Montpellier imprint Monstart celebrates its 20th release with Stepping Out, a 10-track melting pot of genre-bending, forward thinking dance music from Ouanounou and Gipsyan.
Since 2009, Ouanounou and Chatte Chatoyante have worked to promote a more unique musical experience not found amidst the usual sonic architecture of the Montpelliérain music scene.
In Ouanounou’s own words, Monstart has become a meeting place for artists with a mindset for free thinking club music. This is demonstrated best in its short but diverse catalogue. EP’s such as their 2021 release Monstart Vol 6: Togetherness Harmony is an interesting example of the labels playful attitude towards genre flexibility which takes tracks like Surgeons Girl – Sink or Drive with its ambient, downtempo vibes and shuffling rhythms and mixes it in with Latin-inspired stompers such as Fearz – Desierto, and the Grime focused Strivin’ from Gipsyan and Trigganom.
Their latest project, Stepping Out, marks the label’s 20th release and is an ode to the duos shared musical inspirations. Ouanounou and Gipsyan amalgamate their influences from the UK and US underground scenes as elements of Juke, Techno, and Footwork are weaved together across ten tracks (plus an additional hidden track on the EP physical manifestation) of exploratory dance music.
In this interview, label head and Ex Rinse France resident Ouanounou talks about his early influences, Stepping Out, and Monstart’s foundations.
How did you get into music? What were some of your earliest influences?
I think that when I was born my parents didn’t expect this musical career at all because I’m the only one in my family for generations to follow this path, but a lot of things made it happen.
I have a big age gap with my sisters and I was lucky that they had good musical tastes, so at a very young age I was immersed in albums by the Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim, Aphex Twin, The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk (obviously). In France, it was also the period of the early 2000s when you could hear a lot of hits, often singles from French Touch and Pop House on national radio, particularly with artists like Eric Prydz, Junior Senior, Cassius, Basement Jaxx etc.
I immersed myself in the music I watched when I was a kid on MTV. I was fascinated by the likes of Sean Paul, Missy Elliot, 50 Cent and Timbaland. What sealed my influences were video games with incredible soundtracks like Final Fantasy, WipeOut, Ridge Racer, Need For Speed and my absolute favourite, the music games REZ and Vib Ribbon.
Then I started going to clubs at a very young age (15) and in my home town there was a club with a resident DJ who played all these kinds of tracks along with more niche artists, and it was a revelation, especially one night that will remain etched in my memory, when I heard Daft Punk’s Rollin’ & Scratchin’ lift the club, despite the violence of the track, the audience went into a liberating trance and I became obsessed with building my musical culture and becoming a DJ.
Three years later, after (a lot of) club nights, nights of digging out tracks from download sites and a year in London where I immersed myself in legendary clubs such as Fabric, (the late) The End and more obscure afters, English electronic music and culture sealed my fate, and I found myself behind the decks of a club at the age of 18, and I’ve never let go since, you could say I’m hooked.
I read that you were inspired by the British and US underground scenes. What exactly was it about these music scenes that’s captured your attention?
I have a real passion for the club, which I see as a sanctuary, a place that’s totally different from what you might experience in a ‘normal’ everyday life. There are codes and rules, of course, but it’s a real exultation for me, all the socio-professional categories mix and mingle to create a dance floor and a unity in front of producers who have come especially this evening to broadcast their musical science to the evening’s audience, this concept is crazy when you think about it, we’re a long way from the dancing and bal musette of our grandparents.
Having said that, that’s part of the reason why I’m so passionate about the UK & US scene, because unlike in France, with the exception of Paris, where nightlife is more geared towards Rave Parties, old-fashioned village clubs or Club Select, I’ve only been able to find this club culture and passion for electronic music in the UK and the US.
Over there, a lot of bars and clubs have quality sound systems, the volume is less limited and, above all, the general public has been listening to electronic music for years on fm radio stations like Rinse FM, BBC Radio 1, etc, which I listened to as a teenager on the Internet or on hyper-stylish web radio stations. This culture is more accessible and therefore more integrated into UK and US society, so it’s deeper and more varied, the influences and the mix of sounds you can find on the British or American scenes are crazy.
I’m fascinated by the influence these musical styles have had on contemporary society, whether in terms of morals, fashion or lifestyle, and it’s not going to stop any time soon.
Stepping Out is a blend of multiple genres and influences. How did you navigate this during the creative period and how did you begin to condense these ideas into a cohesive piece?
It was complex, because clearly sometimes I want to put everything together, but you have to keep a coherent whole. When I’m producing on my own in the studio, I often start out with one thing but 100% of the time it ends up in something else, because I think I’ve got a professional deformation from my years as a DJ, I build things up instinctively like a dj set or live, each track as I go along and often I realize that there’s a lack of coherence in the first draft, so then I gradually pare down each layer, to orient the track in two or three influences maximum.
