"Few French producers can claim to have been as influential as Etienne de Crecy over the last ten years. He was one of the first Parisian artist to release a house track and subsequently the first to set up an independent dance label. He produced and remixed the very first Air single, encouraged Alex Gopher to release his tracks and even acted as a guiding influence on Daft Punk. In fact its fair to say that, had it not been for Etienne, Paris may never have become the International force it is today, and Madonna may never have enlisted the help of Frenchman Mirwais on her latest album. And just in case his name isn't instantly familiar to you just consider his previous two albums under the monickers of Motorbass and Super Discount, and you'll have no doubts about Etienne de Crecy's status as one of the worlds finest producers.

Etienne de Crecy was born thirty one years ago in Lyon and moved to Dijon as a child. It was when he moved to Versailles at the age of fifteen however that he would meet the people with whom he would develop a lasting passion for music. As a teenager he formed a band called Louba with Mr. Learn and Pierre Michel Levallois. "I don't think it was very good music. We were just learning our instruments." he recalls. However the band was notable for being a part of a burgeoning scene which would eventually become the foundation of the Paris dance music explosion. Among the other bands with whom Louba would play were Orange, which featured the duo who would become Air as well as Alex Gopher and Xavier Jamaux from Bang Bang.

Soon after the demise of Louba, Etienne moved to Paris where he started to truly discover the joys of sampler based music. He had already worked on a collaboration with Mellows' Stephane Luginbuhl, however things only really started to click for Etienne when he started to work as a studio engineer at Studio Plus XXX. It was here he met Philippe Zdar (La Funk Mob and Cassius) and found an instant production soul mate. Soon the pair got an apartment together where they shared a single sampler and a love of music. Together they would trawl through their disparate record collections looking for sounds to sample, gradually building tracks that drew on Chicago jack trax, old house classics, copious quantities of disco, and a smattering of Led Zeppelin!

In 1991 the first fruit of this creative friendship was released on their own Cassius label. Called the Motorbass EP it created waves throughout the UK scene, with many DJs left to scour the nations shops in the hope of finding a rare copy. The following year saw the release of the equally desirable Transphunk single. By now the duo had adopted the name Motorbass, they were poised to take on the underground and then.... nothing. Apparently.

In reality Zdar moved deeper into his production work for hip hop artists like MC Solaar while Etienne became increasingly embroiled in his career as an engineer.

"I wasn't a very good engineer," he says "I wasn't too interested. I did do quite a lot of hip hop stuff and a few other interesting things, but I still don't think that I was good at it."

It was during this period that long time friend Alex Gopher played him some tracks he'd been recording in his bedroom. They called in another old friend Pierre Michel (from the Louba days) who suggested they set up a label to release the material, and with this Solid was born. The first release came in 1994 with the silver packaged Gopher EP, with production from Etienne, naturally.

The following years saw Etienne providing two tracks on the Source Lab 1 compilation (the first collection to focus attention on the nascent Paris scene) in the form of Bad Vibes by Motorbass and Ecouter Fumer under the name of La Chatte Rouge. He was also responsible for one of the standout tracks of the year in the shape of his remix of the first Air single

Modular Mix. He was also producer for the original version. Etiennes' star, it would seem, was starting to shine.

In 1996 however, that star seemed to be on fire. First up came the debut Motorbass album Pansoul which received such immediate acclaim that Muzik Magazine awarded it Album of the Month even though there were only a hand full of copies in the UK. Later that year however the project for which Etienne de Crecy is best known was released. The Super Discount album on Solid caught everyone's attention with its simplistic yellow, black and white cover artwork and kitsch concept. From its initial inception as a limited series of four 10" singles, it developed into a compilation album featuring original tracks by Etienne and EDC remixes of tracks by Air and Alex Gopher. Soon demand was on a worldwide scale with the album crossing over into more mainstream territories.

For the next three years Etienne was caught up in promotional work for Super Discount, occasional remix work (Lil Louis Clap Your Hands, Alex Gophers Gordini Mix and Air's Sexy Boy among others), production work on the second album from Source recording artist Teri Moise (he had produced her first album in 1996) and a couple of dancefloor singles under the name Mooloodjee for Solid offshoot Poumtchak. A year ago however he embarked on a project which promises to be his most successful, and the one which will finally bring the name of Etienne de Crecy from behind his pseudonyms. Called Tempovision it is finest work to date - simple as that."

www.v2music.com/etiennedecrecy/

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