelle reprise, entièrement synthétique et sans guitares, est transportée dans un autre espace temps avec des nappes de claviers dignes de Tangerine Dream. Elle résume parfaitement l’esprit de Black Strobe en 2014.

Mais, loin de l’esprit rétro confit, ce Godforsaken Roads respire la modernité. Avec toujours cette dynamique synthétique, et parfois discoïde, qui donne une dimension futuriste à la musique de Black Strobe. Dans cet album, Arnaud Rebotini capture l’Amérique des cowboys et la fait voyager jusqu’à aujourd’hui en lui apportant une production résolument contemporaine. A l’image de l’esprit blues qui peut transpirer chez les maîtres de l’électro pop Depeche Mode.

Cet univers de western moderne, mélancolique et classe, a séduit Quentin Tarantino – il a utilisé la reprise de I’m A Man par Black Strobe pour la bande annonce de son film Django Unchained – et Dior qui a choisi le même titre pour la publicité de son parfum Eau Sauvage. En créant ce pont entre passé, présent et futur, la musique du groupe a aussi plu à Martin Scorsese (bande annonce du film Le Loup de Wall Street), Guy Ritchie (bande son de RocknRolla) et aux créateurs du jeu vidéo Grand Theft Auto V (GTA).

L’histoire de Black Strobe s’écrit donc maintenant mais la formation revendique déjà un bon bout de route. Créé en 1997, le groupe a publié un album (Burn Your Own Church, produit par Paul Epworth) et une quinzaine de maxis sur des labels comme Kitsuné, Output, Crosstown Rebels, Supersoul Recordings, Source. Sous l’alias Black Strobe, Arnaud Rebotini a réalisé aussi une quarantaine de remixes pour Rammstein, Depeche Mode, The Rapture, Bloc Party, Fischerspooner, The Hacker ou Dave Clarke.

Par ailleurs, le groupe a joué un peu partout sur la planète (Etats-Unis, Amérique du Sud, Japon, Australie) et en Europe dans d’innombrables salles et dans de grands festivals (Reading/Leeds, Sónar, Primavera, Pukkelpop, Dour, Transmusicales).

Autour d’Arnaud Rebotini (chant/claviers), la formation se compose aujourd’hui de Mathieu Zub (guitares), Benjamin Beaulieu (basse/claviers) et Mathys Dubois (batterie). Ces trois musiciens accompagnent le fondateur de Black Strobe aussi bien en studio que sur scène. Ils ont participé aux séances de l’album Godforsaken Roads qui a été entièrement enregistré à Paris, aux Red Bull Studios, aux Studios Soyuz et dans le studio personnel d’Arnaud Rebotini.

Fort de cet album dense et fiévreux, le quatuor s’apprête maintenant à repartir à l’assaut du monde. Avec la foi du blues et l’amour des boucles synthétiques chevillés au corps.


BSR 016 - Black Strobe - BOOGIE IN ZERO GRAVITY (precise master)

Endless Summer

Nighthawks

Funkadelic City Riders

Digital Embrace

Erlich Bachman's secret theme in the HBO series "Silicon Valley"
Some fun facts: 1) For the intro I put a stereo mic in the middle of the street and ollied over it. 2) Half of the bassline is Korg MS-20 put into the SP-1200 then run thru a vocoder (A MAM-VF-11, the one the beasties used on "Intergalactic")3) Most of the percussion is homemade stuff stacked up and layered. Pringles cans, (i dont eat pringles anymore) cardboard tubes, a cheese grater (used like a cowbell), little wood blocks dinging thru reverb. 4) The horn line is about 8 trombones stacked up.  5) Some of the stuttering vocals are just vocals run thru a Harmonizer 3000 6) at 0:30 I say "Glide To It" 7) Swiss Glide is a nod to Swiss Bearings, because a friend once heard an early demo of this track and said "its very roller rink" --Enjoy! -Adrian

Swiss Glide

Made this a while ago. Much love.
Vocals: @slyleaf

A dark baroque beginning that introduces a mind fuck of an album proves that Justice’s unique talent is to be found where least expected. Take for example “Let There Be Light” and its strident angry electro driven by a jabbing bassline, “D.A.N.C.E”, a pure piece of vicious house sang innocently by a choir of children, “Newjack” a funky parody of the opulent times of the French Touch

A kind of musical opera marked with religious and baroque symbols, where the melodies are ripped to shreds by the beats, where electro teaches rock a lesson and where pop gets a botox injection. Rarely in the history of French house music has a first album lived up so well to expectancies.

Justice - DVNO

Yellow Magic Orchestra [ CUE ] Remix Version

CUE THE REMIX

LOVE WILL GUIDE YOU feat.TOMMIE SUNSHINE

Local - Tycho Dub

Arnaud Rebotini is a singer, songwriter, producer and remixer, he has become one of the most emblematic figures in electronic music today, adept at straddling genres, both avant-garde and timeless, and bringing them together. 
For example, his Zend Avesta project (Organique, Universal 2000) married electronic music with a chamber orchestra. 
With his analogue synthesisers, he became a central figure on the scene of new international techno, marking renewed enthusiasm for the use of electronic instruments rather than just computers. His live shows have always been unanimously celebrated (Music Components, Citizen 2008, Someone Give Me Religion, K7 - 2010) and his remixes for pour Depeche Mode, David Guetta, Rammstein, The Rapture, Bloc Party, Acid Washed and Tristesse Contemporaine are as indicative of his sets at the biggest clubs and festivals (playing live or mixing) as his collaboration with the highbrow Groupe de Recherches Musicales, especially with Christian Zanési for their Frontières project.