French Fries: I've always loved this rough sound

Photo: French Fries

Back in 2011, the bass music scene, which was by then a fully formed movement taking in elements of Chicago ghetto house, dubstep, grime, house and garage was taken aback by the arrival of 18 year old Parisian French Fries, who dropped a series of club ready killers on labels like YoungGunZ, Dirtybird and his own ClekClekBoom imprint.

Championed by the likes of Bok Bok, Justin Martin, Claude VonStroke and Oneman, the unique sonic stylings of Valentino Canzani Mora's French Fries alias became widespread club successes, particularly in the UK, with his off kilter sound design, supremely low end bass and unmistakeable spoken word hooks very much capturing the spirit of the times.

This year saw French Fries release his critically lauded debut LP Kepler, a bold and uncompromising record that sits as a stark contrast to the sound that first broke him to widespread acclaim. We grabbed five minutes with the gifted artisan to find out more about the evolution of his sound, what it's like running one of the most successful labels in France, and his love for the British dance music scene.

Hello! Thanks for speaking to us. You're set to play for Less Effect in Liverpool on September 13th. Have you played in Liverpool before? How do you rate the scene in the UK?

Yeah I have definitely played in Liverpool before, but I don’t remember the name of the club. I think I also played at a student rave - you guys are crazy, you can party at a school like you were in a warehouse! Haha. I think it's the only place in the world where you can do that. I have played pretty much everywhere in the UK, I love it.

What can we look forward to from your set there? Have you got any surprises up your sleeve?

I've got about 15 unreleased tracks from me and my crew but I never know what I'm gonna play before a gig. I guess I'm gonna mix House, Techno, and play different stuff in between NY, Chicago, Detroit and UK as I always do. 

We've really enjoyed listening to your transition from the ghetto bass of tracks like 'Yo Vogue' to the tough machine funk of Kepler (as heard in 'Machine' below). Can you tell us about the transition between the two styles? And where do you see your sound heading in future?

Well there is two years in between these two records so it's obviously a bit different, and Kepler is an album so it was really one different project.

I didn’t use the same studio set up as well. I have bought quite a lot of analogue synthesizers and drum machines these past two years, so I guess that changed my sound a little bit. I really don't know how my next tracks are gonna sound as I don't really think that much about what I do when I'm in the studio.

I'm back on the MPC and I'm really loving it at the moment so maybe expect some new grooves! 

Did breaking onto the scene at such a young age have its challenges? With making such an impression with tracks like 'Yo Vogue' (below) and 'Champagne' etc, how did you handle the pressure on following those records up? Or was that something that didn’t bother you?

My DJ career pretty much started in the UK because people like Bok Bok and Oneman were playing my tracks on Rinse. And there’s a lot of very talented young producers in the UK so I actually never felt or called myself a 'young producer'. 

Why do you think dancefloors are embracing this tougher, grittier sound more these days? 

I have NO IDEA! This kind of sound has been around for years. Personally I was listening to hip hop and making beats when I was really young. I wasn’t into house at all until I discovered Dance Mania which is where this sound comes from, I mean from Chicago in general.

I've always loved this rough sound - a lot of producers never stopped using this sound and old school drum machines. I think it’s cool to mix simple analogue machines from the eighties with the high tech computers and synthesizers that we have now.

Your sound seems to contain elements from a lot of different musical persuasions, where do you get your inspiration from when producing?

I have so many influences, I'm glad you can hear that in my tracks. I just buy a lot of records and when I'm in a shop I check pretty much everything, I don’t stay in the techno crate.

Also as a French guy I had the chance to go to some amazing record shops in the UK to find garage and grime records. In France, the American electronic culture is really important, it's pretty easy to find records from Detroit or Chicago, but it's really hard to find second hand UK records. I have the chance to travel and discover new music.

ClekClekBoom has been at the forefront of exciting new directions in bass/house/techno, both in Paris and now in the rest of Europe too. How do you find the experience of running the label? Are there any new releases on the label we can look forward to?

After two years I can say that it's really complicated to run a label. It's a lot of work, although I'm lucky not to take care of the contract / administrative work, I know this is the worst part. But we're like a big family, we are all friends so at the end of the day I love it.

There’s a lot of artists in the label so there’s always something coming out. The next one is gonna be a new EP from Jean Nipon, a White Label from Chaos In The CBD and we’re also starting a new 'Various Cuts' series which is gonna be a four track EP by four different artists, I also really want to release new stuff from Aleqs Notal and NSDOS. 

What about new material from yourself? 

I've been working a lot in the studio, I don’t really know what I'm gonna do with these tracks, for now I'm just playing them. I might release an EP on an other label.

And finally, hypothetical question… You have the power to throw the ultimate party. You can play alongside any DJ from the past or present. Where would you have it, who would be on the bill, and what track would you play to define the evening?

Damn. Drexciya, Lil Louis, Levon Vincent at Panorama Bar and for some reason the track that comes in my mind is X-103 - Thera Part II which is not a club track but then I’d play some freaky nasty stuff :)

Thank you! You can catch French Fries doing his thing for Less Effect in Liverpool on September 13th. Grab your tickets here. Find out where else French Fries is playing here.

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