Biography
Alan Braxe stands behind numerous lasting successes within the French house movement. Worldwide recognition arrived when he joined Stardust as one of three members; the group’s lone release, the inescapable 1998 single “Music Sounds Better with You,” moved more than three million copies. He subsequently launched Vulture Music and issued multiple prominent club tracks, frequently alongside co-producer Fred Falke, drawing on disco and ’80s pop sources. The well-received compilation The Upper Cuts arrived in 2005, after which Braxe turned into a sought-after remixer who supplied the French touch to recordings by Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Jamiroquai, and additional artists. Occasional solo outings and joint efforts with producers such as Kris Menace followed, and he adopted an analog configuration toward the close of the 2010s, yielding projects including The Ascent EP (2019). Teaming once more with cousin DJ Falcon, he delivered the Step by Step EP in 2022.
Alain Quême entered the world in Paris during 1971. Early studies on cello and clarinet gave way to DJ work in the late ’80s. His first dance recordings relied solely on a mixer, a compressor, and a sampler. The debut single under the Alan Braxe name, “Vertigo,” came out on Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk’s Roulé imprint in 1997. Braxe and Bangalter next joined Braxe’s friend Benjamin Diamond for a set at Paris’s Rex Club. One composition prepared for that appearance incorporated a looped excerpt from Chaka Khan’s “Fate.” The trio kept refining the track at Bangalter’s studio, introducing further instruments and lyrics before removing most of Diamond’s vocals to leave a mantra-like result. The completed “Music Sounds Better with You” debuted at the 1998 Winter Music Conference in Miami and surfaced as a one-sided 12" on Roulé. After airplay from Pete Tong and fellow DJs, Virgin acquired the license and Michel Gondry helmed a dreamy clip. Popularity surged, sending the single to the top of charts across multiple territories; it endures as a club and radio fixture. Although Virgin proposed three million dollars for a full Stardust album, the three musicians chose to disband and pursue separate paths.
Braxe’s subsequent step involved establishing Vulture Music and partnering with Fred Falke on further filter-disco releases. The Running 12", fronted by “Intro,” surfaced in 2000, followed by “Palladium”/“Penthouse Serenade,” “Rubicon,” and additional titles. The Upper Cuts collected the bulk of Braxe’s earlier productions reaching back to “Vertigo” and earned strong critical notice. The Kris Menace collaboration “Lumberjack” and the Japan-exclusive Vulture Music Mixed by Alan Braxe both appeared in 2007. Braxe kept expanding his remixing credits, yet parted ways with Falke after 2007, the year they reworked material by Kylie Minogue, Justice, and Dragonette. “Addicted” and “Nightwatcher (Show Me)” (featuring Killa Kela and Fallon) emerged in 2008.
Moments in Time, a downtempo pop EP with the Spimes, arrived in 2013. Braxe next traded digital tools for a Buchla modular synthesizer, returning to the stripped-down approach of his earliest production experiments. The experimental The Ascent EP appeared in 2019, and Silence at Sea, prompted by Ian Urbina’s The Outlaw Ocean, followed in 2021. Braxe and cousin Stéphane Quême, performing as DJ Falcon, worked together for the first time in 2022 on the Step by Step EP, which includes guest vocals by Panda Bear on the title cut. The Upper Cuts received a 2023 reissue carrying an updated sequence and seven bonus tracks, among them a Britney Spears remix and an Annie collaboration.
Alain Quême entered the world in Paris during 1971. Early studies on cello and clarinet gave way to DJ work in the late ’80s. His first dance recordings relied solely on a mixer, a compressor, and a sampler. The debut single under the Alan Braxe name, “Vertigo,” came out on Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk’s Roulé imprint in 1997. Braxe and Bangalter next joined Braxe’s friend Benjamin Diamond for a set at Paris’s Rex Club. One composition prepared for that appearance incorporated a looped excerpt from Chaka Khan’s “Fate.” The trio kept refining the track at Bangalter’s studio, introducing further instruments and lyrics before removing most of Diamond’s vocals to leave a mantra-like result. The completed “Music Sounds Better with You” debuted at the 1998 Winter Music Conference in Miami and surfaced as a one-sided 12" on Roulé. After airplay from Pete Tong and fellow DJs, Virgin acquired the license and Michel Gondry helmed a dreamy clip. Popularity surged, sending the single to the top of charts across multiple territories; it endures as a club and radio fixture. Although Virgin proposed three million dollars for a full Stardust album, the three musicians chose to disband and pursue separate paths.
Braxe’s subsequent step involved establishing Vulture Music and partnering with Fred Falke on further filter-disco releases. The Running 12", fronted by “Intro,” surfaced in 2000, followed by “Palladium”/“Penthouse Serenade,” “Rubicon,” and additional titles. The Upper Cuts collected the bulk of Braxe’s earlier productions reaching back to “Vertigo” and earned strong critical notice. The Kris Menace collaboration “Lumberjack” and the Japan-exclusive Vulture Music Mixed by Alan Braxe both appeared in 2007. Braxe kept expanding his remixing credits, yet parted ways with Falke after 2007, the year they reworked material by Kylie Minogue, Justice, and Dragonette. “Addicted” and “Nightwatcher (Show Me)” (featuring Killa Kela and Fallon) emerged in 2008.
Moments in Time, a downtempo pop EP with the Spimes, arrived in 2013. Braxe next traded digital tools for a Buchla modular synthesizer, returning to the stripped-down approach of his earliest production experiments. The experimental The Ascent EP appeared in 2019, and Silence at Sea, prompted by Ian Urbina’s The Outlaw Ocean, followed in 2021. Braxe and cousin Stéphane Quême, performing as DJ Falcon, worked together for the first time in 2022 on the Step by Step EP, which includes guest vocals by Panda Bear on the title cut. The Upper Cuts received a 2023 reissue carrying an updated sequence and seven bonus tracks, among them a Britney Spears remix and an Annie collaboration.
Albums
Singles
