Although related, pioneering French house producers Alain Braxe and Stéphane Quême (aka DJ Falcon) had no knowledge of each other’s production careers despite releasing their debut records on the same label. Inevitably, their careers crossed paths and the duo began working on demos in 2014 before being convinced by label manager Peter Berard to release an EP for Domino’s new electronic dance imprint Smugglers Way. Sessions reconvened in Paris and at Braxe’s Toulouse studio, with the duo excited that their use of modular gear was eliciting a similar naivety to when they first started making music. A sublimely melancholy EP with vocal contributions from songwriter Sunni Colón and Animal Collective co-founder Panda Bear, Braxe + Falcon’s collaboration has been so productive that they already plan to record an album together.
You’re cousins, so did you knew each other well growing up and share similar interests in music?
Alain Braxe: “No. When we were kids we met maybe ten times at family parties but didn’t discover each other until much later at clubs and backstage.” Stéphane Quême: “I didn’t even know Alain had released his first record and it was a surprise to me. It’s funny because we both ended up releasing our first records on the same label, Roulé, but once we found out that we were both making electronic music we got much closer.”
It seems as though a lot of French house/disco artists are quite closely connected – there’s an air of cooperation rather than competition…
“I wouldn’t
