BIOGRAPHY
French producer Para One can’t seem to stay still. In the early 00s he was major figure in the invention of a new kind of rap music with legendary French crew TTC, then in 2006 dreamed up Epiphanie, an insanely colourful solo debut which originated the French sound that stormed the world the following years. Next came the quietly beautiful, emotronica surprise of Naissance Des Pieuvres, soundtrack to the acclaimed movie Water Lilies. Then last year, he produced a summery, balearic EP for Institubes offshoot Sound Pellegrino, and another more muscular one on BNR Trax. Earlier in 2011, after Institubes’ demise, Para and his studio mates Surkin and Bobmo launched a new label called Marble, whose first release has just been out. He also reactivated his old collaboration with Tacteel : the two performed an incredible live show last march in Paris, and are thinking about touring and recording again. Oh, and he has just finished producing the next Birdy Nam Nam album. The rest of the time, he’s playing Street Fighter 4 and Kinect sports games.
The story of this album’s quite peculiar : on a 2008 U.S. tour with top allies Surkin, Orgasmic and Curses!, Para One couldn’t stop thinking about the classic house, freestyle and electrofunk he heard on the radio-and, crucially, their direct connection to the post-punk pop his older sisters loved when he was a kid. Back in Paris and deeply inspired, he worked fast and furiously, roughing out tracks with synthesizers, drum machines and an army of percussion. As the ideas took shape, he sensed one day they’d be pop songs. Around this time, a close friend turned Para One on to East Coast house singer San Serac, who made underground waves with his album Professional and his band Stereo Image. He asked Serac to write lyrics for one song, what the fuck right? Well. Two years, seven flights and countless espressos later, the pair had an album. They set a charter of leftfield pop you can dance to and wound up finding unexpected common loves along the way: early Ice Cube, late Japan, Chas Jankel, Drexciya, 52nd Street. Throw it in there was the rule of thumb. The name «Slice & Soda», a pizza-related code for the project whose significance only the duo truly understands, stuck. And when the last Prophet V note is played, what we have is a record of many styles tied together by San Serac’s voice, oscillating between Byrne and Bowie, more nimble than ever in its shouty falsetto, funk cadences, cryptic poetry and impassionned slogans.
It all sounds so cohesive: from the utopian synth sheets of «She Knows» and the manic disco funk of «Gasoline Fire», to the bittersweet italo of «Shake Up» and the oblique Chicago four-on-the-floor anthem «Blood House». And «Moments In House» segueing from go-go extravaganza into elegiac ambient. And «Flying Daggers» and its oceanic nostalgia. And all those massive basslines… With so many imposing moves and so many elegant choices, Slice & Soda veers way off the sky-punching bangers path to a place where people, just as drunk, dance with each other.
This album was due to be released on Institubes, but after the label’s closing down, both Para One and San Serac couldn’t think of not making it public. Fortunately, fashion brand head honcho Lionel Vivier and its company Sixpack France suggested they could help the boys out. So this album is finally available now even if it’s been finished a little while ago. It’s still as fresh, simple and pleasurable than it was then. Please enjoy the well-deserved Slice & Soda.
MUSIC
MANAGEMENT, ALL INQUIRIES
GRAND BLANC
Olivier Linglet
olivier@grand-blanc.net
www.grand-blanc.net
THERE WILL BE NO LIVE PERFORMANCES FOR THIS ACT
TO BOOK PARA ONE ALONE PLEASE CONTACT:
THE TALENT BOUTIQUE
Pierre Blanc
pierre@thetalentboutique.fr
www.thetalentboutique.fr