Gipsyan has been very good at channeling me in the studio, with his clearer vision when producing a track, his impressive technique and his mixing skills. So for Stepping Out, we sat down before each session and decided on a number of things: what BPM? What influences? What kind of energy? And we never changed course, which taught me a lot!
Stepping out features remixes from multiple artists such as Manchester’s Henzo. How did these collaborations come about?
When the time came to choose the remixers for the EP, it was one of my favorite moments personally, because I wrote a list in my notes with producers I love, whose tracks I play in my dj sets (because don’t forget that this is an EP designed for the club); who would be likely to accept the collaboration; and who would bring the tracks into influences that Gipsyan and I couldn’t go into in the studio. So this list, which really looked like the festival line-up of my dreams, took shape and I contacted each producer directly, and I was really surprised and happy that they all knew the label and had been following our work with Gipsyan. Everything came together naturally, and I’m very proud to have Henzo, NKC, DJ Polo and DJ Marfox on this project!
You have held residencies at both RinseFM and now Pinata FM. How has radio helped your development as an artist?
In my opinion, if you’re a DJ, you have to be a resident or have a recurring presence somewhere, whether it’s a club, radio or whatever, you have to be able to broadcast your music and your vision on any platform.
Radio is a real driving force for me, you digest the latest releases, it’s a real rigor to maintain, it keeps you connected to what’s happening on the different scenes, invites artists to do guest mixes that you’d hardly have been able to book in your own town, and it creates a community between the different labels and collectives in a town, you meet, you exchange, you collaborate – it’s intoxicating, I’ve been able to meet lots of producers thanks to these radio stations and residencies – you have to support them!
Let’s talk about Monstart. How was the label founded and what was the initial vision behind it?
Monstart was founded in 2009 on my return from London, based on a simple observation: the musical styles and mix of genres that we love were not supported by any collective, label or party in Montpellier.
My partner Elodie is a dancer and performer, and we also wanted to create something special and inclusive, combining electronic music with original performances and scenography. So the historic Antirouille club opened its doors to us with a monthly residency: Monstart was born.
Five years later, after a series of events, BlackHouse (our resident DJ) and I wanted to produce and release our first tracks. We started receiving demos from producers from all over the world who had the same vision of club music and with whom we shared the same influences.
For me, the label is also a vehicle for expression, a platform on which we can release any type of Club Music, as long as it fits into our universe, clearly club-oriented but also sometimes with more introspective projects and/or producers. I’m thinking in particular of Karlita’s latest EP, which is a real bomb between club and more soaring and sensual music, or the Surgeon’s Girl track released on the latest ‘Togetherness Harmony’ compilation.
The label is a meeting place in the same way as a radio station or a club, and our aim is to enable independent producers to release an EP, to give them the spotlight, so that they can then build their career. I like to think that Monstart is a springboard for producers towards bigger labels, and I’m really comfortable with that.
How did Cardozo and Gipsyan become involved with the platform?
After 10 years in Paris, I moved back to Montpellier in 2021, to concentrate more on expanding the label. The city is bursting with talent and I’d already been following Gipsyan’s work for a while, we see eye to eye on a lot of things, and I really admire his drive and determination, I see a lot of myself in him at his age, and we naturally became friends, we started sharing decks a lot of times and I knew that at some point a project would come along that we could collaborate on, Stepping Out was clearly the one that was needed.
As for Cardozo, I received an email from him just over a year ago, full of incredible demos, so it was an obvious choice to meet him and release his first solo EP on Monstart. He’d just moved to Montpellier, and in human terms he’s a golden person, human values are really important to us, for the comfort of working with him and also because we want to defend artists who are healthy and real. Since this release, Cardozo has become an integral part of the label, because as well as being a talented producer, he’s also a super-talented DJ with a Latin Club/Baile Funk sound, so we often find him at our events. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him and also Pura Pura, who have a studio they share in Montpellier, and they allowed us to produce our EP there, so shout out!
What is a key lesson that you have learnt since starting Monstart?
Two fundamental things: Keep questioning yourself and take your time. The more time passes, the more these two values help me to move in the right direction (I think, ahah).
What’s next for Ouanounou and Monstart?
Well, a lot of things! As for me, I’ve got several tracks coming out on other labels and a solo EP at the end of 2024 on Monstart, and I’m still behind the turntables in clubs and on the radio!
For Monstart, we’ll be celebrating our 15th anniversary in March 2024! To mark the occasion, we’ll be releasing a Fast Club compilation with a 140/160bpm spectrum, featuring a host of guests, and of course events at L’Antirouille in Montpellier and La Rotonde in Paris, to name but a few!