French duo Justice — Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay — made a bold debut in the mid-2000s by blending elements of dance-punk (i.e. LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture) with the giddy “French Touch” house music of their countrymen (i.e. Alan Braxe, DJ Falcon, and Fred Falke). Each subsequent release has found them more sophisticated and more ambitious — especially when it comes to upping the showmanship for their storied live shows.
More: Guest Mix: House legends Braxe + Falcon flex their French Touch
Hyperdrama — the pair’s fourth studio album and first since 2018’s Woman — is due out Apr. 26 via Ed Banger/Because Music. According to KCRW’s Head of Digital, Andrea Domanick, “they’ve been hard at work fusing the edges of Italo-disco, hardcore techno, and psychedelia.” Also according to Domanick, their Coachella 2024 set is for the ages. “Justice doesn’t play live without their house crew of lighting and sound engineers. Their live show is a full-on event, less about spectacle than unleashing their music’s final form.” If you are desert bound this weekend, run don’t walk to their 10:15 p.m. Friday set at the Outdoor Stage. If you can’t make it this weekend (or watch the live stream), no worries. Justice will return to LA this Fall… jaw-dropping stage show intact.
Read up on a few highlights from their MBE hang, find the full tracklist at the bottom of the page, and hear the entire conversation between Novena and the guys using the player button to your left.
The Buggles – “Video Killed the Radio Star”
When we met we were students so we were very tight on the budget. And we used to hang a lot in these second hand record stores. And most of the records are like records that we've found out together. And as well, okay, cool… The Buggles is a good example [of that type of record store find]. It's a duo, a two people band. And [they might be] one of the first bands that really started using the studio as an instrument. Like two guys in a studio thinking okay, ‘what are the possibilities offered by the studio and what can we do with it?’ This is a huge hit, but at the same time, it sounds very homemade. The homemade thing is very important to us, we’re still a home studio band.
Camel – “Highways of the Sun”
This band is like a blend between prog rock and yacht rock. Yacht rock and glam rock are the two types of music that we listen to the most at home. And in yacht rock there's a sort of perfection of writing and production. It is very fascinating and also very touching. Even if you don't know about the technicality [involved in making the music], it's very touching music. [This song] is very melancholic.
Jackson and His Computer Band – “Utopia”
This is a very important record for us. Because he [Jackson Fourgeaud] is a bit like the forgotten hero of the 2000s. He is definitely the best French producer we knew at the time. He was signed on Warp Records so he's really into this kind of broken electronic, but also he has a great musical talent for harmonies [and other intricate things of that nature]. It's very impressive.
… This guy, with this album, really changed the whole scene. What people call the French Touch — like 2.0, the new wave — was [almost] single handedly invented by this guy. And he doesn't get enough credit for this. Everyone in France, after they heard this record, changed the way they were making music. It's a laptop album. And I think it was one of the first records that we heard [that was] completely made on the laptop. …This track, I bet you it could [come] out tomorrow and people will still think it sounds from the future. It’s a crazy, crazy record.
Justice: KCRW Guest DJ Set: Full Tracklist
- The Buggles – “Video Killed the Radio Star”
- Visage – “Blocks on Blocks”
- Camel – “Highways of the Sun”
- Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – “Intro”
- Zongamin – “Tunnel Music”
- Jackson and His Computer Band – “Utopia”
- Led Zeppelin – “Dancing Days”
