House Hunting #31 – Trankilou

Music

After last week’s epic epilogue featuring a host of house holy grails from some choice prime purveyors and serious selectors it’s back to normal proceedings this week – DJs and deadlines don’t mix! As I had a two week hiatus from raiding the racks a house hunting session was long overdue with severe wax withdrawal kickin’ in…

So last weekend Tonya wanted to trek up to Muswell Hill to the bourgeois paradise of Planet Organic to rinse our weekly shopping budget on some kale chips and activated nuts (ay?!) – come a long way from No Frills at Kwik Save… Anyway, I thought as East Finchley up the road I could jet up to the house hunting haven of Alan’s Records for a deep dose of dusty fingers. However, my desired detour didn’t materialise as when walking on the Broadway a big noticeboard shaped as a record stopped me in my tracks stating ‘Vinyl Records Sold Here’. The sign was outside an eccentric hippy-looking shop called ‘Crocodile Antiques’ which ain’t the first place you’re gonna think of when diggin’ for records but it caught my attention and was worth a peruse…

On entering it’s a proper treasure trove of eclecticism, selling a dizzying array of antiques, cards, gifts and garms within its bijou enclave – not to mention housing a tearoom for some café couture and even a pizza oven Jesus this joint’s got proper multiple personality disorder… However, I had a one-track mind and scoped a decent amount of racks at the back of the shop complete with portable record players displayed above them! Though not categorised by genre the racks were alphabetically arranged so got down to it… As I had Tonya with me she was my House Hunting helper and started flicking through the A – L racks whilst I was routing through the other side starting with the ‘M’ rack. Straight away I pulled out a 12” by Massive Sounds aka Bobby Konders so a surprisingly promising start. This particular one was the UK pressing of ‘Free South Africa’ on Republic Records so I left it as you know me I’m always yearning for the original pressings – this Konders joint came out originally on NY house institution Nu Groove.

Still, with this unexpected decent house find I was determined to dig out a record on the house hunting hit list and had a feeling I was going to unearth a wax jewel… Amongst all the usual charity shop castoffs there were some decent disco and boogie twelves on classic labels such as West End, Salsoul and Easy Street (Tonya also pulled out ‘Eye In The Sky’ by The Alan Parsons Project) so my confidence was growing… I was diggin’ in the ‘T’ rack now and though it was overflowing with Tchaikovsky throwaways unbelievably the last record I pull out is Trankilou’s hard-to-find French classic ‘Escalope De Dingue’ EP on Kif Recordings. Equally amazing was that it was a ridiculous two quid so a proper bargain bin belter – easily goes for over £20 and my House Hunting other half Tomi was cursing as he recently rinsed £30 on a copy. Sorry boss, better luck next time!

So who is Trankilou? Well it’s a French duo comprising of Guillaume Berroyer aka Ark and Julien Auger who is better known under his Pépé Bradock alias. Prior to this EP they released their debut ‘St Glin-Glin’ EP on BPM (Bastille Paris Musique) Records – a spin-off from Sal Russo’s eponymously named record shop that also released records by house heroes such as Chez Damier and Alton Miller. The dusty b-boy styling of ‘Chicago Babe’, dub-house echoes of ‘Saumar’ and the New Jersey flavour of the Gwen Guthrie sampling ‘Bill Collector’ (that wouldn’t sound amiss in a MLIU set) showcase the production ingenuity of Trankilou’s full repertoire though it’s the filtered styling of ‘Sauternes’ that became synonymous with the late 90s ‘French sound’ – signalling Trankilou were at the forefront of the French House revolution and ultimately influencing a generation of young French upstarts including Daft Punk. You’ll be lucky to cop a copy for under £20 as a bit of a Discogs speculator special so time to rinse Youtube…

Though they only produced two EPs together on both going solo this is where they became cult house figures. Ark went on to release on a series of 12”s in the nineties on a host of Parisian stables such as Brif, Circus Company and BPM offshoot Basenotic. More recently he has released on choice labels as Gilb’r and I:Cube’s Versatile imprint, Albion Records outta Leeds (with last year’s ‘Lost Tapes’ EP) and Frankfurt powerhouse Perlon in which he released his last LP ‘Arkpocalypse Now’. Choice pick is the madcap Mr Oizo remix of ‘Sucubz’ – remember Matthew Herbert droppin’ this in a set about a decade ago proper scenes…

