Cassius - 15 Again

Cassius - 15 Again image

Released 25^th September 2006

Formed in 1998, Cassius gained fame with their magical sound combining jazzy hip-hop and acidic disco. Many surely remember them for their debut single; UK club hit "Cassius 1999", shortly followed by the album simply titled "1999".

"Au Rêve", which followed three years later, was confessed as being an effort to build a "musical monument" by the duo. "We put a lot of time and resources - maybe too much," say the pair today. This was at a time when the French house music scene was disintegrating into a series of new cliques.

Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass each went back home to compose solo projects. But it soon became obvious that the sum of the parts each had composed could provide the material for a new duo album.

To retain the songs’ freshness and spontaneity, Zdar and Boom Bass exiled themselves to an Ibiza villa in the hills, scaled-back the technology and stuck to a firm eight-hour time limit for each production once back in Paris.

The first single from the album takes up the #1 position, the cheeky "Toop Toop" precedes the retro ip-op/melodic D&B flavoured "Rock Number One" - a gorgeous vocal tune plugged by none-other than on Radio 1’s Pete Tong. With singer Gladys back in tow "This Song" has distinct but catchy prog-punk sounds that lead on to the youthful electronica of Cassius’ title track "15 Again".

Pharrell’s thought-provoking vocals are carried by powerful riffs and intelligent beats on "Eye Water", with extra emotional French-touches added by Daft Punk. Acid synths and oldskool piano riffs cause a stir in the, well jacking "Jack Rock".

Their album sleeve notes read: “to all English speaking people and teachers, sorry for grammatical errors”…

Well mon petit producers (in adopted French accent), with your faultless production and top quality releases, there’s no apology required. Aside from the fact there isn’t more of it! La musiqué speaks for itself.