Various
My House In Montmartre

The cross-breeding tendencies of current French dance acts mean the ‘family tree’ style diagram inside the sleeve of ‘My House In Montmartre’ resembles a London tube map.

Since the mid 1990’s, a handful of artists have shared each others bands, remixes, and multiple aliases, to create a complex web of activity, the hub of which appears to be Etienne De Crécy, who, when not recording under his own name, is the figure behind Superdiscount and Motorbass.

Motorbass have remixed Daft Punk, with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter also masquerading as one member of Stardust. His Stardust colleague, Benjamin Cohen, is also known as Benjamin Diamond, and has been remixed by Demon, who also work with Wuzz.

Wuzz play with Alex Gopher, who has had tracks reworked by Air, who themselves have been remixed by Cassius, who have also remixed Phoenix. Phoenix have worked with Buffalo Bunch, who have in turn remixed Etienne De Crécy. It’s that simple.

This compilation celebrates these partnerships, with collaborations sitting alongside original versions of House staples such as Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better With You’. Highlights include ‘Grandlife’ by We In Music, and the (deep breath) ‘Bibs & Dim’s Disco Around The World Mix By Bibi & Dimitri From Paris edit’ of Alex Gopher’s already fantastic ‘Party People’.

Since Daft Punk’s ground-breaking ‘Homework’ album was released in 1997, dance records and producers have repeatedly employed its techniques on dozens of tracks. ‘Homework’ was the Trojan horse which allowed many of the artists featured here to enter mainstream pop culture and substantially influence the sound of modern chart music.

If ‘Homework’ was the starting point, then ‘My House In Montmartre’ is a progress report on French House, tying together the scene’s loose ends and documenting its golden age.