Just out of his teens, Sebastien Devaud – not yet Agoria, but already a
music lover – stamped his feet in front of the counter of a record shop
specialized in electronic sounds (or house music as it was then known).
He was waiting for improbable American or German vinyls that would
shape a culture and a well-defined willpower to engage permanently in
an eccentric/electric lifestyle…
A true education in parallel to the countryside family nest, where his
fairly artistic parents (his father is the architect of the
bubble-house on the cover of his debut album, and his mother teaches
music) give him a taste for music and real life, where childhood
friends are friends for life, and where his radio serves as a musical
matrix…
When he discovers the first techno tracks and raves, it was a true
electroshocks that will lead this young man to give life to what could
have been a mere childhood dream, mark of the passionate worker with an
insatiable curiosity and eternal smile.
THE
“BLOSSOMING”:
2003, Barcelona, Sonar, 5AM - Agoria enjoys the communion with a raging
audience of 10000 people… He’s come a long way: training on the
machines, first records for small companion labels, learning the record
industry too; a publisher, an agent, a manager, true commercial and an
album “Blossom”, in 2004.
Critically acclaimed all over the world, “Blossom” is a milestone for
the new dance scene mixing inventive melodies, groove and beats.
Nothing to explain, just take note: a little something more, the
sincere craving to try. And it works: a track with Tricky on the first
album, a remix for Paul Kalkbrenner (Bpitch Control), or Inner City
Detroit anthem “Big Fun”, consistent artwork (hello Kofea), cheeky
12’’, real underground hits heard on every single dance floor (La 11ème
Marche, Sky Is Clear, Spinash Girl), a couple of plebiscite at the core
of electronic music (Trax, Groove,Dj Mag...).
TRAVEL
BROADENS MIND:
Carrying round flight case, headphones and Sunday t-shirts every
weekend, Sebastien Devaud spread his Dj skills around the globe.
Shifting from local basement to international clubs and festivals, from
Brazil to Japan, Spain, Germany ... The list is too long! Probably
because of his attention to emotion and details in his set, Agoria was
elected two years in a row best DJ by the Trax magazine's readers poll.
2005, time to lay the staggering experience of his set down on a CD:
Cute & Cult! Inside : 15 years knowledge, rare & beautiful things, from the Mulholland Drive soundtrack theme to a stunning piano reinterpretation of Derrick May's anthem... not to mention an exclusive new track Les Beaux Jours done especially for the project. A perfect hors d'oeuvre
for his new album, “The Green Armchair”.
THE EVIDENCE:
Whether the fundamentalists of the electronic genre like it or not, The
Green Armchair was Undoubtedly an essential success of the fusion of
styles. Eleven tracks of today’s music, a sort of snapshot of a certain
vision of electronic music, terribly ambitious, yet perfectly
accomplished and mastered.
A few dancefloor tracks, “Code 1026”, unanimously recognized as one of
the techno anthem of year 2006, “Europa” or the classic “Les Violons
Ivres”... A few unusual collaborations aimed at bringing the listener
to a sort of melancholic reverie, to insert a bit of bittersweet
reflection beyond the original bang-bang-bang : Peter Murphy from the
cult krautrock band Bauhaus, Neneh Cherry, the soul sister or Francesco
Tristano, a gifted young pianist ... As a DJ he as kept on visiting the
world with club residencies in Barcelona (Loft / Razzmatazz), Madrid
(Danzoo/Macumba), Lyon (Nuits Sonores, festival that he created in his
hometown and who is now the biggest music French festival) and Paris
(Rex Club).
BE BRAVE:
No wonder this insatiable appetite for diversity and quality led
Sebastien to set up his own label. Born French late 2006, InFiné... has
since then traveled to Mexico with Cubenx, to Berlin with Apparat,
Austria with Clara Moto or to Bamako with Donso. From the darkness of
Marseilles Danton Eeprom's electronic beats to the clear and almost
divine piano notes of Barcelona’s Francesco Tristano, Sebastien keeps
with InFiné as with his own productions on tracking quality across the
genre for the sake of music.
AT
THE CONTROLS:
2007 was also a busy year with remixes for: Underground Resistance
release from John “Billiebob” Williams, Unkle “Burn My Shadow” new
single and his Lyon’s neighbour Scalde… He set up his first live with
his mates the Spanish Jose Lagarellos on machines and the Berliner
Honza from Pfadfinderei video design company. Created first time in his
hometown Nuits Sonores festival (2007 edition) and then he took off for
Dour festival (Benelux), Astropolis (Brest/France), Dance Valley,
(Amsterdam/Holland), Creamfields (Almeria/Spain)…
Meanwhile, after James Holden, Mandy and just before Claude von Stroke,
Agoria released the third issue of the mythic “At The Controls” mixed
compilation collection, merging in two CD, tracks from his new InFiné
favorites, cinematic soundscapes and club anthems. Innovative and
diversified, “At The Controls” ended up second in Resident Advisor 2007
compilation chart.
GOING FASTER:
The action movie, focused on these famous ‘Go Fasters’, the automobile
pilots with a fury for ultra-powerful, armed convoys who transport over
a ton of hashish at 200 km/hour or more on the European motorways, with
an aim of outsmarting the police forces. It just so happens that
producers Emmanuel Prévost and Stéphane Lecomte listened to Agoria’s
album ‘The Green Armchair’ completely by chance. They were soon to fall
head over heels in love with the album, and decided to synchronise two
scenes of the film with tracks ‘Code 1026’ and ‘Europa’. Agoria asks to
see the scenes. Soon, he enjoys it so much that he is asked to compose
the entire score for the film. Apparently, imagining music over images
is a job in itself. Agoria soon realises this when someone tells him.
But it does not deter him as he tools to compose another album, which
could naturally become his third, simply inspired from the images and
the scenario of ‘Go Fast’. Three Eps will be taken from the soundtrack
and released on 12”: “Dust”, “Diva Drive” and “Solarized”.
All of the them with a distinct style…
WHAT..S NEXT?
Agoria is taking a new bend end of the year 2009. On top of remixes for
Josh Wink..s Ovum and the funky official keyboard of the soulfull
hip-hop Quannum Collective from San Francisco, General Elektriks, he
will sign, “Magnolia”, a first EP for his own label InFiné in November.
2010 should also see the release of Internationally well known mixed
compilation … and the shine of his fourth album.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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