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Chris Carrier is one of those rare kinds of artists that have an omnipresent quality and yet do not seek to make their name bigger than the music itself. Chris Carrier is one of those rare kinds of artists that have an omnipresent quality and yet do not seek to make their name bigger than the music itself. You may not know it but there is a 99% chance you have experienced some dancefloor-based elation at the hands of the Parisian maestro. Releasing his first EP in 1994, he has over 20 years under his belt as a producer and DJ, with a huge back catalogue of releases. With all of that in his locker, Carrier remains ardent in his quest to create more and more classic material and is revered as one of the most prolific and gifted producers around today.
Carrier’s influence stretches way back to the nineties when his Chronobrain label became ubiquitous within the French techno scene, its releases played at many of the most famous techno raves week-in, week-out. He served a mentorship under the legendary Guillaume la Tortue (co-owner of Chronobrain), who was a pioneer of the nineties French scene, working with him for five years in the early stages of his long-running career.
As a DJ in the early nineties Chris’ obsession with music led to gigs at some of the early techno raves, held illegally in warehouses around Paris. In these formative years he not only asserted his diversity, flowing effortlessly between techno, drum n bass, hip-hop turntablism and house, but he also invested a large amount of time and energy in collecting an equally eclectic range of music. Often he would travel beyond the confines of his hometown to hit record shops overseas in shops such as Eight Ball (New York), Cisco (Japan) and Mr. Bongo (London), among many others. His dedication to the art of DJing provided Carrier with a superlative skillset and the ability to adapt to a wide range of genres and environments, whether it’s a vinyl-only set in an intimate club setting or a live set at the legendary Rex or Weather festival.
Besides his long list of high quality releases, and a myriad of influential labels (Adult Only, Chronobrain, Combustible, Taka, X86 and Sound Carrier, plus the more minimal-focused Adult Only Shape) that he has set up over the years, Chris’ recent achievements include albums on Apollonia – ‘Lotus Seven’ with Hector Moralez’ – and the solo LP ‘True Step Locomotion’ on Slapfunk, together with a seemingly endless flow of new music pouring out of his Paris studio.
Carrier has made an impact beyond the French borders, landing international gigs as far afield as Miami (with DJ Sneak and Derrick Carter), Womb in Tokyo, the infamous Circoloco, Fabric and, of course, Rex Club in Paris among many many more. In fact, his very first gig outside of France was in Kosovo where he played under Pristina Stadium for soldiers and locals who stayed in the city after the war.
Around 2003 his pristine productions brought him to the attention of label heavyweights Get Physical, Crack & Speed, Brique Rouge, Robsoul, Catwash, Night Shit, Detour and Freak n’ Chic. Each one of which was presented with a different version of his own musical vision and putting the underground star firmly at the forefront of the new French electronic movement. In 2008 he remixed Matthew Dear’s ‘Dog Days’ on Spectral and Kris Wadsworth’s ‘Keep Pushin’ on Adult Only. 2009 saw Carrier connect with Jef K’s Silver Network imprint and a string of hit EPs followed including ‘Morning’ with the disco house anthem ‘I’m In Love Today‘. He also joined forces with Jef K and Chicago legend Chez Damier to form The Gathering, and producing the now classic track ‘In My System’, which garnered huge support from all major house DJs, and invaded dance floors worldwide – ultimately charting at no.7 in Resident Advisor’s Top 50 tracks of the year, 2010.
More recently he has turned his hand to remixes for DJ Sneak with his ‘Tribal Sexy’ rework in 2011, produced the huge ‘Street Talk’, which landed on Off Recordings in 2012 – a track still played regularly by Apollonia – as well as teaming up with Djebali for ‘Galactical Dance’ on his own Adult Only label, plus fresh new material on Phil Weeks’ Robsoul.
Parallel to his endeavours as Chris Carrier, over the past year Chris has been rolling out music under a new alias - Monsieur Georget, hitting Hold Youth, Ultrastretch and Just Jack with his off-kilter house renditions. Georget is an alias that he uses to explore the depths of ‘micro-house’, keeping it minimal, raw and personal. Carrier’s inspiration coming from his love of bikes (his great, great uncle was a champion rider), mixed with a nod to his French pride and a mission to spread an ecological message. The Monsieur Georget album is full of stripped back, funky jams proving just how adept Carrier can be and placing before him endless possibilities.
Driven by an unrelenting pursuit to continue producing music of all genres and to carry on exploring the realms of his own musical imagination, Chris Carrier is an unstoppable force and undoubtedly a legend in his own lifetime.
