PARA ONE YOU TOO [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Just saw this on Twitter and had to write about it. Coming from co-founder of Marble records Jean Baptiste de Laubier, aka Para One, it is a wonderful song that incorporates elements of classic dance numbers to create a pretty euphoric vibe. It's called 'You Too' and you too should listen to it most definitely.

It's come just at the right time of year, especially taking into consideration the recent VERY NICE WEATHER that we're seeing in the South of England (yeah, we can say that too y'know, just like South of France... kind of) - that's because it's a pretty much a summer anthem. There's so much in it that just screams "fun in the sun", a Balearic atmosphere that only the most hardy detractors of dance music are immune to - in these instances it's like using Earthquake against a Flying-type Pokémon: not gonna work. But that's them. To each their own.

In essence, 'You Too' is basically a live edit of Para One's 'You' that he has been slipping into his late night DJ sets recently. The original bubbled along with soft watery synth, produced with cutting attention. 'You Too', however, goes a little differently.

Keeping the original chord progression of the original, the song begins with stuttering synth supported by a skipping beat and booming bass that soon give way to house piano chords. What a nostalgic feeling these evoke, even though I am not old enough to remember when this kind of sound was new. These are not the lifeforce of the song, however: warm synth rises up out of the bashing rhythm of the piano. The twisted vocal sample from the original still comes back, having pride of place when the atmosphere in the song plateaus out as well as before its mountainous build-ups.

It continues like this, Para One altering the dynamics of the song throughout to provide a luminary experience for all who hear the song, chilling them out one minute before getting them to jump on their feet - all without telling them to do so. It's the kind of song that a lot of people will say belongs only in clubs and that's it, but I can already imagine hearing this in the sweltering streets, in gardens fogged with barbecue smoke and the glint of the sun through half-frozen beer bottles. It's for summer.

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Listen to Para One on SoundCloud
Like Para One on Facebook
Learn about Para One on Wikipedia!
Hear some Para One on Myspace
Follow Para One on Twitter
VisitPara One's official site

PARA ONE WHEN THE NIGHT FEAT JAW

Since we wrote about this song earlier this summer, someone's been hard at work making an official video for it. Now, without further ado, here it is:

As I said last time, there's a lot of funk going on here. Funk meets 21st century electro, they have an affair, they elope, they make music in urban disco landscapes. A lovely mix of big-lunged, soulful vocals, slappy bass and zingy synth, all rolled into a spring roll of lurid night time colours and the vague promises that come with them. In a word: lovely.

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Para One on SoundCloud
Para One on Facebook
Para One's Wikipedia page
Para One on Myspace
Para One on Twitter

DOP THE HYPE + TALK SHOW

I have found out who Jaw is.

If you read my post covering Para One yesterday, you will know that I was agonising over who did the vocals for the wonderful song 'When The Night'. We knew the name, Jaw, but we knew nothing else. It was a mystery. A big old mystery.

But then I got a tweet from Teki Latex, a Paris-based electro/hip-hop artist, who told me that Jaw is part of a group called dOP.

That's them, just in the top right of this post. You can see that they are "a dynamic trio of musicians, combining live instruments, vocals and electronics as if it was the simplest thing in the world" (thanks, EB). Or maybe you can't see that. But they just are.

So in the spirit of finding new music to enjoy, and without further ado, here is my chosen song from their SoundCloud, called 'The Hype'. With its stand-out mean-ass beat that exudes pure bass and modified vocals from who I can only assume is this mysterious Jaw, the track is well-tuned in the direction of being one thing: a deep-house treasure trove.



It's intense and heavy, kind of like carrying a cloud full of rain that keeps thundering and flashing like a crazy storm across a field that is not a field at all but a dancefloor with multicoloured glowing tiles. And in fact it may be like the kind of heavy when you carry a watermelon like Baby in Dirty Dancing.

And I really have to share another song. It's called 'Talk Show' and it goes a little something like this...



It's like film noir meets jazz and they start tangoing around a room filled with smoke that smells of pure dance sensibilities. This is where the skill as instrumentalists come in. It's sometimes not just about being able to manipulate sound via analogue or digital means. Sometimes it's about playing some instruments and bringing a super retro sound to what is really a modern world. It's a playground of real sounds that slide easily into the ear like a person going down a water slide into a filled with brilliant turquoise water. That easily.

Looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

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• Here's dOP's SoundCloud for more rambunctious sounds
• Here they are on Facebook
• Myspace.
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PARA ONE YOU [FREE DOWNLOAD] [VIDEO]

It's funny that Annie Mac has shared this wonderful song by French producer Para One, aka Jean-Baptiste de Laubier, because it was last night on Annie Mac's show that I first heard some music by the man himself. There he is, on the right, with the glasses.

That particular song was called 'When The Night' and features vocals from an enigmatic singer known only as Jaw, about whom I can find absolutely nothing written. Does anybody know who this guy is? Who is Jaw? What is Jaw? Is it possible to ever truly know Jaw?

Either way, he's done a veritable number on Para One's track. 'When The Night' is a blissful glitchfest of electro house interweaved with heady doses of life-affirming funk and soul. Favourite lyric: My name is Whatever... My name is Whatever +1. Great stuff. It sounds like a James Brown / Mr Oizo hybrid. Listen below.


It's full of summery vibes and that's what we like. Especially with the sun finally back from the menders and working properly, it's time this song was pouring out from car windows like both flavours of Slush Puppy and onto the roads and pavements where everyone would swim in it like fish-turned-human-turned-fish-again.

The song of this post, however, is a little different. Called 'You', it's quite different to 'When The Night', and in fact is just a little taster of how juicily versatile Para One's new album Passion really is. There's definitely an element of garage here, namely in the beat, which creates the foundation for the entire song: fast-paced, euphoric, urban, and completely electro'd to the max. That garage beat is the song's hook, really, and something that is currently making me listen to it a million times in a row. The vocal samples are fun, offbeat and funky, mixing with the frenetic synths whizzing around as if the track were really a boiling pot of joyful dancing molecular structures. Or little atoms at a party.



Wonderful. You can download the track now. I know you want to.

But I've also found the video. It was directed by a couple of members of Club Cheval (Panteros666 and Myd, to be exact), a Parisian quartet of electro fun who are pretty big at the moment - or in other words, le groupe parisien en plein boom actuellement. Enjoy!


Para One - You by paraone
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• Listen to more Para One on his SoundCloud
• You can also find Para One on Facebook
• Look, Para One is on Wikipedia!
• Myspace, too...
• And of course, follow Para One on Twitter
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