Four Frenchmen, childhood friends, united in their love of synth music: dare we call it a tale of mystery and imagination, of friendship and self-discovery? Chateau Marmont’s story is half Stand By Me, half Solaris, half Logan’s Run and, yes, it doesn’t add up. They’ve known each other since forever, as children stranded in a hostile landscape dominated by hypertrophied bullies and pathetic louts. They found themselves and each other through synthetic music, so bright and remote in its promises of infinity and eternal bliss, so hard, cold and disturbing when its outlook turns dystopian. These boys come from a time when people still believed in the future. And their name is resonant not of faded glories, awkward suicides, scuffed gold stars and velvet-roped junkies, but of widescreen romance, vintage melancholia and studied postures.

Last year, Chateau Marmont released their debut EP, Solar Apex, to much acclaim. Since then, they’ve remixed La Roux, Heartsrevolution, Ladyhawke, Röyksopp (after Poney Poney, Koko Von Napoo, Midnight Juggernauts...)--and themselves for Chromeo’s DJ Kicks. Co-produced former-teenybopper-turned-synth-diva Alizée’s new album. Had a song on Kitsuné Maison 7. Toured quite a bit. And still found the time to write NIBIRU, a wonderful second offering.

NIBIRU displays the same elegance that made Solar Apex such a classy ride but this time, Chateau Marmont’s pop leanings seem more restrained, the overall tone more Kraftwerkian, the record more muscular. This one is less poppy and more dancey, if you will. “One Hundred Realities”, “Monodrama”, “Heliochrome”, “Nibiru”: four tracks chronicling the ever-fascinating relationship between man and analog gear, featuring elegiac melodies, ultra-layered synth work and dramatic drum machines.

Forthcoming: Nibiru remixed by Gavin Russom, Beautiful Swimmers, Gesaffelstein and Oneohtrix Point Never. 

CHATEAU MARMONT - Nibiru

CRYSTAL - Neo Age

After three records, we’re starting to get a sense of who Das Glow is. Originally a jeweller, Damien Granier turned to music when he discovered the French Touch, Bpitch Control and German minimalism. His introductory salvo, Weiss Gaz, was one of the most unique-sounding electro record to date, and it attracted the most diverse and enlightened following, from Simian Mobile Disco to Boys Noize to Miss Kittin to MSTRKRFT.

After much touring and remixing, Das Glow came back with Sunburnt, a new attempt at building funk machines from tangled drum patterns, dismantled mech parts and faulty systems. When I Want To Wake Up With You appeared on Alan Braxe’s famed Vulture imprint, the dance world discovered that in Das Glow’s avant-garde chest beat a heart capable of turning a Boris Gardiner sample into a gorgeous homage to the original French Touch, complete with emoting filters.

Then came his remix for American synth-wavers The Faint, which went at the track so hard and mighty that it became an Erol Alkan and Boys Noize staple and launched tons of requests for the “Das Glow sound”.
And here comes PHASE IV, an amazing new record which will once again redefine what we know about the man.

DAS GLOW - Phase IV

Chers Amis,

Jude Thadée préside aux causes difficiles et désespérées, c'est l'intercesseur, et il n'est pas de poste plus nécessaire que le sien. Il place, entre l'homme et la consolation, la certitude que le pire n'est jamais sûr. Qui ne rêve que cela devienne, au terme d'une retraite professionnalisante, d'impitoyables épreuves de vocation ou d'austérités aux portes de la mort, qui ne voudrait pas que cela devienne un métier comme
un autre, un service public accessible ici-bas par les fidèles comme les mécréants ? N'est-ce pas le rôle de l'Etat de laïciser l'espoir ?

Je m'égare, je voulais vous parler d'amour : c'est le thème de ce disque. Toutes les prières sont des chansons d'amour, l'inverse n'est pas vrai. Quand je me trouve criblé par Satan, je fredonne à Jude Thadée.

