Young Pulse – LV Featured Artist
Young Pulse – LV Featured Artist
Hailing from Paris Young Pulse is a DJ, producer, mixing engineer and self confessed crate digger aficionado. Recently he has been turning heads with a series of brilliant edit/remix releases including his self released ‘The Disco Sound of : Motown’ and his excellent release on G.A.M.M. ‘Paris edits Vol.5’ comprising 2 sublime reworks. He has a mountain of releases upcoming including official remixes for Idris Muhammad and French star Veronique Sanson and a series of his own reworks and original tracks in the pipeline.
Young Pulse is very much a star on the rise so we tracked him down for an interview and also to grab a featured artist mix which he kindly put together for us to give us a flavour of his musical passions.
Hi there Young Pulse,
Great to meet you and thanks for taking time out to talk to us.
How would you describe the musical style of Young Pulse?
Great to meet you too and thanks for the invite. Well, the style of Young Pulse is a result of many things. I am a mixing engineer, producer, DJ and music lover from Paris with a hip hop background. I’ve been digging deeply into the grooves of the 70’s funk, disco, 80’s boogie, and 90’s house for the last few years. I made several original releases and hundreds of powerful disco reworks/remixes crafted for the dancefloor. I usually write additional productions over the tunes I rework, which allows me to bring something personal to the song and make my versions unique while keeping the essence of the OG. This Young Pulse touch has caught the attention of the community and gained the support of the pioneers, which meant that my work was on the right path. A few days back I found this, which can be better than a self description : “It would be fair to say that Young Pulse has been one of the most reliable re-editors of recent years… and has had amongst the most impressive rework-heavy EPs.”
Originally you were a hip Hop producer in Paris before moving to the US to work on a Jazz project with Jazz superstar Marcus Johnson. How would you say that these previous music projects in different genres have influenced how you approach your remixes and original tracks as Young Pulse?
I see all of this as a journey. When I started DJing at 15, I practiced with family records, funk and disco classics. Then I started buying hip hop records and making my own productions. I was a hard worker and was quickly approached by labels. I got quite popular in France and also produced for US rappers. One day, I met American jazz pianist Marcus Johnson, who offered something different: a collaboration between his urban jazz-funk and my DJ/producer skills and influences. At 25, I moved to DC and started making music with him. Together, besides the studio sessions, we were performing our tunes in jazz clubs, DJ/keyboards sets, and big festivals; I was on my machines triggering sequences, playing synth and scratching musical parts, while Marcus and his full band would be rocking and jamming on top of it. It was dope ! Working on a daily basis with heavy weight jazz and funk musicians inspired me to dig deeper into the grooves of the 70’s and 80’s, to get closer to their language and understand how to add groove to my productions. This is where I started remixing existing disco tunes, in order to play them with more personality in my sets as a DJ. It all changed there. Plus I wanted to have a solid knowledge of what happened in that era, before pretending to be a house music producer. I did my lessons first, disco 101.
Please can you give us 5 tracks / artists which have influenced your style of production.
• Minnie Riperton ft. Peabo Bryson – Here We Go
A perfect Slow jam with a heavy {neck factor} groove and a disco twist. The entrance of Peabo on verse two is amazing, and wait until the synth and guitar comes in after Minnie’s 2nd chorus. Pure beauty and a classic to me in my sets. Sampled in hip hop tune by AZ & Nas – Gimme Yours. I wish I had the stems!
• AM-FM – You Are The One
Classic go-go funk from Washington DC. The groove to the max.
• Storm Queen – Look Right Through
This is the track that made me fall in love with house music. Simple, groovy, sexy, and telling something. The production is amazing !
• Ashford & Simpson – Stay Free
One of my favourite disco anthems from 1979.
• Kerri Chandler – Bar a Thym
Kerri Chandler is one of my inspirations when it comes to house music.
You first caught our attention with your excellent ‘The Disco Sound of : Motown’ EP which features excellent house flavoured remixes of some of our favourite disco anthems. It’s really joyful celebration of some of Motown’s best moments. What influenced you to do the EP and do you have any plans to revisit the label to bring us more remixes?
