SebastiAn

French producer SebastiAn is known for his unique style of glitchy, distortion-heavy electro-house, as well as his film scores and production work for several pop stars. His early EPs, including 2006′s Ross Ross Ross, helped define the abrasive yet dancefloor-friendly sound of Parisian label Ed Banger Records, which he expanded on with his proper debut album, 2011′s Total and on remixes for artists like Daft Punk, Kelis, and Cut Copy. After staying behind the scenes for much of the 2010s, producing music for Charlotte Gainsbourg and Frank Ocean, his 2019 album Thirst drew from the different projects he’d worked on as well as the sound he helped pioneer. He has also composed several film soundtracks, including 2023′s Tropic, and music for Yves Saint Laurent fashion campaigns. Born Sebastian Akchote in Boulogne, France, SebastiAn started producing music at 15 and honed his skills working with regional rap groups. In 2005, one of these groups pointed him in the direction of Ed Banger CEO Pedro Winter and, after a cold call, he was signed to the label sight unseen. The next few years were extremely busy. On top of recording a 7″ split with Krazy Baldhead and four SebastiAn EPs between 2005 and 2008 (Smoking Kills, Ross Ross Ross, Walkman 2, and Motor), Akchote was a remix machine, reworking songs by Daft Punk, Annie, Cut Copy, Revl9n, Uffie, Kelis, and Kavinsky, among others. Much of this work was featured on a 17-track 2008 compilation titled SebastiAn Remixes (aka A Fine Selection of Remixes). In addition to his other endeavors, he scored the soundtrack for 2010′s Notre Jour Viendra (Our Day Will Come) before finally releasing his definitive debut, Total, in 2011. The album included collaborations with M.I.A. (“C.T.F.O.“) and Mayer Hawthorne (“Love in Motion”). The album’s singles were compiled on a limited box set, 2012′s The EP Collection, which included an addition 12” featuring two previously unreleased tracks. In 2014, SebastiAn produced French pop star Katerine’s album Magnum. He then produced the title track to Fall Out Boy’s American Beauty/American Psycho, which was released in early 2015. Several SebastiAn productions appeared on Frank Ocean’s 2016 albums Endless and Blond, and he was responsible for producing much of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s 2017 album Rest. After writing the music for Yves Saint Laurent’s Winter 2018 collection campaign, SebastiAn returned in 2019 with his second album, Thirst. Featuring collaborations with Gallant, Hawthorne, Gainsbourg, Sparks, and Sevdaliza, among others, Thirst reflected the more mature sound of the producer’s post-Total work. SebastiAn continued writing music for Saint Laurent’s quarterly campaigns (later compiled digitally as Saint Laurent Shows), and contributed “Don’t Tread on Else Matters” to The Metallica Blacklist. In 2023, he released a cover of “What a Wonderful World” with Ehla, and collaborated with London Grammar on the song “Dancing by Night.” He also released the synthwave-leaning film soundtrack Tropic. ~ Jason Lymangrover & Paul Simpson