ETIENNE DE CRECY
The story begins in 1992 when Étienne de Crécy and Philippe Zdar go to their first rave in Paris and decide to form Motorbass. Sound engineers at the legendary Plus XXX studio, they release their album Pansoul in 1994, announcing the birth of French house.
In 1995, Étienne de Crécy launches his Super Discount project. He writes most of the tracks on the fictitious compilation album, crediting them to different aliases, but also works with his friends Air and Alex Gopher.
Like Motorbass’s Pansoul, the record becomes one of the driving forces behind French Touch and a seminal classic of electronic music in France and abroad. Super Discount is a critical and commercial success, an icon of its day.
In 2001, Étienne de Crécy releases Tempovision. A tireless electronic trailblazer, he has moved on from pure house music and now introduces a sound previously exclusive to underground to a wider audience. On Tempovision, he explores a new dimension of his work (dubbed ‘digital soul’) with American singers Belita Woods and Michael Clip Payne.
Once again, images turn out to be crucial when his brother Geoffroy de Crécy makes a series of animated videos for the singles ‘Am I Wrong’, ‘Scratched’ and ‘Tempovision’.
Electronic music becomes a major genre in Europe.
In 2004, as house music fills the charts and iconic French Touch DJs play sets in the world’s biggest VIP clubs, Étiennede Crécy has a sudden change of heart and turns to electro, influenced by the young guard of producers who are tired of French Touch. The result is Super Discount 2, whose harder, more aggressive sound is closer to Étienne’s early techno leanings. Philippe Zdar, Boom Bass, DJ Mehdi, Alex Gopher and Julien Delfaud all contribute to the album. The numbers ‘Fast track’ and ‘Overnet’ become the anthems celebrating electronic music’s renaissance. From 2004 to 2006, Étienne de Crécy performs Super Discount 2 live with Alex Gopher and Julien Delfaud. The tour begins in small, pioneering electro clubs all over Europe and ends two years later on the stages of some of the greatest festivals in the world. Étienne de Crécy then produces the Commercial EP 1 & 2 and offers to the Bloody Beetroots to remix his track ‘Funk’. The remix becomes a viral success and springboard for the Beetroots, and forms a connection between Etienne and the young electro generation.
In 2008, Étienne de Crécy launches Beats’n’Cubes, a piece of performance art devised by the Exyzt collective. This radical, bright, cubic sound installation travels the world for more than 5 years (headlining Coachella’s Sahara stage in 2008). A genuine revolution in stage design for electronic music, it helps techno break out of its ghetto, making it a hit at rock festivals.
Electronic music becomes a major genre throughout the world. By 2014, EDM is taking the USA and most of the rest of the world by storm. It is at this point that Étienne decides to revive Super Discount.
The project’s third chapter forms a connecting link between the first two episodes. Although synthesizers are still in the front line (true to the techno energy of Super Discount 2), the samples and production go to create a more house, funky sound (the trademark of the first volume). This time, Étienne has worked with singers – Baxter Dury,
Pos & Dave (De La Soul), Tom Burke (Citizens!), Madeline Follin (Cults) and Kilo Kish all feature on the album– rather than producers, although Alex Gopher and Julien Delfaud contributed and Étienne has already begun the Super Discount 3 Live tour with them – before the album’s release!
In his live performances, record production and visuals, Étienne de Crécy has always been a pioneer, producing conceptualized, original, groundbreaking work.