Search Results for:

SMUGGLERS WAY

Kaitlyn Aurelia-Smith & Joe Goddard

Neptunes

    Avant-garde modular wizard Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard have teamed up for their new collaborative Neptunes EP, out on the Domino imprint Smugglers Way. Neptunes is the result of two electronic music powerhouses coming together to create new and thrilling sounds out of pure collaboration. With hard-hitting beats, intricate synth programming, and a melodic sensibility that retains a strange and alluring aura, it’s pure body-moving stuff that stimulates every neuron firing off in your brain.

    Featuring a low-slung bassline, gorgeously wavering synths, and pleasingly chopped-up vocal samples, first single and title track “Neptunes” originates from Goddard’s desire to make a tune reminiscent of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo’s visionary, singular approach to hip-hop production as the Neptunes.

    “I loved what the rhythm made me feel when I first heard it,” Smith says. “I actually thought he was tapping into Neptune as a planet, and the qualities I felt it possesses. So my side of things brought out more space-themed sounds as a result.”

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Joe Goddard - Neptunes
    2. Joe Goddard - Rapid Fire (Feat. Laima)
    3. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Around You
    4. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Around You (Joe Goddard Remix)
    5. Joe Goddard - Rapid Fire (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Remix)

    Braxe + Falcon

    Step By Step Remixes

      Following the release of Braxe + Falcon’s widely acclaimed ‘Step By Step’ EP, the French house pioneers have announced ‘Step By Step Remixes’, a collection of mixes by A-Trak, ABSOLUTE., Amtrac, Shakedown, Didi Han and more, that breathe new life into the duo’s four original tracks.

      The collection also features a new version of their sublime single, ‘Step By Step’ - Axel Boman’s In The Air Version - which features a fresh vocal performance by Panda Bear, and the Junior Sanchez Remix, a swinging companion to Boman’s melodic dance.

      The collaboration between Braxe and Falcon, née Alain and Stéphane Quême, serves to create a modern duo both in scope and talent; Braxe is known for making some of the most important and iconic house and pop music records of the late 1990s and early 2000s, including ‘Music Sounds Better With You’ as Stardust with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, and official remixes for Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kelis, Kylie Minogue and more. 

      DJ Falcon also teamed with Bangalter as Together in the early days, releasing the French Touch anthem, ‘So Much Love To Give’, and created quintessential remixes for Phoenix, Cassius and Justice.

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Matt says: An all star cast of dance music celebrity (plus some B-listers thrown in for good measure - joke! - Ed) get to grips with Roulé superstars Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon's well received "Step By Step" EP from last year.

      TRACK LISTING

      Step By Step (Axel Boman’s In The Air Version Extended Mix)
      Creative Source (A-Trak Remix)
      Step By Step (Junior Sanchez Remix)
      Step By Step (Amtrac Remix)
      Elevation (Paul Woolford Remix 12" Edit)
      Elevation (Shakedown Remix)
      Elevation (Didi Han Remix)
      Creative Source (ABSOLUTE. Neon Energy Remix Edit)
      Love Me (Max In The World Extended Edit)

      Alan Braxe, Fred Falke & Friends

      The Upper Cuts - 2023 Reissue

        If you want to understand how French producer Alan Braxe ended up making some of the most important house music records of the late 1990s and early 2000s, you need to understand his modus operandi. Everything must be simple, and everything must be sincere. You hear this repeatedly in Braxe’s music, from the golden emotional minimalism of Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You” to the perfectly uncluttered house music strut of “Intro.”

        The Upper Cuts, originally released in 2005, rounds up several of Braxe’s greatest hits, including “Music Sounds Better With You,” his classic remix of “At Night” by Shakedown and - most prominently - his work with Fred Falke, a bass player Braxe met on military service. Braxe and Falke’s union created some of the best house music records of the 2000s, with Falke’s slinky, melodious and very funky bass lines fitting like a glove around Braxe’s production know-how and ear for a melody.

        The revival of interest in the first wave of French Touch producers makes 2023 the perfect time to re-release The Upper Cuts, which has long been out of print. This newly reissued version adds seven bonus tracks. These include the classic Braxe / Falke production “Chrystal City,” which originally appeared on the “Rubicon” single; Braxe’s iconic remix of Britney Spears’ “Anticipating”; “You’ll Stay In My Heart,” a tear-jerking Braxe / Falke work that was never properly released; and two completely new tracks that show Braxe at his best.

        The Upper Cuts is a classic work of house music history that can still light up a dance floor; a work of sadness and joy; darkness and light; profundity and release. If you want to know how Braxe helped to create a new template for the French house sound in the early 2000s, right when French house needed it most; or how Braxe’s gorgeously clean productions and evocative synth melody provided a bridge between the first wave of French house and the Ed Banger / Justice / Kitsuné axis that followed; then your answer starts here.

        TRACK LISTING

        1. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Most Wanted
        2. The Paradise - In Love With You
        3. Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
        4. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Intro
        5. Shakedown - At Night (Alan Braxe Remix)
        6. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Love Lost
        7. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Palladium
        8. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Arena
        9. Alan Braxe- & Fred Falke - Rubicon
        10. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Penthouse Serenade
        11. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Chrystal City
        12. Alan Braxe - Voices
        13. Britney Spears - Anticipating
        14. Alan Braxe - One More Chance (Feat. The Spimes) [Redux]
        15. Alan Braxe - True Love
        16. Alan Braxe - Never Coming Back (Feat. Annie) [12 “ Dub Version]
        17. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - You'll Stay In My Heart (Instrumental)

        Braxe + Falcon

        Step By Step EP

          We know now that Smugglers Way is a new project by Alain and Stéphane Quême, or Alan Braxe and DJFalcon - the indisputable architects of the French Touch - the emotive house music conjured from looped samples with an inimitable Gallic flare that emerged from Paris in the mid-90s. Behind those two names you'll find the legendary acts of Stardust and Together - responsible for tracks like "Music Sounds Better With You", "So Much Love To Give" & "Together".

          Now, as the pair mature into middle age, they've slowed down the tempo on their inimitable formular. The release represents a sublime distillation of their shared musical essence, a revelatory realization and a compelling expansion only conceivable for them at this point in time.

          It opens with ‘Step By Step’, featuring Animal Collective's Panda Bear, an ecstatic celebration of Balearic joy, met with a French Touch production aesthetic; as if Braxe’s "In Love With You" had been baking on the playa for a quarter of a century. The track transcends anything in the catalogues of all three artists to something completely majestic, resplendent in its glowing, lush simplicity.

          "Love Me" gallops to a satisfactory mid-session pace; loopy vox and fat synths filtered to perfection keeping us in that French state of mind. "Creative Source" deploys a tasty soul hook across the sampler pads for an almost Andres-esque beatdown jam before we settle into the cosy and intimate Balearic-pop of "Elevation", featuring modern R&B star Sunni Colon. What a trip! 


          STAFF COMMENTS

          Matt says: Brought to you by the same French Touch innovators behind Stardust and Together; it sees the formula applied to more downbeat and Balearic moods that are simply divine. Perfect for the hammock or the beach!

          TRACK LISTING

          Step By Step (feat. Panda Bear)
          Love Me
          Creative Source
          Elevation (feat. Sunni Colon)
          Step By Step (Bonus Beat)


          Latest Pre-Sales

          220 NEW ITEMS

          E-newsletter —
          Sign up
          Back to top