Introduce Yourself: SEUIL (with Exclusive Mix)

Despite the plethora of DJs out there playing four to the floor, Seuil has forged his own blend of deep percussive house via EPs on Freak n’Chic, Minibar and his own label Eklo. A talented musician born and bred in La Reunion (a French owned island off Madagascar) the man certainly had an interesting musical environment to grow up in. With solo work and remixes forthcoming on Esperanza and Eklo be sure to check out Seuil’s promo mix (after the jump) for a taste of his uniqe sound featuring a diverse range of future house mixing up Burial, Efdemin, Cobblestone Jazz and Nicolas Jaar.

We caught up with the Parisian ahead of his performance this weekend in Room One.

Hi Seuil, how are you today?
Great, a bit tired, didn’t sleep yet, it’s 1 pm, I made some music last night until now…

Firstly, what does ‘seuil’ mean and why did you choose to release music under this name?
You can translate literally ‘seuil’ to ‘threshold;’ it’s kind of a limit to something. It’s been a long time since I chose this name, I was young and I chose it because I wanted something French! Indeed the “eui” is really particular to French phonetic. It brings funny things at the end as you have lots of different ways to say it…

You grew up on the Reunion Islands - what was that like? Did starting out life there have an effect on the music you make today?
Right, I was born and raised there, it’s a French department. It’s great to grow up with this environment; it’s a mix of mountains, forests and the sea. The music that touched me the most is ‘The Maloya’... which is the music from the slaves. It’s all about percussions (djembés, congas, kayamb) and vocals. It really comes from the roots, and obviously has become part of my culture. I had many opportunities to play some percussion with artists from the island when I was younger.

When and why did you move to Paris?
I moved to Paris 10 years ago, when I was 17.

And was it long before you met the guys from Freak N Chic?
That’s true that I heard about them for a few years before meeting them. Actually we know each other for 2 years. My first main crew was Minibar; Cabanne is the first guy who helped me to get into the scene, and released my music.

Paris is a beautiful city and host to some amazing parties. I remember seeing Dyed and :Terry: at a Freak N Chic night on the Batofar and having a lot of fun. What parties and clubs do you recommend?
Paris is one of the most beautiful cities for sure, but unfortunately we had some hard times with clubbing lately. A lot of people try to improve the things here, setting up new parties in new places, but it seems really hard to bring back the ‘vibe;’ we’ve lost what we had 7 years ago and the point is less people are going out at night. On the contrary stand a lot of good parties with good music like the Karat/Katapult crew setting up some nights around the city, the Freak n’Chic parties for sure (at batofar every Thursdays on summer), the ones from my friends at Circus Company, the Weirdo Magnet’s events or the Deeply Rooted party from Dj Deep at Rex Club. To be honest, I miss Le Nouveau Casino - a place I used to go a lot in the past - and I confess I don’t know about Social Club; never been there since the end of Tryptique (the former name of the place).

How do you see your sound developing in the next few years?
It’s all about that!! Developing my sound over the years... When I released my first single in 2006, I was producing music for only a year. At this time my sound development was really low, and it sounded really fat. Nowadays, lots of newcomers already have a strong production background, they sound fat and solid even when they start releasing music. For my part it took a few years to acquire my productions skills. I started practising a lot on hardware stuff, with analogue mixers and synths... Not just doing music on computers.

When I started digital I was in a nerd mode; working with all this stuff requires a long process as it’s really another world, but in which your machine is like any other instruments at the end. My music is changing a lot lately... I’ve got several new projects going on; I’m working on many new things, different figures, but it’s far too early to tell you more about it.

You’ve collaborated with Moon Harbour boss Matthias Tanzmann before, how does working in the studio with another producer work for you?
I like the idea of music collaborations. I tried with some of my close friends like dOP, Tolga Fidan, Boris Horel, Masomenos, Matthias Tanzmann and to be honest each session depends on who you’re working with and where. I usually like to bring some of my hardware stuff, a bar or a synth (I actually appreciate a lot the sound of a couple of Jomox and Mfb machines) and get things out of it.

Can you tell us a bit about your new album? What’s the concept behind it?
The concept has been created by the French duo Masomenos. When they released ‘Third Eye,’ they launched a mixed/album series and in my case, the result is my first ever artist album worked it in this way; the tracks have been lightly mixed up to follow the idea of a long piece. Costes pres... Chamaeleonidae clearly represents a moment in my musical path and I’m really proud of what I achieved but on the other hand my sound is already changing a lot… As a matter of fact I’m working on a new album which will have a totally different sound orientation.

How did you approach your debut artist album? Did you feel a lot of pressure to express yourself as an artist?
I took all the time I needed to make it. The process can be either you produce tracks and say sometimes to yourself “Ah! this one is for the album,” or if you feel more like doing an album deep and chill oriented, I recommend you’d better construct a bit everyday.. Once you’ve created a universe, the things will follow naturally.

Your latest chart on RA features a couple of dubstep tracks; is this type of music something you see yourself making in the future or are you just a fan?
First, I’ve been a big fan for many years of all the firsts Hyperdub, Skull Disco and Hotflush. Concerning Burial, this guy violated my brain; his music is so raw, surrounded by a grief world and street vibing and i could say the same of Kode9, Scuba, Shackleton or even Four Tet. I wasn’t keen on English breakbeat or 2step before, but the rhythm was still kind of a revolution. Although I felt something great was happening, I wasn’t ready to play or produce some. It was too early but now I’m getting it. I’m working on some projects developing dubtechno music and some ‘dubstep’ or breaks tracks. I really love hip hop as well! I hope I can release some pieces of work this year... surely under another pseudonym... just got to find it first!

What is it that you enjoy most about coming to London and playing at fabric?
First of all, fabric is one of my favourite clubs, I performed there twice, a live and a DJ set, but both times were amazing moments; especially in Room One thanks to the incredible soundsystem. Another thing to enjoy is your team, Judy especially. All of you are great people, professional, helpful and hearty... what else ?! It’s also a good occasion to visit a few friends living there... Boris Horel is one of them. I love this guy’s work which might explain why I released some of his work on my own label Elko. Last but not least, it is only two hours’ train from Paris, even in these cloudy times ;)

Any last words?
Thanks for bringing me in again and offering me such pleasure each time; also thank you for making the kind of dubstep parties that deliver the future of the music to open minded people. I’d also like to take the opportunity to bring my support to my friends from the Freak’n Chic label who currently have to fight off some dirty business monsters that really don’t care about music. And finally end a special thanks goes to the mysterious Burial for all of his work; truly unique!

Download: Seuil – fabric Promo Mix



Tracklist:

1. Aquarius Heaven - Universe - Eklo
2. John Roberts - Lines - Dial
3. SCB - 3_5 - SCB
4. Pantha du Prince - Fountain Drive - Dial
5. STL - Loop2 RC editARTS - cdr
6. Lawrence - Treacle Mine -Dial
7. Aquarius Heaven - So Low - Eklo
8. Thomas Brinkmann - Rumpf - Curle
9. Kassem Mosse - Untitled B2 - Workshop
10. Cobblestone Jazz - Chance Dub - Wagon Repair
11. Burial - UK - Hyperdub
12. Burial - Untrue -Hyperdub
13. Efdemin - Time - Dial
14. Baeks - Lost Summer - Rampe D
15. Nicolas Jaar - Time for Us - Wolf & Lamb