So we’ll leave Ark there and move on to his kindred spirit Pépé Bradock who I’d like to do a small homage to as a house hero. Under his new guise, Julien Auger debuted on the ‘Bakchich EP#2’ release on Basenotic Records simply as ‘Bradock’ – his contribution ‘Last’ being a deep, hypnotic groove with that French-filtered flavour complete with customary samples that bared the hallmarks of his early production style and were reminiscent of the Trankilou tracks. His next two solo releases were the ‘Un Pépé En Or’ Vol.1 and Vol.2 EPs on Kif Recordings (Vol.2 also appearing on Versatile Records anoraks anonymous…) that feature that inimitable French filtered styling through tracks such as ’18 Carats’ and ‘5500’ though it’s the deep majesty of productions like ‘Lara’ and ‘Vermeille’ that’ll always come back to – definitely one for the deeper, more discernible dancefloors…

His debut LP ‘Synthese’ on Versatile Records were built from the foundations of these EP’s – hard to find but still worth hunting down as it features all the idiosyncrasies and virtuosity of Pépé Bradock’s conventional production style. However, it was a year later in ’99 that Pépé released the ‘Burning’ EP which houses the B-side bomb ‘Deep Burnt’ that became a defining opus in house. With its simple tambourine, synth washes, and soaring strings (the four-note orchestral sample comes from Freddie Hubbard’s ‘Little Sunflower’ which if you’re a Theophile you will also hear on the ‘Ugly Edits 03’ EP), the track relentlessly builds culminating in a breakdown that has melted many a dancefloor – still a staple of many a DJs set and still causes that delirious rush of euphoria. Though ‘Deep Burnt’ overshadows his entire oeuvre, the turn of the century Pépé launched his Atavisme imprint which became an outlet for his personal projects and productions complete with nightmarish artwork – setting the tone for his increasingly idiosyncratic excursions with the ‘Forbidden Fruit’ and ‘4’ EPs delving deeper into realms of house. It’s the label’s debut ‘6 Million Pintades’ EP that is my personal favourite, with ‘Life’ being one of my choice Pépé Bradock productions with its electronic flourishes and ethereal euphoria resulting in another mesmeric masterclass – dare I say I prefer this to the aforementioned ‘Deep Burnt’ sacrilege! Whatever your preference I’m sure you’d agree both timeless anthems that transcend the usual house fare. Let’s have another spin…

Though only periodically releasing records on Atavisme over the last 15 years the label is still active and it’s always an event when Pépé drops a new 12”. Personal highlights for me on the imprint include the oddball eccentricity of ‘Intriguing Feathered Creature’ with its infectious steel drums and chirping tropical birds and the ‘Swimsuit Issue 1789’ EP with tracks such as ‘Path Of Most Resistance’ and ‘CU @ Minna & Lafayette’ baring all the hallmarks of his earlier productions. More recently he branched out from Atavisme, releasing his interpretation of acid on Absurd Recordings’ ‘Acid Test’ series with both the ‘Lifting Weights’ and ‘Mujeres Nerviosas’ being nervous and schizoid tabs of acid that only Pépé could concoct. Let’s not forget his array of killer remixes that he’s turned out over the years with compilation connoisseurs BBE compiling the ‘Confiote De Bits’ remix retrospective – hard to pick a favourite but my choice picks include his remixes of ‘Venus (Sunshine People)’ by Cheek, ‘Morning Sun’ by Block 16 and ‘Mouth’ by Iz & Diz on Classic. Time for a rewind…

Anyway back to this week’s choice find and this Trankilou EP is one to definitely track down as it showcases Pépé and Ark’s roots in Jazz, Funk, Rock and Hip-Hop with their DIY sample aesthetic on joints like ‘10 Ans D'âge’, ‘Peuka’, ‘Haut-Médoc’ and ‘Brigitte Barbu’ in tandem with their influential brand of house with Champagne and St-Éstéphe. However it’s ‘Atom Funk’ (which you can also find on Pépé’s ‘Synthese’ LP) that is most heads choice cut. A relentless rhythm with piercing sirens, driving bass, echoing piano and wailing guitar, it’s all underpinned with the dusty motown soul vox that is a core constant – trainspotter alert the vocal is sampled from Undisputed Truth’s ‘Atomic Funk’ hence the aptly-named title. Anyway check these all out here and if you’re in London Town next Friday 20th February then you can catch Pépé Bradock playing with Prosumer, House Of Traps, Patrice Scott and Johannes Volk for Tief at Corsica Studios. Mental line-up event details here – my 30th birthday and I’m up in my spiritual home of Leicester on family duties so unlike me don’t miss this opportunity to see this reclusive production extraordinaire…