As Blisspop regulars have probably noticed, I can’t get away from the French House and Disco trio Les Loups from Germany. I first posted about them in late 2010 and have been closely following the group since. Listening to work as its been released throughout the past year and a half, I’ve developed a more mature appreciation for these genres and can thank Les Loups for educating my ears along the way. From their first few unmastered productions in 2010 to some EP and single releases in 2011, they’ve consistently been a fuel to my youthful love for this style of music. After much anticipation, informal releases/teasers, and date delays, the long-awaited official release of Les Loups’ debut LP Club Cœur has finally been set for April 6 on So Sound Recordings.

Les Loups – Club Cœur Theme: Intro

“Being influenced by Jazz, Indie Rock, House and Hip Hop, the Les Loups trio got together and started to produce French House based on disco samples from the late 70s and early 80s, creating their own trademark fresh sound.” The album features 10 hefty tracks, roughly half of which have been shared online previously, including the addictive gem “Perfect Situation.” The other half of which are brand new and ready to become staple tracks to keep you stuck to the dance floor. However, as it’s likely you’ve listened to their work before, almost every track unofficially released previously has noticeably been revisited and mastered with a French touch led by Michael Woodruff.

A personal favorite of mine, “Good Friends,” was streamed as a teaser on the web for a while until it was taken down early last year without any note on whether it would return. Fortunately, the track was pulled back onto the production table only to be mastered and pieced into the LP at a much smoother quality than before. The soft synths heard in “Amicus“ have been brought into the album by “The Break-up” as it keeps the synths within its funky guitar and bass rhythms. As with the rest of the LP, the music comes at an amazingly soothing quality with the help of deep bass streams behind cozy percussion and vocals, varying from soulful in “Elephant & Ivory” to the soprano-style energetic voice heard in “Must Be Love,” all perched on platforms of their heart-racing disco rhythms.

Les Loups – The Break-Up

“We wanted to create positive and powerful Dance music to bring something new to our hometown…we wanted to start a disco revolution in a club scene where everybody plays either Electro Rave or Minimal House…we wanted to bring bongos, love themes and funky baselines back. And now is worldwide,” says Les Loups’ Philipp Landmann.

Initially set for release in early 2011, this debut is one they’ve certainly taken careful time to complete over the past couple years to make sure its final release has every second recognized. Followers of their SoundCloud as of March 11th are currently getting an exclusive stream of the entire album and, therefore, we can only provide a few of the newly mastered versions of the tracks to the public. If you have been a follower, click here for exclusive access. If not, hope is not lost. It’s already been made available to preview and buy on iTunes.

Les Loups – Elephant & Ivory

For comparison purposes, We’ve uploaded the unmastered version of “Good Friends” for which I recommend you take a listen and compare to the mastered version of the track either on iTunes or Beatport. As you can hear, the bass lines hit with much more prominence and its groove doesn’t flow as smooth as does their newly mastered version. The same difference is seen within other tracks on the album in regards to contrast between instruments and the rhythmic flow throughout the songs – the bongos definitely helped in this case. As an end note, while having the album on repeat during the entire time writing this, I can say Club Cœur will not disappoint, and as it translates “Heart Club,” it’ll certainly make you fall in a deeper love with French House and Disco just as it’s done to me.

Preview and purchase Les Loups’ Club Cœur on iTunes.

All the way from Paris, disco-electro producer, Monsieur Adi, proudly released his second EP Fire Fire Fire on February 20th from Technofavrik Records. Adi introduced us to the EP in September with the album-titled single “Fire Fire Fire,” which caught the attention of many and helped energize the hype for this 6-track EP.

Monsieur Adi – Fire Fire Fire

The album is set in an orchestral landscape filled with dark, mission-hungry electro that influences both the instrumentals and vocals throughout. Monsieur Adi ignites the album into a “modern-day symphony” that peaks at many epic scenes with pulsing beats and rock-influenced flow. For vocals, Adi reached out to top UK singer/song writer Gary Go who gave input for the tracks “Fire Fire Fire,” “Blood,” and “Last Stand.”