ROB

ROB - Femme et Enfant (avec Sébastien Tellier)

Bobmo is a young producer who moved to Paris from Bordeaux a couple of years ago. While in high school, with no musical training, he launched a short-lived rap career, making beats on his Playstation (no, really!), spitting awkward tales of murder and woe. Then he got himself a PC and found a new faith when he discovered legendary labels Dancemania and Trax. Promptly signed by Institubes on the strength of an early demo, he's released three widely-played and playlisted singles--Let's Go Bobmo!, To The Bobmobile and 3000% YES--and toured extensively, from small Australian clubs to Dutch mega raves.
It's always easier when people are living stereotypes, real-life equivalents of bad sitcom characters. Then you can just whip out the descriptors and tell the world how too-cool-for-school they are. The thing with Bobmo is that this doesn't work: he's a complex piece of work, a bunch of riddles wrapped in lots of contradictions. With Falling From The Crescent Moon, Bobmo moves to claim the throne: three new tracks and a bonus suite revisiting of one of the boy's greatest tracks: "Rock The" from 3000% YES.

As ever, Bobmo wears his influences on his sleeve: Detroit techno, Miami bass, electro and, most crucially, Chicago house. The funky "Back From the Grave" and the ravey "Turn On Drop Out" show that old idioms can always produce new and exciting sentences: this is clearly dancefloor-oriented, nineties-influenced house music, populated with gasping and woo-ing vocal bits, stabby synths and the occasional siren.
In keeping with Bobmo's fascination for all things Turkish, "Arabian Delight" is a mid-tempo journey through idyllic, rosewater-flavored mid-eastern lands. FYI, the 1900 book A System of Medicine, edited by R.C. Albutt, describes an event in 1886 when some students at the University of Cambridge obtained an imported "hashish candy" called Turkish Delight, and fell ill after overdosing on it. Just saying.

One day, Bobmo heard the feathery synths of one of his past glories--"Rock The"--and thought "My work isn't done here" (or something to that effect) and went on to fix up the track by enhancing the bold melodic moves of the original.
Ed Banger's Feadz has been one of our heros since his Bpitch Control days. If you've heard his remix work, you know he loves to totally upend the tracks he takes on, and this one is no exception. He summons a weird, flanging-rich digital storm and lots of percussive interference, in a bid to make dancing an uncertain and unsettling affair.
Goon & Koyote's remix is way more sedate, linear even, in a good way. It echoes Bobmo's own revisionist take by upping the melodic mood and punching up the snare game.

BOBMO - Back From The Grave

SURKIN - Silver Island

Slice & Soda is San Serac and Para One.

French producer Para One can't seem to stay still. He invented a whole new kind of rap with French hip hop phenomenon TTC, then dreamed up Epiphanie, an insanely complex solo effort which originated the French sound that stormed the world in the last couple of years. Next came the quietly beautiful surprise of Naissance Des Pieuvres, soundtrack to the acclaimed movie Water Lilies.

So it came to pass that, while on a U.S. tour with top allies Surkin, Orgasmic and Curses!, Para One couldn't stop thinking about the classic house, freestyle and electrofunk he heard on the radio--and, crucially, their direct connection to the post-punk pop his older sisters loved when he was a kid. Back in Paris and deeply inspired, he worked fast and furiously, roughing out tracks with synthesizers, drum machines and an army of percussion. As the ideas took shape, he sensed one day they'd be pop songs.

Around this time, a close friend turned Para One on to East Coast house singer San Serac, who made underground waves with his album Professional and his band Stereo Image. He asked Serac to write lyrics for one song, what the fuck right? Well. Two years, seven flights and countless espressos later, the pair had an album. They set a charter of leftfield pop you can dance to and wound up finding unexpected common loves along the way: early Ice Cube, late Japan, Chas Jankel, Drexciya, 52nd Street. Throw it in there was the rule of thumb.

The name "Slice & Soda"--a pizza-related code for the project whose significance only the duo truly understands--stuck. And when the last Prophet V note is played, what we have is a record of many styles tied together by San Serac's voice, oscillating between Byrne and Bowie, more nimble than ever in its shouty falsetto, funk cadences, cryptic poetry and impassionned slogans.

