Contributing Writer
Multi-talented French artist Naux is set to make his debut on the rejuvenated Circa ’99 label, we caught up with him to discuss music and more.
Hey there Clément, we’re very excited to have you with us today. Where are you joining us from?
Hello team ! Thank you so much for having me ! I’m from the wonderful city of Lyon, France 🙂
You started out your journey in music as a percussionist in jazz groups from a young age. How did you get into that scene?
At the age of 5, my parents signed me up for drumming lessons because they were tired of me beating pots and lids in the kitchen haha ! I continued the lessons and at the age of 15, I met two great young musicians, a bassist and a clarinettist/keyboardist. We started a Jazz/Funk band together and we have continued the music lessons together. Then our music teacher joined our group to get down to business. Thanks to him, we played in great venues in the south of France for 2 years. It was a very nice experience and my first step into the world of music shows !
Have you felt that your skills as a drummer have translated and impacted your later music production?
Yes of course, it really helps me for my tracks’ construction, and to give my drum patterns more groove and « humanity ». It is also really helpful for DJing, as a drummer we have a kind of internal clock, which is really helpful for counting music !
How did you find your own sound? Were you influenced more by your local scene in France or further afield?
As a teenager, I really took the brunt of the first and second wave of French Touch sound, ranging from Daft Punk to Lifelike, from Alan Braxe to Sebastian. Like most of the French House producers born in the 90’s ! At the same time, I’ve also listened to a lot of English electro/pop like Gorillaz, Chemical Brothers or even early Calvin Harris in his cool new disco era. Maybe my own sound is the result of all these influences, maybe not, I don’t even know hahaha
For your next release you head to Boston Bun’s Circa ’99 imprint, how does it feel to be putting out a record on this respected label?
It’s such a great accomplishment for me ! I’ve fallen in love with Boston Bun’s music since his first release on Ed Banger named Housecall in 2012, I’ve never stopped digging his tracks since then !
What was your production process for the single?
I started with the idea of doing a track including weird and heady vocal chops. Once I had the chopped vocal line, I played a basic but groovy bass with the Mini V3 from Arturia. I wanted to make a basic tool track but I felt something was missing. So I searched for some disco samples to put in my break and I found the track from the band “Kingdom” titled « Not Alone » . I immediately crushed on the chords in the intro, so I sampled one of the chords and I replayed a chord progression for my breaks. I’m totally satisfied of the final result, it’s a great club track to me 🙂
Are there any up and coming French producers that are on your radar right now?
I have so many friends and talents to talk about haha, but I’m gonna pick two : first one is Harleatz, a young French Touch producer, I think he’s one of the best figures of the French Touch scene nowadays (with the Australian Street Player). He has already remixed me last year and the result is great, all of his tracks are full of joy ! Perfect for summer mood 🙂
Second one is my room-mate, Dew Arte ! He’s one of the best musicians I know. Give him a keyboard and you are up to some great jams and studio sessions. He produces some great Italo & electro stuff on his new label « Dew Arte Motori », he’s also the second member of my new live house duo, Frr Fonk !
We heard you recently started a new live house duo Frr Fonk, what inspired this and what is the overall concept?
I’ve always been into live music since my young age, with my first jazz band, with my live dubstep band in high school or after with my techno live duo when I was about 20. When all of these projects were over, I met Dew Arte and we started to make music together. With my live experience and his keyboard skills, we quickly started a live machine project with almost all our hardware. The concept is approaching House music as a band, playing live and singing live (soon haha)
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us today! Lastly, what other releases have you got lined up this year?
I’m releasing this summer the 4th volume of my « 100% French Touch Mania » series : 5 original French Touch tracks with some great remixers. Also some tracks on different compilations during the end of the year, and at least 2 Eps on really cool labels but I don’t know if I can speak about it already ahah
Thanks again for having me ! It was a big pleasure 😀
Naux ‘Eleve 8’ is out on 30th June via Circa ’99
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