It all started in the mid-nineties in the Paris area. Coming from a jazz/funk background, Julien then turned onto the hip-hop movement, discovering turntablism and graffiti art. That particularly rich era in music also let him discover the rave culture and its main associated genres, house and techno. He released his first house tracks alongside Ark under the Trankilou moniker in 1996.
Taken from Trankilou's first EP on BPM records, Bill Collector still sounds fresh today. An expertly crafted jazzy house number, with plenty of key stabs and rythmic variations that stand the test of time. This is one of the very first tunes that made me love house music.
From 1997, Julien officially started his solo career as Pépé Bradock. Releasing various EPs for Kif SA, Versatile and later on his own Atavisme imprint, producing an impressive collection of remixes, he quickly established himself as one of the most creative producers of electronic music worldwide. His sound is unmistakable, yet quite diverse and has evolved a lot throughout the years. Starting with typical "French Touch" stuff in his early period, he went on to produce countless house gems, from deep tunes to more experimental stuff. To this day he remains an elusive character, which has probably contributed to building his reputation.
From 1997, Julien officially started his solo career as Pépé Bradock. Releasing various EPs for Kif SA, Versatile and later on his own Atavisme imprint, producing an impressive collection of remixes, he quickly established himself as one of the most creative producers of electronic music worldwide. His sound is unmistakable, yet quite diverse and has evolved a lot throughout the years. Starting with typical "French Touch" stuff in his early period, he went on to produce countless house gems, from deep tunes to more experimental stuff. To this day he remains an elusive character, which has probably contributed to building his reputation.
Ahhhhh!!!! 18 carats... What can I say about this track? I discovered it around the same time as Trankilou's Bill Collector, circa 1998. To me, THIS is the ultimate French Touch tune. The original comes from LA Boppers' Wrap You Up. Listen to both and get a sampling lesson. A filtering lesson also :-) This is smooth, this is funky, this is sexy. This is house music at its best!
As you can hear, Pépé is not only a house producer. He's consistently added some hip-hop tracks here and there in his EPs over the years. Needless to say these are great productions in their own right. The only drawback with this particular track is that it's too short in my opinion!!! :-D
Arguably the most famous Pépé Bradock tune, and probably one of the very best and most popular tunes ever produced in house music history. No less than that. Ever since it was released in 1999, this has been played by everyone, everywhere in the world. And unless you're totally allergic to the genre, when you hear this dropping in a club, you just go mad. Like everybody else around you! Stone-cold classic, certified late-night dancefloor monster. Oh and for those of you who don't know yet, the sampled strings come from Little Sunflower by trumpeteer Freddie Hubbard, with Al Jarreau on vocal duties. A beauty on its own, which was also sampled by Dilla for A Tribe Called Quest's The Love.
Another thing that is remarkable with Pépé is his discography: as incredible as it sounds, he's never released a proper abum. The only LP in his career, Synthèse, is in fact mostly composed of tracks previously released on EPs. This frustrated me for many years, but nowadays I don't care anymore because when you consider his output as a whole, the quality is so impressive that one has to admit that this was probably the best route for him to take. Pépé Bradock has always privileged quality over quantity, and he definitely deserves respect for that. I also love the fact that he's been sticking to vinyl as his favourite media to release stuff. A true underground soldier!
Another thing that is remarkable with Pépé is his discography: as incredible as it sounds, he's never released a proper abum. The only LP in his career, Synthèse, is in fact mostly composed of tracks previously released on EPs. This frustrated me for many years, but nowadays I don't care anymore because when you consider his output as a whole, the quality is so impressive that one has to admit that this was probably the best route for him to take. Pépé Bradock has always privileged quality over quantity, and he definitely deserves respect for that. I also love the fact that he's been sticking to vinyl as his favourite media to release stuff. A true underground soldier!
One of the remixes that contributed to making the legend of Pépé. The credits on the record state that "No electronic sounds was used on this remix only human sounds through digital treatments." I say, that's quite an achievement for a house tune. And what a tune it is! By the way, I was mentioning before that except for tracks on CD compilations, all the Bradock material had to be bought on vinyl - well this one is now available on CD as BBE records recently put out a CD-only compilation of Pépé Bradock remixes. A definite must-buy if you're into Pépé's stuff and don't have turntables!
For more info on Pépé Bradock, check out his Atavisme website and this very interesting interview done a couple of years ago at the Red Bull Music Academy.
For more info on Pépé Bradock, check out his Atavisme website and this very interesting interview done a couple of years ago at the Red Bull Music Academy.
un pépé en or!
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