Gasoline Fire's manic disco funk and Year of the Dragon's nimble, addictive bassline are the first sounds to filter out the S&S compound and it's enough to make you feel young again.

SLICE & SODA - Year Of The Dragon

Official Release Party JANUARY 15 - Paris, Le Point Ephemerewith JEAN NIPON, TEKI LATEX, BOBMO, FRENCH FRIES, BAMBOUNOU… and more!infos here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174402955934004

BIOGRAPHY

We don’t expect you to know who Jean Nipon is because, frankly, neither do we. And yet, he’s one of the Institubes originals, he was behind our third record ever, under the name Teamtendo. And yet, he is a fixture of the Paris club scene, building bridges between all the various, dysfunctional crews. He’s even roommates with one of us, but let me tell you: snoring patterns, however entertaining and quirky, say very little of the heart of a man. Nipon is a fractious, peculiar creature. He agrees to no rules and no higher power, and under the veil of unassailable coolness, remains an enigma.


Jean Nipon started out as a drummer in Hardcore bands and got into DJing circa 97. At first it was a cheap ploy to get more in touch with his fellow humans (read: get girls). Then it became something of an art form, and many a reveler remembers his seven-hour sets at Paris Paris where, as a resident, he would play the latest bangers in custom- edited form, plus Prince, Minor Threat, Aphex Twin and the Beastie Boys, Dinosaur Jr and Lio, Pink Floyd and Shellac, My Bloody Valentine and KRS One. What he does with those CD decks… Nobody can touch him. We’ve also seen him funcrush a couple of yuppie parties that didn’t deserve to dance: he’s a man of principles.

Let’s rewind it back: hardcore drummer, DJ, designer, lives in Japan for a year, designs a Coke bottle, sells records for two years in Paris at Katapult where he meets DJ Wet with whom he starts I.Y.M. (a 12” on Wwwilco) and Teamtendo. Teamtendo was a duo of giant plushies who played 8-bit-gabber- electro on tricked-out Gameboys (a 12” through Institubes and one via Deco). Does some remixes for TTC, Ark, Micronauts, Cosmo Vitelli, Lesbians On Ecstasy, Adam Kesher, David Rubato. Directed three volumes of the DJ-oriented «Eurogirls» vinyl project for Arcade Mode with Orgasmic.

With his last EP «Wild At Heart» (2008) Jean Nipon stepped up on his own as a member of the Institubes family, with full privileges and key support from dj Mehdi, Ajax, Jojo De Freq, dj Neoteric, Jerry Bouthier, Franki Chan, Jonty Skrufff, Autokratz and many others.

After one year as art director of the historical Régine’s club in Paris, two years touring (including two residency runs at the lovely Baron de Tokyo), producing and remixing (French Fries and Lee Mortimer among others), Jean Nipon is back.

INTERNATIONAL MEEK ep

This new EP marks Jean Nipon’s stepping into the very exciting field of tech house dominated by insanely talented friends of the label such as Style Of Eye.

The main track « Cairo » starts like a joyous martial affair before being totally corrupted into a very sexual thing, driven by a super catchy riff overarching the whole tune and playful edits.

And we were fortunate enough to have it remixed by none other than Nipon’s favourite producer TONY SENGHORE. This irresistible hands-in-the-air rework features a VERY familiar melody whistled by Senghore himself while managing to keep the muscular parts of the original. Seriously expect this one to become a staple for the early months of 2011!

On the flip, « Stamina » reminds us of Nipon’s taste for labyrinthic structures and micro sinusoidal build ups tangled around each other like staircases in a MC Escher painting swarmed with wonky synths.

Remixing duties for this one goes to parisian talent FRENCH FRIES from the very promising Youngunz stable. The wonder kid takes the track into a great Kuduro rave visited by chopped up dancehall vocals and divided in the middle with a gorgeous bridge evoking the best of the forward-thinking contemporary UK scene.

Institubes

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