During the 2 years since his first EP “We Are The Romans,” he’s been releasing a variety of collaborations and remixes from the works of Visitor, Daft Punk, Justice, Ellie Goulding, and Madonna that indeed gave listeners much anticipation for the EP. However, as Fire Fire Fire is expected to grasp a considerable amount of respect, Adi is labeling it only as an excerpt for what’s to come. Later this year, he plans to release a full-length album titled Empire – stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can now purchase Fire Fire Fire today on iTunes.

Monsieur Adi – Blood

In addition, Adi is currently spearheading a remix contest for his track “Requiem” until March 5th. He’s thoughtfully posted the stems for the song in a SoundCloud set that you can download and begin transforming. Three winners will be selected: “One remix will be chosen by Monsieur Adi and Technofavrik. The other will be chosen by the people.” You can follow the status of the contest, and later on, contribute to voting on his Facebook and Twitter.

Splashin’ up summer vibes from Paris, we give you funky French house producer, Cézaire. Cézaire is Jean Juan Janin, originally from Miami but currently residing in the heart of France. He delivers a soothing, melodic, yet dance-inspiring collection of work filtered with layers of funk, high-pitched synths, and sexy vocals.

Cézaire- Pleasure

Jean has been sporadically releasing his work online for the past year, giving us a taste of Cézaire’s fluid funky rhythms and meaty basslines. Despite no noted intention of a debut EP or official releases in the near future, you’ll quickly discover his talent is one to appreciate and keep in contact with as he definitely will be going places soon. Take a listen to the tunes streamed here then jump over to his SoundCloud for an essential collection of more French house gems.

Cézaire – Malibu

Cézaire – True

We’ve covered the work of Will Phillips a few times on the blog before but much has changed since our last update in September. Will previously released dreamy synthpop under the name Little Loud up until 2012 when he decided to rebrand as Tourist. Getting comfortable in the new outfit, he’s preparing for his debut Placid Acid EP set to release on March 12th via UK label Make Mine.

Just about a month ago, Will gave his introduction to Tourist by streaming the album’s first song titled “Placid Acid.” The track carries the orchestral rhythm and high-pitched electronic characteristics that we saw with his work as Little Loud and has already received a substantial amount of feedback from listeners. This week he let loose another EP preview, “Jupiter,” which is yet another catchy tune that stretches vocal echoes across an electropop landscape – listen to it streamed below. Both of these previews give us another refreshingly smooth taste of his production in anticipation of the EP to come. From initially being a known as a remixer and slowly dabbling his way into original production, Will has certainly worked his way up to confidently building an EP as well as beginning to do live performances.

Stay tuned to his Facebook and SoundCloud for more upcoming previews and the official release of Placid Acid EP. Tracklist is as follows:

1. Placid Acid
2. Forgive
3. Jupiter
4. Fires

Most of his previous work as Little Loud has been disposed but some tracks are still available for listen on Myspace.

I recently stumbled upon the work of 21 year-old French house producer Renée Leveque from the southern shores of Monte Carlo, France. Renée began experimenting with music at the young(er) age of 15 and has been getting comfortable with production up until the beginning of 2012 when her work was first put up for listen.

While growing up listening to, and taking influence from, Daft Punk and Paul Johnson, to name a couple, she became more passionate in the production of disco and French house. “I would see my older brothers playing with their turntables and always wanted to be in music… When I had time during the summer I would try my hand at music, I wanted to become really good, I would practice at night after class all the way into the early morning.”

Over the past month, she’s been letting loose a series of catchy, disco-heavy tracks under their New York-based label Digital Love Records. With each full of energy, lustful vocal samples, and a rhythm to compliment the warmer seasons of France, you’ll find her work to be a quite irresistible collection of tunes that will keep you dancing all night long.

Enjoy some of her work streamed here, head on over to her SoundCloud for the newest releases, and be sure to support this up-and-comer on Facebook as well.