Sound Pellegrino

You seem quite closely involved with artists from other label families and it feels like there’s a real sense of community with electronic music in France. Why do you think that is? How important is it to support other people around you?

Teki: Since the beginning with Sound Pellegrino it was important for us to create a family of artists where people would be free to come and go. You know how they say, “If you love something set it free”! For the first four years we only released one-off singles with a different artist each time. So people were free to have their own career elsewhere, on another label, plenty of times on their own label, but at the same time making an EP for us would make them a part of some sort of loosely-contoured community of artists under the Sound Pellegrino banner. They would often agree to provide remixes for us, or play at our parties all over the world, and generally hang out and connect with each other. For us that is a way more important and healthy relationship to have with an artist than contractual stuff and big career strategies with huge unrealistic expectations. It’s more natural.

Orgasmic: It’s true that I get that a lot coming from foreign DJs. “You French DJs and producers seem to all get along very well… I wish it was the same for us Italians,” or whatever. Maybe it’s because we French are chauvinistic, arrogant and very attached to our culture, so we support each other! If a Frenchie gets some success out of France everybody is a little bit proud. So when we’re in the same city, out of France, it’s more gonna be, “Oh you’re playing in town tonight, I’m here too, I’m gonna come and support and hang”. It’s also true that there are lots of links between all these families, for example Jean Nipon who is now part of ClekClekBoom used to be part of Institubes; Jean and me used to do compilations on a label and online store named Arcade Mode run by Emile; Arcade Mode’s artwork was done by So Me from Ed Banger… There are so much examples like this, we’re all connected in a way or another. Back in 1999, Teki used to co-host a web TV show with Jaw, dOP‘s frontman, and I DJed on that show also… it’s endless!

Maybe it's because we're chauvinistic, arrogant and very attached to our culture, so we support each other!

Electronic music in France is consistently at the forefront. Where do you see it evolving over the next few years?

Teki: I don’t know if it’s at the forefront right now. I think French underground dance music is rather slept-on nowadays, and only the artists who correspond to a certain idea of what people expect French artists to sound and look like, are getting pushed. Usually when you’re a French DJ/producer people expect you to play and release disco-related material, whether it’s pure disco, house that samples disco records like the first wave of French touch, or distorted heavy electroey disco like the second wave of French touch. But there’s also a huge hip-hop influence in French electronic music that foreign media tends to overlook. In the early 2000s, French DJs were among the first to blend dirty south rap and techno, ghetto tech, bass and booty music for example. And new underground French labels like ClekClekBoom or Marble are direct descendants of that.

There’s a huge hip-hop influence in French electronic music that foreign media tends to overlook.

You’re curating the launch party for Boiler Room’s Parisian residency. How did you first hook up with Boiler Room?

Teki: I was in contact with them, we had been watching the show for quite some time, and one day they did a collaboration with the W hotel in Paris with a line-up relying mainly on older generation French DJs. There’s nothing wrong with that and the line-up was pretty great but it didn’t represent the newer generation of DJs and the new scene of kids who actually watch Boiler Room religiously to listen to futuristic beats or techno or modern grime or garage-influenced music. After the show at the W they came to my party at the Social Club where I was playing all night long back to back with Onra. We exchanged views about what could be done to make Boiler Room Paris more faithful to what Boiler Room stands for, we had a great time and then a year later when they decided to start their residency in Paris they called us.

Can you tell us about the line-up you’ve put together? Why have you picked each of the guests?

Teki: It’s mostly DJs who have provided tracks for our compilation SND.PE VOL.01 or, in Bambounou’s case, who have released on Sound Pellegrino and who have been friends of the label forever. I tried to make sure they’re all DJs with enough experience to provide sets that will surprise people and that will make an impact. Some of them are young, some of them are old, some of them are French club kings, some are newcomers, some are hidden treasures of the French scene that don’t get enough exposure and I can’t wait for the Boiler Room crowd to discover them.

The SND.PE VOL.01 compilation is out now on Sound Pellegrino.  Boiler Room Paris Sound Pellegrino takeover takes place on August 5th. Find Sound Pellegrino on Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud and their own website.