Legendary Producers Alan Braxe & DJ Falcon Join For First Collaborative Release As Braxe + Falcon

Today, pioneering French House architects Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon have shared their first ever joint collaboration as Braxe + Falcon with two new singles “Step By Step” featuring Panda Bear and “Creative Source”. The two tracks are a sublime exploration into the very essence of dance music and the first release from the pair’s debut EP, Step By Step, set to drop on vinyl on August 26 via Smugglers Way, Domino’s new dance & electronic focused imprint.

The collaboration between Braxe and Falcon, née Alain and Stéphane Quême, serves to create a modern duo both in scope and talent; Braxe is known for making some of the most important and iconic house and pop music records of the late 90s and early 2000s including “Music Sounds Better With You” (The Upper Cuts) as Stardust with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and official remixes for Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kelis, Kylie Minogue and more. Bangalter also collaborated with DJ Falcon in the early days, releasing the French Touch anthem “So Much Love To Give” as the duo Together. Along with quintessential remixes for Phoenix, Cassius and Justice, Falcon most recently co-produced / wrote and featured on “Contact”, the explosive closing track of Daft Punk’s 2013 megalith Random Access Memories.   

"In the early 2000s we each released our first respective music projects in collaboration with Thomas Bangalter on his Roulé label. It was a time of youthful nonchalance in which we barely knew what we were doing. It was a world of discovery, just making music without any preconceived notions or rules. Our state of mind at the time was very DIY, similar to punk, but with different types of instruments. Twenty years later the musical landscape and tools to make music have changed exponentially and become more complicated. Using modular synthesizers in the production of our new music and the happy accidents they generate have helped us reconnect with the punk spirit of the early days, freeing ourselves from convention. Our love for the oscillation between melancholy and hope that emerges from our use of repeated musical phrases and loops is as inspiring to us today as it was twenty years ago."  

Both “Step By Step” and “Creative Source” serve as testaments to each producers’ commitment to potent simplicity. “Step By Step” features vocals from noted French Touch fan Panda Bear, whose voice blends with hypnotic chords and syrupy synths into a final product resplendent in its lush simplicity. Braxe and Falcon explain, "The instrumental could be seen as a downtempo variation of the Roulé era club tracks. Panda Bear wrote and performed amazing vocals and it transformed the instrumental into a beautiful song, which in its final form could be defined as a power ballad with French house DNA." 

“Creative Source” comes on stronger and more upbeat by contrast, and is the product of an old sample from DJ Falcon. The pair chop, filter, and repeat a short, ambiguous vocal refrain (from the Creative Source song “I’d Find You Anywhere”, written by Pam Sawyer and Flying Lotus’ grandmother Marilyn McLeod) that dances around a looped horn blast. Despite being cousins, the two producers come together for the first time in 2022 with the intention of creating something new. Here the two producers return to what compelled them to make music in the first place - the joy of the process, fresh perspective, and appreciating the imperfections.