Browse by Label: VERSATILE (FRANCE)

Artist:	CHATEAU FLIGHT
Title:	Remixent
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	VER 009CD

Remixes of Air, Pierre Henry, Serge Gainsbourg, Bebel Gilberto, Femi Kuti, etc. "With their celebrated Puzzle debut, Chateau Flight have imposed themselves as the most fascinating duo to outgrow the French Touch revolution. Time has passed, indeed, since 1996, when Nicolas Chaix aka I:Cube and Gilbert Cohen also known as DJ Gilbr first united in the studio to remix Pierre Henry's Too Fortiche. Remixent documents six years of a collaborative musical evolution and brings valuable insight into the duos vision of music be it electronic, funk, pop, or world. The album boasts impressive credits. All time greats Bebel Gilberto, Pierre Henry, Manu Dibango, and Serge Gainsbourg are featured alongside today's best electronic musicians. Dancefloor pundits will undoubtedly be drawn to pivotal renditions of Brandy, Atjazz and Psycho on da bus while rare experimental materials include the hard to find Rve1 remix of Joakim and others. Meanwhile, the future talks through a brand new version of Soul Fiesta featuring Manu Dibango himself. Much like other Versatile releases, works featured on Remixent demonstrate dedication to painstaking production and thorough attention to other musicians' work -- all gracefully translated into Chateau Flight's unique lingo."

Artist:	JOAKIM
Title:	Fantômes
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	VER 010CD

"Joakim Lone Octet is dead. Joakim has been reborn as a new artist! First influenced by electro jazz, he is now into something more raw, almost punky. While he is an admirer of virtuoso pianists, jazzheads (Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra), indie kids (Pixies) and stupendous electronics (Carl Craig, Plastikman), Joakim's tastes go beyond these genres. In this new album, Joakim deals with mysterious moods. His Fantômes carries the listener through nostalgic interludes, cavernous basslines as well as twisted synth gimmicks and chopped vocoders interrupted by surprising breaks."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Versatile Hot Shots
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	VER 015CD

The gunholders of Versatile Records are back with a new compilation. They saved their most deadly cartridges for this total overkill record of exclusive remixes, some of which are available on CD for the very first time. They open the album with a shot straight to the head: "Silent Distance" is a classy pop track remixed by I:Cube featuring Clara Hill's beautiful vocals. Then comes the UFO manga-style track "Ongaku" which blends Chateau Flight's unique electro dub touch to the surprising vocals of shibuya girls, Paris Japanese Choir. Joakim presents us his latest dancefloor killer, the hypnotic "I Wish You Were Gone," haunted by the spook of Ian Curtis and sung by Joakim himself. Then the very trippy remix of "Superflight" by Maurice Fulton comes as a necessary recess before full electronic fire with tracks "Rumours" by As One (aka Kirk Degeorgio), "Arp Surface" and "Chicago Sur Seine" by I:Cube, or "Surface And Submerge" by Basic Soul Unit. At last, the very cosmic track "Taurus" extracted from I:Cube's Live at the Planetarium waves a white flag to finish off the compilation.

Artist:	I:CUBE
Title:	Live at the Planetarium
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	VER 016CD

France's I:Cube (Nicolas Chaix) delivers a live set during the StarBall festival in June 2005 at the Planetarium de La Villette in Paris. Versatile now brings to your starving ears this mesmerizing live performance and invites you to jump into I:Cube's Playmobile spaceship. In this performance, he returns to his first love, with influences from ambient masters (Biosphere, Future Sound of London and Detroit Escalator). In an effort to travel new roads, escape the conventionalism of the electronic music landscape and free us from the Diktat of dark and martial electro, I:Cube's mind mingles with some of his early references such as Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury, childhood memories such as L'avenir du Futur, an '80s French TV show with a lethal soundtrack extracted from Tangerine Dream's "Rubycon." During this 55-minute trip, Live at the Planetarium proposes a subtle encounter of concrete music, dub and electronica, skillfully suppressing the frontiers between these styles to achieve a musical supernova. After a first ambient track, I:Cube slides into timeless deep house that leads into dreamy or dubby electronica and Futurist lullabies. After his album 3, Cube invites us into his parallel and psychedelic vision of modern music. A dense and passionate universe colonized by KLF's "space" and Maurizio's tracks, a celebration of the improbable encounter of King Tubby and Philip Glass. This is the album HAL, Space Odyssey 2001's mega-computer, would have dreamed to compose.