I have been doing this reworks-remixes thing since 2013. At first I created a rendez-vous for my followers with the “Thursday reworks” and the “monthly reworks”, where I was dropping a single remix each time. It worked well, I had very good reviews and a growing fanbase. Recently, after a conversation with a colleague, we came up with the fact that I should be delivering more remixes at once. That’s how the idea came about of choosing a label, a specified genre in the label to work on, and that I first dropped “The Disco sound of : Motown (remixed by Young Pulse)”.
This was way more exciting that doing a single remix too. You have to make the selection of tunes, dig for the multitracks or separate elements, edit the whole things, replay instruments, unleash creativity, to end with a mix/mastering of the whole project and a final signature. Also when you look at it, this EP is not only made for DJs, this is a project you can listen to as a music lover, even as a non-connoisseur who makes his first steps into the sound of that era. It has something educational to it too. There’s definitely going to be more.
You are currently resident at Badaboum in Paris as well as being Co-founder of Mochi Party, a fusion of vinyl, funk, disco, rare grooves and also a member of the excellent Funky French League. How would you describe the club scene in Paris at the moment? Are there any clubs / parties which are real standouts?
Yes, it has been quite a busy year. Mochi Party is the result of my collaboration Mochi Men (https://www.facebook.com/mochimenmusic) with selector DJ ATN. As records collectors, we decided to throw our own party and then started our residency at the apartment of Badaboum in Paris
By extension, we decided to lanch our record label MOCHI RECORDS which should see the light by the end of year.
Funky French League is the collective founded by Uncle Tex and 7 of us. We are 30 to 50 years old, DJs, producers or diggers in various genres, African, Brazilian funk, disco, boogie, 80’s hip hop… and our main connection is the groove. We have been rocking France with many gigs and are also working on official releases with major labels. A few weeks ago we started a new party, the Funk Phenomena, which reached over 3200 people attending.
It was the best party of its kind in Paris and proved that the club scene is actually coming really good. It feels like people are reaching for more soulful music and grooves than a few years back, which I think is exciting! That’s what you can experience when you go spend a night at Djoon Club, they have the best soulful music and the vibe is off the charts.
There is also the Mona Party hosted by Nick V and friends, a condensed party of disco and garage with all the house and vogue dancers. And you can definitely lose your mind at the gay disco party La Madame Klaude once a month with their amazing team and crowd, plus the féérie of their drags and beauties on stage. There is a very good vibe right now in Paris.
You are also resident at the Bussey Building in London, a great venue that is a real melting pot of music DJ styles. How does London compare to playing at home in Paris?
I am very excited that the Mochi Party reached the UK with a residency at Bussey Building every trimester.video mochi party UK edition #1 :
Since I’ve had the chance to DJ in England, I’m in love with the vibe, and I always look forward to coming back. People are very responsive to music, happy and open minded, and they know how to party. When you play great tunes in the UK, it is like butter, and I’ve been surprised to see that age does not matter: a 50 years old will dance more than a 20 year old. I love this.
Over the last 5 years the disco / edits scene has grown hugely, where do you see it going over the next 5 years and are there any artists breaking through that we should be looking out for?
A lot has been done, and I don’t know how it’s gonna be like for the next 5 years. To be really honest, I don’t have time to catch up with everything that’s being released, there’s way too much music, and some of it in the reedit world has been done over and over again. I feel like it’s fading a little. This is why it’s important to come up with ideas and creativity. And when it comes to creativity, I think of Moplen, Dimitri From Paris, The Reflex, John Morales, Joey Negro, Mike Maurro… who remain on my top list. I wish I can make more remixes from multi-tracks in the future. Working with multis unleashes creativity, and this is where you can demonstrate your style and reveal your own signature.
You also have radio show residencies on Le Mellotron and Radio Meuh, how would you describe the shows and what times are they one so that we can check them out?
