Cassius
Philippe Zdar and Hubert Boombass worked together since 1988, initially producing for MC Solaar before forming La Funk Mob in 1991. Zdar's collaboration with Étienne de Crécy as Motorbass produced Pansoul in 1996, one of the first albums to fully realize the filtered loop aesthetic. As de Crécy told 15 Questions, they made it with an Akai S1000 and Cubase on an Atari 1024, mixed on a Mackie with a few good effects devices. As Cassius, they released "Cassius 1999" in 1999, reaching UK number seven. Zdar told Speakhertz he learned engineering by being thrown into the engineer's seat one day when someone said they needed someone to handle it—he figured it out through immersion. That hands-on approach defined his production work across French Touch and beyond, including Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. His background producing for MC Solaar and his hip-hop roots with La Funk Mob shaped Cassius's sound, making their house music funkier and more connected to hip-hop than most of their peers. Zdar died in 2019.
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Discography
1999
Debut album featuring the hit "Cassius 1999," which reached UK number seven and established Cassius as mainstream French house ambassadors. The video featured Deadman, a DC Comics character reimagined as a DJ superhero—absurd and perfect, comic book aesthetics meeting house music. Philippe Zdar's production background with MC Solaar and La Funk Mob brought a hip-hop funkiness to the tracks that distinguished Cassius from their more disco-oriented peers. Released in 1999, the album demonstrated French Touch's commercial viability while maintaining artistic credibility, proving the filtered sound could fill clubs and charts simultaneously.
Au Rêve
Second album featuring "The Sound of Violence" and collaborations with Ghostface Killah, expanding French house's sonic palette beyond disco samples into hip-hop territory. Zdar's background producing for MC Solaar and his hip-hop roots with La Funk Mob came full circle, demonstrating French Touch's flexibility and its deep connection to American funk and rap. Released in 2002, the album showed the movement could evolve and incorporate new influences without losing its core identity. The Ghostface collaboration proved French producers could work with American hip-hop artists as equals, not just as samplers of American records.