Aurore, we are really excited to have you join us on the 24th August! Could you start by giving us a brief intro into how you got into DJing?
Hello there, i’m so excited too ! counting the days !
I started to be into that about 12 years ago when i moved to another city and met my friend O.Xander, I’ve always been in a band playing bass guitar, i was into electronic too so i was curious to be into djing ! A local crew opened their doors to us, we bought some vinyls and learned with them until i sold some of my stuff to buy my own turntables!
A little birdy told us that Manchester is one of your favourite cities in the world. What is it about the rainy city that you love so much?
My love for Manchester exists since I’m a teenager, as I grew up being into post punk / new wave / pop music, a lot of my references came from your city and specially one: Oasis (I’m still an hardcore fan ahah) then my passion moved on the rave culture, my love for the acid house and the story of the Haçienda.
Everything from Manchester is important to me, how this city is the start of many important scenes, your accent, the architecture, how this small city can be so big in the eyes of a lot of people too and how mancunians are so in love with it.
You’re label boss of the brilliant 99CTS records. What was your main incentive for releasing other people’s music? And what qualities are you looking for when it comes to committing their sound to cassette?
As I’m not a producer, as my main passion is to digg, my label was, for me, the logical consequence of things. There is so many producers on soundcloud who deserve to be released, I want to be this opportunity for them. My main rule is to release their music as soon as possible cause I know how they dont like and how its boring to wait for a year after a release… and sometime they dont like their tracks anymore.
For the sound, it’s a crush, this is how it works, people who knows the label now get, I think, how 99cts rcrds sounds so the demos I receive most of the time feat with the aesthetic of the sound: raw, acid, ravy and lofi.
We enjoyed reading your interview with Mixmag, particularly the part in which you stated that DJ’s shouldn’t be expected to produce music. Have you ever felt pressured to make music? Do you think it’s easier for established DJ’s to make the transition into production or do you feel they aren’t taken as seriously?
I had some pressure recently about the fact to make music, someone asked me and was serious about it if I wanted to be ghost produced, like that my career would have been more serious. It’s so aberrant to be forced, i mean in the past a dj was a dj, a producer was a producer, the producer was bringing his new record straight to the booth to be played, there is so much meaning in that for me.
Dj and producer it’s a relationship.
I’m really happy to see myself as an archivist / historian of the club culture.
To play in a band makes me happy, to produce electronic music makes me so sad.
Thats it.
And to be honest i don’t know.. I mean if it’s good, it’s good !
Sometimes when someone is djing for so long.. I guess you really know (maybe better than before) how you want your music to sound (as you played so much music in your life) – No ? what do you think ?
You lived in New York for a little while and now reside in Paris. Which music scene has had the most impact on you? Could you also give us an insight into the current state of the Parisian party scene?
As I often say, I really love to say that I play cities more than a style.
NYC, MCR, CHICAGO or DETROIT were so important to me.. It’s a mix of all of them, actually i’m so into what is happening in Tennessee right now, specially in nashville that it becomes more than a sound, its a community who bring a new evolution in music.
Paris is back on track I think, so many crews, warehouses parties and this desire of freedom and safe space ! I mean the world needs to understand there is something more deep than French touch and Daft Punk obviously.. Thanks to Rinse France, for example, to push artists in the good way here.
By the way, a lot of thing happens in Marseille at the moment too, everybody should check Metaphore Collectif .
We love seeing people do well within the electronic music scene and you are really killing it at the minute! What advice would you give to people looking to get into DJing/ running a label?
Thanks a lot, means a lot coming from you !
I mean do it, but one thing, if you want to play something be sure to know the culture around it. For me the most important is to know the story about the scene that you play, its part of the job. And about the label, be ready to live it like a lifestyle ahah.
You might get asked this a lot (we get it all time!) but how did you come up with your DJ name?
Ah ah yes, it was a joke one night, it was during this big soundcloud moment around 2008 with this whitch house scene, i needed a new nickname for a gig and i ended up with this one. I’m also a huge fan of all the mainstream / pop culture sociology so its kind of linked.
Finally, what can we expect from you on the 24th August?
Omg, to play in one of my favorite city is such an honor, I will do my best for you guys at 100%. Its going to mean a lot for me, I’m so impatient! Thanks again !
Lets ride some rave / acid vibes with some new 99cts RCRDS releases in it.