Yes, I am hosting a live radio show on Le Mellotron every 1st Thursday of the month from 6 to 8pm (France) with my associate Dj ATN as Mochi Men. We play a fine selection of records we like, boogie, rare grooves, jazz-funk, Japanese, library music… and also our own productions.
I also have two other residencies with my collective Funky French League , on Radio Meuh and Le Mellotron as well. We split the calendar in order to have two members of the crew do a 1-hour mix on both radios each month. Each member has its own personality into the mixes and selection, so the range of knowledge is very large. It is amazing!
Do you approach putting together your radio shows in a different manner to playing live shows as Young Pulse and which do you prefer?
Yes it is quite different. It is more about the selection than the technique. For example in my shows I am not afraid of playing a slower jam after a high tempo track, which would be trickier to do at a gig. I usually bring a selection of 50 records to the radio and play probably 20 of them, it is not prepared in advance and I go with the flow. What I am sure is that every tune I have selected has that groove, which is the main point ! Playing live sets in clubs is very different, more pressure, more sweat, also more reaction and excitement; you see the reactions, feel the people, and when you connect with everyone, everything comes easy 😉 I’d say I prefer live DJ sets.
What can we expect from Young Pulse over the rest of 2018?
Many things. Last week saw the release of my “Paris Edits vol. 5” which you can find on limited vinyl edition on G.A.M.M. . Coming soon is the official release of my remix of Idris Muhammad – Boogie To The Top, which should be followed by the remix of Véronique Sanson – Bernard’s Song and another from the same artist, remixed by Woody Braun and myself as Funky French League. Let’s not forget the launch of my label MOCHI RECORDS with ATN. I am also working on my first house EP. Of course, you’ll still be able to find new disco reworks and remixes, radio shows, podcasts and parties. It is just the beginning, and everything will be announced on my newsletter and social medias.
And finally, please can you give us 3 tips for a great night out in Paris. A place to eat, a place to drink and a place to dance.
I’d start with le Fréquence, a cocktail bar that opened in the center of Paris and that is amazing. Cocktails are as good as the tapas, and the team is made of crate diggers so the sound and music selection out there is outstanding. 10/10. Then I’d go to meet the good crew at le Balcon de l’Alcazar. The Cocktails are fantastic, the team is elegant and eccentric. Make sure it is the soirée Cancan or a Dj set by Patrick Vidal. To finish with some dance moves, I’d recommend you go either way to Djoon Club, or to Badaboum, according to what you are looking for, the selection should be great either way. And if you are a crate digger, I will add 3 records shops to the list : Betino, Heartbeat Vinyl, and Panorama Records.
For More Info on Young Pulse check:
Newsletter : www.youngpulsemusic.com
Discography : www.youngpulse.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud : www.soundcloud.com/youngpulse
Facebook : www.facebook.com/youngpulsepage
Instagram : www.instagram.com/youngpulse
Tracklist For Young Pulse’s Featured Artist Mix for Le Visiteur Online
1. Young Pulse – Dreaming [from «Young Pulse : Paris Edits vol. 5»]
2. Carl Bean – I Was Born This Way (Young Pulse remix) [The Disco Sound of : MOTOWN (remixed by Young Pulse)]
3. Thelma Houston – Don’t Leave Me This Way (Young Pulse remix) [The Disco Sound of : MOTOWN (remixed by Young Pulse)]
4. The Originals – Down To Love Town (Young Pulse remix) [The Disco Sound of : MOTOWN (remixed by Young Pulse)]
5. Teena Marie – You’re All The Boogie I Need (Young Pulse remix) [The Disco Sound of : MOTOWN (remixed by Young Pulse)]
6. Mavis Staples – Tonight I Feel Like Dancing (Young Pulse rework) – EXCLUSIVE
7. Young Pulse – Strong Survive [from «Young Pulse : Paris Edits vol. 5»]
8. Veronique Sanson – Bernard’s Song (Young Pulse remix) – EXCLUSIVE
