French duo Chateau Flight doesn’t release music on any particular schedule and is not tied to a specific sound. The duo consists of Gilbert Cohen and Nicholas Chaix, two men that are veterans not only in the studio but also in the music industry as a whole. Cohen is the man behind the French label Versatile Records, which brought us Chaix’s “M Megamix” earlier this year under his I:Cube guise. The pair has been creating and supporting quality music since the mid nineties and continue to do so with their latest record “Kounka”. Backed with two remixes courtesy of Steve Moore, the final package straddles a thin line between techno and house.
From the beginning, “Kounka” is all about spacey and futuristic synthesizers. There is not a moment without some variation of bleeps, unidentifiable squelches or noisy swooshes. All of that movement is balanced out by a steady bassline, which brings enough consistency to keep feet moving. This might sound like too much chaos for the dancefloor, but trust us when we say this makes waves. If you’re lucky enough, even those chin-stroking industry people in the corner might bust a move. Then there’s Steve Moore’s remix of “Kounka” – it’s considerably more subdued than the original, but if anything even more hypnotic (and not in a generic techno way). Stripped down to maybe five or six of the original’s core elements, Moore spaces them out and gives us a little of room to breathe. The kicker is the polyrhythms at the center of most of this remix, which immediately grabs our attention. Moore does a brilliant job including and resampling the live builds and bleeps of the original. The final cut is “In Alpha (Steve Moore Off-World Remix)” and it actually does sound like it’s from some an off world or distant planet. This track’s a slow burner and conjours up images a spacecraft gliding with precision towards an unknown planet. There is no kick to this track, just slow polyrhythms, pads (right out of an eighties sci-fi film) and sounds resembling hydraulic doors opening. All of this only bolsters our visions of a spacecraft in deep space. Chateau Flight and Versatile Records are ending the year on a very strong note and if this is the direction they continue to move in, they have our full support.
Stream: Chateau Flight – Kounka (Versatile Records)
Chateau Flight’s “Kounka” is available now on Versatile Records.
