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Music Sounds Better With You /// A French Touch Site

An Intro The French Touch Scene

image of daft punk before homework was released

While the French House scene is still alive and well, the term “French Touch” refers specifically to the European, mainly French dance scene that thrived from the mid 1990’s to the late 2000’s. This short-lived genre is also known as “filter house,” “disco house” or “neu-disco.” Like many dance and techno releases, it’s very much a non-album genre, with most material being released as single 12 inches for easy club playability. Most French Touch releases can be described to the same defining features, such as filter and phaser effects and the heavy use of typically obscure 70’s and 80’s funk and disco samples. More specifically, beats typically clock in with a tempo range of 110 to 130 bpm.

image of the single cover for 1999 by Cassius

The main proprietor of the French House scene was Thomas Bangalter, who is most well known as one half of Daft Punk. Between his independent House label Roule, his work in Daft Punk, involvement with Stardust, DJ Falcon and Together, he established a collective sound and movement in the late 90’s European dance style. Although the sound emerged in the mid 90’s, it didn’t explode until 1997 when Daft Punk released their first full-length record Homework, which featured music videos directed by Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. Other French Touch acts like Motorbass, Cassius and Superdiscount had internationally successful singles.

Labels and DJs Associated with the Sound

labels

artists/djs/groups

References for French House Music

Compilation of Sites, Blogs, Databases and Resources pertaining to the French Disco House Scene.

daft punk blogs music databases articles