First Ever Braxe + Falcon Shows Lands In The US

Words: Mike Mode

November 10, 2022

Recently announcing their first ever US feature for Alan Braxe and Fred Falke set the industry alight. The renowned French electronic music duo is long heralded for their innovative and chart topping releases. Recognised for a string of hits and rarely seen performing side by side in recent years, this is an exhilarating performance that will entertain audiences of all age groups, welcoming long term fans and their new found followers that continue to discover their accessible and credible sound.

Rolling back, Braxe’s early demos attracted the attention of Thomas Bangalter at the start of his formative career, with his debut single, “Vertigo” released on Roulé label in 1997. In 1998, Braxe, Bangalter, and Benjamin Diamond decided to form collaborative project together called Stardust, and their single “Music Sounds Better With You” was released in the same year, and became a certified hit, selling over 3 million copies worldwide.

Following this success, Braxe inaugurated his own record label, Vulture, releasing further collaborations with the DJ and producer Fred Falke extending their working relationship. Remixing for a slew of artists both popular and underground including Beyonce extended their appeal. Over the next two decades, their collective productions credits swelled to a mass of successful titles.

Whilst approaching the 20th anniversary of Stardust’s smash success and the Vulture’s launch, Braxe stripped his studio of all things digital, and started to experiment with modular synths, echoing his first setup’s minimalism and resulting in a more stripped back, sparse analogue sound. This resulted in an evolutionary sound that is still revered by producers today as a modernist template for club music.

In 2021 Alan Braxe, alongside Henrik Olsen, released Another Life, under an alias on the UK’s iconic Ministry of Sound Records. The track was a veritable throwback to the French House sounds of the late 90s and continued in to garner widespread appeal.

In 2022, DJ Falcon and Alan Braxe actually debuted their new music on a new record label Smugglers Way, a side imprint of Domino showcasing both new and old French house music from the pair and also from other artists that sparked their interest. Around this time, the pair actively announced the two had begun making music as a duo named Braxe + Falcon with their first single due in March, an EP in August and a debut solo album set for release in early 2023. Their debut single featured vocals from Panda Bear. A repress of Braxe’s compilation album The Upper Cuts was released from Smugglers Way in November raising further awareness of the unbridled talent they exude.

Starring 12 year old Japanese Skate prodigy Ginwoo Onodera, the youngest athlete to ever sign with Nike the pioneering French House legends Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon (his cousin) dropped ‘Step By Step’ mid Summer.

“a languid yacht-rock-disco number that features a chord progression for the ages”

“will never, ever get boring”

“Now that Daft Punk are broken up, Braxe + Falcon are here to fill the French House void in everyone’s hearts”

“a comforting reminder that change can be a positive thing”

“pure weekend joy”

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Also released on vinyl the highly lauded single was named as Gorilla Vs Bear’s #1 song from the first half of 2022 and voted by Stereogum readers as one of the top 10 songs of the summer, bringing the heart-warming power ballad to even greater heights. Shot in Tokyo, the new video held parallel themes found in the music, as the footage panned from Ginwoo’s early days on a skateboard into highlights of him winning awards and pulling off tricks beyond what most his age accomplish, a nod to patience and appreciating even the challenging things create success.

On the new video and casting Ginwoo, Alan Braxe notes “Visualizing the appropriate video for ‘Step By Step’ was not easy, but when my director friend Toru Tokikawa came up with the idea of showing the growth of a child from a very young age through the practice of skateboarding, we instantly felt it was right for the song. As we grew up as skateboarders, we understand that skateboarding is a commitment, accepting the multiple failures until the trick is landed and then learning the next one until you reach freedom of movement and expression, it’s all done ‘step by step’. Toru cast Ginwoo Onodera, an incredible young skater whose softness, skills and enthusiasm shine on the screen, making it a subtle and moving video.”

Following the timely release the two have announced the dates for their first-ever U.S. shows as Braxe + Falcon. The Brooklyn and Los Angeles shows will took place onto Nov. 5th at Elsewhere (The Hall) and Nov. 12 at El Rey (KCRW & Freaks Only Presents), respectively.

A longtime touchstone in dance music, Alan Braxe is known for creating some of the most important and iconic house and pop music records of the late 90s and early 2000s including the earlier mentioned “Music Sounds Better With You” (The Upper Cuts) as Stardust with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and official remixes for Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kelis, Kylie Minogue and more. Bangalter also collaborated with DJ Falcon in the early days, releasing the French Touch anthem “So Much Love To Give” as the duo Together. Along with quintessential remixes for Phoenix, Cassius and Justice, Falcon most recently co-produced / wrote and featured on “Contact”, the explosive closing track of Daft Punk’s 2013 megalith Random Access Memories which earned the producer his first Grammy.

In 2022 these originals presented their first-ever collaboration as Braxe + Falcon with their Step By Step EP, which received widespread praise from global press. Most recently, the duo released “Creative Source” (A-Trak Remix).” Originally the b-side to “Step By Step,” the re-work by legendary DJ A-Trak goes even deeper into the marrow of dance music, flipping and speeding up the original loop for an even tighter bounce. This summer, the pair treated fans to a couple of live DJ sets in France, the most notable being their Step By Step EP release party which included guest sets from A-Trak, Busy P, Didi Han, Nathalie Duchene, and more.

Listen to Step By Step EP

https://smugglersway.ffm.to/stepbystep