It’s a well-known image of the disco prodigy: from behind dozens of multi-coloured drums, with a Bee Gees’ hairstyle and a Burt Reynolds moustache, Marc Cerrone shakes with each drum kick, and everyone with him. In the 70’s, this drum kick, placed at the forefront like a heartbeat, became his trademark. Through a handful of hit songs (‘Love in C Minor’, ‘Supernature’, ‘Gimme Love’), the Frenchy made the entire American club culture pulsate, along with the hedonists from the pre-Regan era.
30 million albums sold and five Grammys later, the young guy from the Paris suburbs who played solos in front of the clubs of Saint Tropez has come a long way. For Cerrone, rhythm has always been an obsession: from his first drum set alone in his room at the age of 12, to his wild concerts for the bicentenary of the French Revolution in Paris or the launch of the first Japanese high-definition TV station in Tokyo, rhythm has always followed him. From his first funk band, The Kongas, to his collaborations with Nile Rogers or Earth Wind & Fire, Afro-American music has been the catalyst of Cerrone’s career.Like a revolving disco ball, he is now going back to his first love.
With Afro, the first EP of an album planned to come out in the summer of 2016, the master of disco is going back to the source. Three tracks for a passionate tribute to Africa and its syncopated, spontaneous and original rhythms.Between Afrobeat and Blaxploitation, ‘2nd Chance’ opens with the relentless rhythms of Tony Allen, Fella Kuti’s legendary drummer. An obvious wink at one of the best-known songs of the Cameroonian saxophonist, ‘Funk Makossa’ combines Manu Dibango’s fever with reminiscences of Cerrone’s first band, The Kongas. Epicurean and festive, ‘Bodytalk’ is a bag of glitter thrown in an ocean of unapologetic bass and exhilarating brass.
The casting also includes remixes: Todd Edwards, American producer and regular collaborator of Daft Punk; and Mind Enterprises, a brilliantly inspired young Italian electro-pop musician.
(*from the press release of ‘Afro EP’, out February 12th 2016)
The Sound of Nick Zois 