Founded in 2016, Pont Neuf is an independent label with a mission to encourage the emergence of France’s burgeoning electronic community. Its origins can be traced back to an early compilation, the likes of which included productions from Sweely and Folamour. This opened the door to Rex Club, where they held their very first party before going on to host a two-year residency at Boulevard Poissoniere between 2018 - 2020. Add to that past showcases at Concrete, Badaboum, Djoon, Sacre, Java and Batofar and you’ll soon start to see that Pont Neuf’s standing in the city runs deep. Recognised in 2019 by Mixmag as “one of the French scene’s most essential labels”, the Paris-based imprint is spearheading a cultural movement, developing the careers of several artists in the process including Tour-Maubourg, Vitess, Cosmonection, KX9000 and many more besides.
Review: Under the DJ Psychiatre alias, Sylvain Creton is fast becoming a rising star of the current French electronic underground. Further proof of his credentials arrives via 'Glad To Be Back', a four-tracker based on fusing his love of vintage progressive house sounds and the hands-in-the-air rush of piano house. He first gets 'Lost In The New', adding hands-aloft piano stabs, MK style organ motifs and colourful chords to a crispy rhythm track, before opting for a breezier and even more rushing vibe on the similarly kaleidoscopic 'Riding Zone'. 'We Make Records' sees Creton wrap echoing vocal snippets, woozy ambient chords, acid-influenced electronics and jaunty pianos around a shuffling deep house groove, while 'Thinks We Do' is a bubbly, acid-flecked slab of breakbeat house joy.
Review: Pont Neuf, a pivotal player in the vibrant French house scene, stands as an independent music label with some 40 releases over seven years. Notable artists like Tour-Maubourg, Oden & Fatzo, Mira Ló, THEOS, Cosmonection, and Vitess have graced the label - for starters. Marking their seventh anniversary, this annual compilation series, Hexagonal Club, spotlights both established and emerging artists who define the evolving French house wave - leafing heavily from classic American genres like disco, ballroom and mid-western house to B-boy electro and deep, modern swoon to boot. Get Hexagonal
Review: Mira Lo has been making waves in her native France for some time, with a trademark production style that effortlessly blurs the boundaries between squelchy, synth-heavy nu-disco, deep house and the classy end of synth-pop (think Junior Boys or Tracey Thorn's early 2000s solo work). There's plenty to admire on her first EP for Point Neuf. Check first the house tempo synth-pop deepness of 'Sparks', before immersing yourself in the pitched-up beats, mid-80s video game melodies and slipped R&B vocals of 'Away From You'. Elsewhere, Lou Martini provides lead vocals and the kaleidoscopic nu-disco squelch of 'My Best Memory', 'I Think You Worth It' is a synth strings-laden analogue house workout, and 'Hope' is a slap bass-propelled trip through hybrid deep nu-disco/boogie-house territory.
Review: Inspired by his belief in the similarities between his day job as an architect and his approach to music-making, Berzingue's second solo EP for Pont Neuf is a self-confessed showcase for the producer's love of exploring "different genres and formats, while staying true" to his "trademark sound". It's an undeniably attractive affair, with highlights including the dreamy two-step-goes-deep house loveliness of 'Panorama', the rolling, melody-rich deep house bump of 'Dehli' and the more sci-fi-sounding, early morning bump of 'Mausolee'. Elsewhere, 'Night Cruise' is an attractive roller built around a darting, squelchy-sounding bassline, crunchy drums and immersive pads, and 'One' joins the dots between electro, organ bassline-propelled garage and tactile deep house sonics.
Review: Pont Neuf regular Tour-Maubourg is undoubtedly an artist on the rise. There are gems aplenty in his back catalogue, which supplements dusty, jazz-flecked deep house with blazed electronica and hazy downtempo gems. 'Spaces of Silence', his second album, is exceptionally strong, too, with the French producer sashaying between immersive ambient ('Intro'), organic, loose-limbed deep jazz-house (the fabulous 'Just Believe'), head-nodding instrumental hip-hop ('Why (Life)'), sun-splashed warm-up shufflers ('I Never Will'), nostalgic New Jersey style deep house ('Paradise'), horizontal electronica ('L'Hiver'), deep space workouts (the deep house goes ambient techno haze of 'Solaced') and nods towards the vintage early works of St Germain ('You (feat Ismael Ndir)'). Impeccable.