Artist:	CHATEAU FLIGHT
Title:	Les Vampires OST
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	VER 017CD

Chateau Flight is Parisian house duo Gilbert Cohen and Nicolas Chaix (aka Gilb'r and I:Cube). Chateau Flight is the latest electronic act to soundtrack for silent movies, and they have composed a score specially written for Les Vampires (1915), a sulfurous feuilleton of 10 episodes by French director Louis Feuillade. Les Vampires was close to being banned for its quasi-apology of criminals, who are presented a lot more seductively than the "good force," which is primarily due to the magnificent Irma Vep (incarnated by the actress Musidora, dressed in black and the first vamp and femme fatale in the history of cinema!). Being first and foremost criticized despite its great public success, the series, packed with its quasi-improvs and its dark poetry, is considered one of the most unique and sophisticated pieces of silent film. This CD features eight tracks, all untitled, varying and placing itself somewhere at the border of electronic music, original soundtrack and Krautrock/experimental stuff. In Spring 2006, Gaumont asked Chateau Flight to do a 40-minute soundtrack illustrating the third episode of Les Vampires, "Le Cryptogramme Rouge," for their luxurious DVD Special Edition. The duo decided to work with a computer and a Viscount Orgue (known for its vintage sound), among other multiple effects. After a week of spotting and experimenting, where the duo called upon the phantoms of the Pere Lachaise cemetery which is close to the studio, the two artists had doubts about their results and invited guitarist Nicolas Villebrun (of the band Poni Hoax) who brought in some more dramatic textures and the missing touch of improvisation. The phantasmagorical and pre-surrealism of Feuillade is omnipresent on this release, a long odyssey of combining and handling vintage and contemporary technology in constant variation.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Versatile 2008
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	VER 020CD

After Versatile's first compilation ten years ago, the French electronic label returns and still surprises. Versatile is a rarity. A label that succeeded in creating a unique identity that puts instinct before genre. The high standards set by Versatile's boss, Gilb'R, remain intact. Trends come and go, the wind changes now and again, but rather than following the crowds along a given and inevitably ephemeral path, Versatile takes to the open road and allows its artists to release the kind of music they hold dear. Joakim, I:Cube, Chateau Flight and Zombie Zombie have made the most of this creative environment and this uncompromising artistic direction has let them gravitate towards the music they love -- music that's original, wild, elegant, mystical, quirky and a fertile mix of so much more. Truly engaging music is becoming an increasingly difficult feat these days, but what makes Versatile's music vibrate is their belief that good music simply deserves to exist even if it doesn't square with today's market. Rediscover here a heritage, from early American dance music to French and German experimentation, both the popular and the intellectual. After retracing Versatile's steps, you'll be dying for more. Artists include Quixote, Poni Hoax, DJ Ringardos, Etienne Jaumet, Texas Rangers, Fabrice Lig, The Cave Bear Cult and Karma.

Artist:	BASIC SOUL UNIT
Title:	Soul Patterns
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 043EP

"Toronto DJ and producer Stuart Li -- Basic Soul Unit is blessed with an openness in style allowing him to stay away from specific categorization. In this new EP he travels from classic to modern house and techno: Detroit being an underlying current. With a base of minimalism, he expands with dubby and old school layers. 'Ascend to the Night' builds on deep structure, a creeping tempo launches into anthemic piano chords and strings. 'Jacksaw' suits the dancefloor, having a winding bleepy booty bass. The EP ends on a house groove: 'Notes for the Soul': melodic loops and seductive bassline."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Hot Shots EP
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 045EP

"Versatile Records assembles four of the most notorious gunslingers and sharpshooters for a showdown high-midnight style and as everyone has just one shot to fire, Maurice Fulton, I:Cube, Chateau Flight and Future Beat Alliance all pack some special, exclusive bullets. The genius of eccentric modern disco music Maurice Fulton remixes 'Superflight' to another perfect boogie-style mix of electronic and organic ingredients: a shimmering tableau of percussive vibraphone licks, hints of woodwinds, swirls of acoustic guitar, artistic slapbass, pixie-like vox, all kept together by a tight live-drum beat. I:Cube's edit of 'Taurus' is similar to his recent, fantastic cut on Marketing records, as it slowly builds with exotic, grinding melody fragments and African beats before a heavy steppers-style roots-bassline transforms the groove and sets the start for a hectic dub workout. 'Ongaku' gets revisited by Chateau Flight themselves in the form of the 'Unreleased Electro Dub': mid-paced old-school beats set the basis for the strange Japanese spoken words, a Kraftwerk-style melody and drops of '80s synth fx. champion of deep Detroit style techno Matthew Puffet aka Future Beat Alliance surprises with stomping live-sounding boogie beat and a rather dark, tense atmosphere contrasted with a delicate, alluring yet kinda surreal melody. Four hot shots indeed, everybody aimed accurately, but word is nobody got harmed."

