To mark the release of his new compilation We Go Deep – Remix Edition’, we suggest you learn more about the Parisian label 96Musique, home of one incontestable revelations of the year, The Avener. The artist is also in control of this digital compilation, with a mix showcasing the latest signatures of the prescribing label for new talent. Kevin, the artistic director, answers our questions … (Listen directly mix of The Avener)
Often, the French public is misjudged!
96Musique is a French independent label attached to Serial, true purveyor of French talent for nearly two decades. If you had to give us three key moments in the history of your label, what would they be?
We must remember that already Serial Records is a label that was founded in 1995. At the time, the catalog was mainly focused on house and deep-house artists like Soldiers Of Twillight, D’Julz, FEX and of course Didier Sinclair before that the label then turned to the progressive house with Arno Cost, Arias and a Tim Berg (aka Avicii). In 2013, we wanted to highlight the Deep House compilation by digging into the back catalog of the label. These compilations ‘Deep In Your House’ have received a warm welcome and this has prompted us to create a new label with a new identity: 96Musique. While we were mulling the name and build the graphic identity of the label, a Tristan Casara arrived at the office, and we did listen to his famous ‘Fade Out Lines’. This is the second key moment! And receive the first label with the album platinum disc The Avener is probably the third key moment in our history …
Did you as a major Universal would make The Avener so successful?
Upon first listen, we have become crazy in love with this ‘Fade Out Lines’. We all looked into my eyes, we were happy because we had found the first exit to embody orientation 96Musique! We knew that the title was strong, he was going to be a success, but not as much … I admit we still took a good slap in the face when we saw the title be ranked first on iTunes, and then the album in the overall lead for 10 months …
You sign a lot of House of deep-house and it is also called “Melodic House”. What is your preferred method to identify new talents?
Above all, we are big “diggers”! We search on Soundcloud, we go out every weekend to go discover new talents, but especially a lot of listening demos. It receives at least 50 a day! We take the time to listen, but we do not always fall on good things, of course … Sometimes you come across pearls!
Among them, there Bordo, released an excellent single ‘Hot Wit Me’. This is your new artistic priority?
Indeed, among the pearls we receive mail there is the famous duo Bordo! Call it our priority as long as it is our last outing. What we like about them is they have a different profile of 96 other artists, they are not artists Live DJs. This is all new to us because we had previously used to work with DJ’s and very oriented pieces Club. Their title ‘So Hot Wit Me’ is a mixture of pop and electro-deep. They create a surprise by using unstructured voice and ethereal keyboards over a relatively downtempo groove …
You go out today your new digital compilation. What can we find it?
‘We Go Deep’ represents our 96Musique label. It is mixed by The Avener. ‘We Go Deep – Remix Edition’ is a first for us. We made our securities houses remix by our artists heart stroke of the moment. This is an opportunity to present to all those who follow us excluded versions of all that can be heard here. A few days before Christmas, it is obviously to slip u