Review: Many happy returns to much-loved French imprint Pont Neuf, who have decided to mark their sixth birthday with an expansive compilation of new tracks from a mix of label regulars and newcomers. It's a predictably strong set all told, with the label's usual high-grade deep house cuts being joined by a range of delicious dancefloor diversions and surprise workouts. There's not room to pick out all the highlights, but our current favourites include the gently acid-flecked, soon-to-be-anthemic positivity of Tour-Maubourg's 'Square Sounds', the dubbed-out, off-kilter micro-house brilliance of Flabbaire's 'Tribute', the vibraphone-sporting deep house rush of 'Cosmopolitan' by Maoke, Mira Lo's trance-inducing 'Look What You've Done' and the sparse, sub-heavy jack of Saudade's 'Sherman'.
Review: Although he built his reputation as one half of Alva, Raphael Bureau-Mirat has devoted more time to solo productions over the last 18 months, serving up a series of singles as Berzingue on Pont Neuf. 'Woodflaure', the title track from his latest single, is an excellent example of his now trademark sound: a chunky, rolling deep house number built around jazzy synth bass, undulating acid lines, cowbell-loaded drums, subtle disco samples and ear-pleasing pads. His love of psychedelic, high-register TB-303 motifs come to the fore once more on 'L'impasse', a more bouncy affair that sits somewhere between contemporary Parisian tech-house and dreamy, life-affirming deep house.
Review: Hexagonal Club isn't a real nightclub, just the name given by Paris-based Pont Neuf to their compilations showcasing fresh electronic grooves from up-and-coming French artists (France being known colloquially as 'l'Hexagone', you see). And what a compilation Volume 2 is: few things in life get this writer as excited as a collection of quality deep house jams from people you've never heard of, and this album ticks that particular box nicely! The over-riding influence is deep house from the Heard/Trent/Damier school but there's room too for everything from the Italo/prog stylings of Fasme's 'Turbo Blaster' to the left coast-ish bump of THEOS's 'Wanna Go Out'. Get 'em while they're chaud, people!
Review: Under the ALVA alias, Raphael Bureau-Mirat and Alexander Gueri previously impressed via releases on Chez Damier's Inner Balance imprint and Parisian label Pont Neuf. Here they return to the latter as Calmos & Berzingue, bringing with them a bolder and more forthright collection of cuts. They begin by peppering a bouncy beat with jaunty synth riffs and smile-inducing chords on 'Java', before opting for chunkier, heavier bass, psychedelic acid lines and a few exotic melodic flourishes on the rather good 'Pali Kao'. 'Piat' is a sunnier, warmer and slicker slab of tactile deep house gold, while 'Burnouf' is a wonderfully positive, retro-futurist house treat.
Review: Emerging out of the clouds of live and instrumental deep house, Tour-Maubourg first appeared on the scene with a debut record for Parisian label Pont Neuf Records before making connections with FHUO, Salin Records and Happiness Theory. Returning to Pont Neuf for the release of his debut album, Paradis Artificiels, the artist puts paid to the Trax article which once wrote of TM: ''one of the most promising producers of the French house scene''. Referencing a Baudelaire poem for its title, the album flexes between new age ambience, acid and Chicago house inspirations in tracks like "Le Vol. Du Corbeau" while diving deep into watery percussion, solo jazz brass and skittering drums in "Saint The A La Menthe". WIth stronger ties to functional deep house in "Diffraction Rythmique", there's a smokey haze of hip hop instrumentality and dub to be found in tracks like "Les Mots" too. A record that would be attractive to fans of SUED.
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