Artist:	JOAKIM
Title:	I Wish You Were Gone
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 046EP

"After his former and acclaimed album Fantômes and the cine live, three years spent in remixing the Top of the international producer, here is the first single of his new album called 'I Wish You Were Gone' and a new live already applauded in the Festival Transmusicales de Rennnes With this Killah Groove, Joakim decided to build a bridge between Rimini and Manchester. No Doubt, the winter club tune. The artwork was drawn by Joakim himself! You can find the original track on the CD Versatile Hot Shots compilation but here you get an additional fantastic Italo dub mix which is sure to generate massive club play. Already rave feedbacks from Michael Mayer, Ewan Pearson, Erol Alkan, Josh Wink, Lindstrom etc."

Artist:	JOAKIM
Title:	Drumtrax
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 047EP

"Drumtrax" is the second extraction from Joakim's early 2007 release, Monsters and Silly Songs. This piece, with its dub, is a kind of a secret weapon you can fire up if the audience slows down and you want the crowd to scream again. Radio Slave delivers a remix made for the big rooms. Matt Edwards, aka Rekid and half of the Quiet Village project, sends you into hypnotic psychedelicism. Minimal, with an omnipresent bass, a changing rhythm and a higher tempo than on the previous remixes, this is something subtle and effective.

Artist:	I:CUBE
Title:	Acid Tablet EP
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 048EP

After Live At the Planetarium, I:Cube leaves the stars to come back to our good old Earth with his new single Acid Tablet EP. The two first tracks are the product of studio tests after an all-nighter DJ set, when you are over satiated with electronic beats. These are acidulated sarabande with subtle dancefloor tricks and cosmic choirs that slowly rise from the mists of the horizon. The last track starts off with a tenacious acid loop that will drive the dancers bezerk. It sounds like some overpitched ska recorded in Cuba with spooky choirs evoking Dario Argento's giallo. This EP will impair your nervous system.

Artist:	BASIC SOUL UNIT
Title:	Deep Blue
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 049EP

Hypnotic and deep but always funky, Stuart Li presents classic techno grooves on Deep Blue. With his elaborate arrangements, his melodic loops and seductive, pushing basslines, he delivers three different, sometimes minimal new pieces. "Deep Blue" whisks you away with a continuous acid line, before transporting you with a deep and flowing house groove. "The March Ahead" starts off with a simple sound pattern and a lush techno beat, then introduces echoing drums plus some very exciting spherical chords. "Pàssaro" winds its way up for five uplifting minutes, becoming more and more dramatic with its techno/trance-y pads and thick percussive beats.

Artist:	CAVE BEAR CULT
Title:	Keep On Keepin' On
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 050EP

Berlin's Jürgen Ehlert presents a smashing 4-tracker of supertight'n'funky electronic boogie and old school house tracks. "Keep on Keepin' On" starts with a deep intro, then gets huge with hypnotic synth. "Catch The Worm" continues in the house vein, but with a nu-disco touch. "Remembering Mr K Alexi Shelby" sounds like a perfect tribute to all Chicago masters, while "Spaghettidisco" gets back to the '80s with a warm italo track. This EP summons the likes of Pete Herbert and Reverso 68, Metro Area, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas and more.

Artist:	JOAKIM
Title:	Lonely Hearts
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	VER 051EP

After his acclaimed Drumtrax EP, Joakim is back on Versatile, this time with a small pop jewel that appeared on his Monsters & Silly Songs 2006 release. Cheesy-sounding strings stand out over a stoic, stomping drum beat, dark singing grates against beeping keyboard playing and a wonderful melody has a comforting effect on the very sad lyrics. In addition to the album, radio and dub version, this release also features a remix by DFA Records label owner, Tim Goldsworthy (LCD Soundsystem) who skillfully pulls the track to the left with distorted slow motion vocals, funky bass and demanding beats.

Artist:	LIG, FABRICE
Title:	Purple Raw Part One
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	VER 058EP

Fabrice Lig presents chapter one in his Purple Raw trilogy. "The Track" is based around a jerky, syncopated rhythm and a very dry kick. A great mixture of minimal techno and Detroit nostalgia that has been hammered by Dixon, Âme, Alex Attias, etc. "Bump Bump" is built around fat analog sounds and an animalistic groove that keeps on building. It all ends with the very funky "The Riff Pourpre," a perfect crossover between Metro Area and Parliament. Big, fat beats.

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Artist:	NEXT EVIDENCE
Title:	Sands EP
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	VER 018EP

Artist:	LIL TONY
Title:	Cosmic City EP
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	VER 059EP

Artist:	QUIXOTE (FEAT. LISA LI-LUND)
Title:	Before I Started To Dance
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	VER 060EP

Artist:	ZOMBIE ZOMBIE
Title:	Dog Walker
Label:	VERSATILE (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	VER 061EP