28-year old Parisian, Julien Jabre was a hip hop fan at just 13. He turned towards house music out of
curiosity as the aggressive style of hip hop and rap, meant he didn’t feel that close to the music.
At 16 he began listening to ‘A Deep Groove’, the cult programme on FG Radio presented by DJ Gregory, Alex
from Tokyo and DJ Deep, who Julien really wanted to meet. Julien ended up meeting and getting on so well
with DJ Gregory, he was asked to present the radio show while he was away in New York. Although he was
terrified, Julien’s first on-air mix really impressed DJ Deep.
He started working with DJ Gregory in his studio. At the same time as the famous TGV club nights, supported
by DJ Deep and DJ Gregory, Julien threw himself into all kinds of work, DJing, composing as well as
producing. He always uses his sensitivity to find a new form of sensual, beat-driven music fit for clubs.
His first collaboration with DJ Gregory, under the name “Fantom” was “Faithfull” which had great success on
vinyl and CD. Julien was 19 and had finished studying sound engineering which gave him enough skill to be
able to produce and mix all his own music in the future.
In 1998, Julien collaborated closely with his friend DJ Deep. Together, they released an album, “The Deep”,
several singles and remixes from equally famous labels, Nervous and Versatile. Julien rejoined Gregory in
New York and they worked and ended up signed by Soha who still release the duo’s work.
Julien Jabre chose to release his first tracks on Basic Recordings (“Voodance”, “Yalopa”, “Déliverance”).
During this key period, he naturally decided to move away from DJing as club mixing was becoming dull and he
wanted to concentrate on new music as his passion. Dancefloor - targeted tracks are limited because of the
fact they are tailored to become a “comfortable” sound. Julien’s search for harmony and strong originality
shows his innate ability to create music, even without vocals.
He continued to work with Gregory and Soha, a collaboration which represented the relationship between club
culture and emotion, melody and elegance. Through Soha, Julien signed several tracks (“Amour”, “Gabbeh”) as
well as remixes (“Work” by Masters at Work) and collaborated with the Africanism project in 2001 (“Les
Enfants du Bled”, “Takemussa”).
In 2003, Julien started Elias, his own label, with which he could experiment with all musical styles.
“Paixao” has souk-tinted melodies from Cape Verde or “War”, a pure techno track. Subsequently, he worked on
the “Sneakers Freak Club” project to provide the album’s opening track “Same and Better”.
Julien Jabre has recorded “Swimming Places”, a huge hit at the 2005 Winter Music Conference. Initially
released on Elias in September 2005, it will be re-released by Defected Records in early 2006. For the rest
of 2006, Julien will dedicate himself to composing and producing his first album.
