Alan Braxe

Alan Braxe is responsible for some of the most enduring hits of the French house scene. He achieved worldwide success as one-third of Stardust, whose only single, 1998′s inescapable “Music Sounds Better with You,” sold over three million copies. Braxe then founded Vulture Music and released several major club singles, often with co-producer Fred Falke, which drew from disco and ’80s pop influences. The well-received compilation The Upper Cuts appeared in 2005, and Braxe became an in-demand remixer, adding the French touch to songs by Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Jamiroquai, and others. He occasionally released solo tracks and collaborations with producers like Kris Menace, and switched to an analog setup at the end of the 2010s, producing efforts such as The Ascent EP (2019). Collaborating with his cousin DJ Falcon, he released the Step by Step EP in 2022. Alain Quême was born in Paris in 1971. He first played cello and clarinet, then became a DJ during the late ’80s. His earliest dance tracks were produced with only a mixer, a compressor, and a sampler. His debut single as Alan Braxe, “Vertigo,” was released by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk’s Roulé label in 1997. The two then teamed up with Braxe’s friend Benjamin Diamond for a performance at the Rex Club in Paris. One of the songs written for the performance included a looped sample from the Chaka Khan song “Fate.” The three continued working on the song at Bangalter’s studio, adding more instruments and lyrics, but eventually stripping out most of Diamond’s vocals so the song became a sort of mantra. The finished track, “Music Sounds Better with You,” premiered at the 1998 Winter Music Conference in Miami and was issued as a single-sided 12″ by Roulé. Following radio airplay by Pete Tong and other DJs, Virgin licensed the single, and Michel Gondry directed a dreamy video for the song. Its popularity exploded, topping charts in several countries, and it remains a club and radio staple. Despite Virgin offering the musicians three million dollars to produce a Stardust album, the trio decided to disband and move on to other projects. Braxe’s next move was founding Vulture Music, and working with co-producer Fred Falke on several other filter-disco singles. The Running 12”, led by the track “Intro,” appeared in 2000, followed by “Palladium”/“Penthouse Serenade,” “Rubicon,” and others. The compilation The Upper Cuts gathered most of Braxe’s productions dating back to “Vertigo,” and was a critical success. The Kris Menace collaboration “Lumberjack” and the Japan-only Vulture Music Mixed by Alan Braxe both appeared in 2007. Braxe continued building his extensive résumé as a remixer, though he stopped working with Falke after 2007, when the duo remixed the likes of Kylie Minogue, Justice, and Dragonette. Braxe released “Addicted” and “Nightwatcher (Show Me)” (featuring Killa Kela and Fallon) in 2008. In 2013, Braxe issued the downtempo pop EP Moments in Time, with the Spimes. He then began using a Buchla modular synthesizer instead of digital equipment, returning to the minimalism of his initial forays into production. An experimental EP titled The Ascent appeared in 2019, and Silence at Sea, inspired by Ian Urbina’s book The Outlaw Ocean, was released in 2021. Braxe and his cousin Stéphane Quême, known as DJ Falcon, collaborated for the first time in 2022, issuing the EP Step by Step, featuring guest vocals by Panda Bear on the title track. The Upper Cuts was reissued with an updated track listing in 2023, featuring seven bonus tracks, including a Britney Spears remix and a collaboration with Annie. ~ Paul Simpson