In our quest to discover new soulful underground music we come across many up and coming musicians and producers from all around the world. We thought is was about time to put the spotlight on a few of them that we think are about to blow up. We call it The Beat Generation Series.
BEAT GENERATION SERIES #7: REMI PANOSSIAN TRIO (TOULOUSE, FRANCE)
While preparing for our recent trip to Paris one of the live events that caught our eye was by the Remi Panossian Trio at the Duc Des Lombards jazzclub. We had heard about them before but had never really took the time to check them out. The gig turned out to be the release party for their second album entitled
BBANG and it blew us away. Experimental but still funky. Jazzy but with an edge. We wanted to know more and hooked up with Remi to bring you part 7 of our Beat Generation Series. Enjoy!
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1. We discovered you quite recently. I believe it was on Radio Nova and before they announced it was you, we were pretty convinced it was a new track from Robert Glasper. Can you see why?
Yes, I can understand on this particular song "
Runaway" because there is an hiphop feeling, and Robert Glasper has an huge experience on mixing hiphop beat and jazz.
Remi Panossian Trio - Runaway (Live @ Duc Des Lombards, Paris)
2. The last few years we've covered serval jazz groups with a strong hiphop/club music influences. Groups like DJ Cam Quartet, The Robert Glasper Experiment, BadBadNotGood, El Michel's Affair and Will Sessions have literally blown up. Do you feel a part of that movement?
We never asked ourselves about that, why not? It seems that maybe the link between us is the mix between a lot of different music influences, jazz, hiphop, rock, electro, soul, funk, r'n'b. No frontiers!
3. Who were your musical heroes when growing up?
I grew up with jazz, my heroes was Michel Petrucciani, Keith Jarrett, Abdullah Ibrahim, Bill evans. And then as a teenager I dicovered Radiohead, and I fell in love with all the 60's and 70's rock, soul and funk music as well. The velvet underground, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Motown, The Head Hunters etc. Fred (drums) grew up with punk music then funk then jazz. Max (double bass) was more of a fan of progressive rock and classical music.
Listen to a selection of the tracks that have inspired the trio on Spotify:
Remi Panossian Trio - Inspirations Vol. 1
4. To us French pioneers such as Philippe Zdar, DJ Cam, Etienne de Crécy, The Mighty Bop and Boom Bass have been a huge inspiration. What is you relation to these artists if any?
Frankly speaking I have a lot respect for them because they are the first "french touch" but i didn't listen to their music a lot. But because of you I'm gonna do it now! Let's talk about that later :)
5. What are your inspirations today? Could you drop three albums or tunes that have recently blown your mind?
It's not totally recent but...
TV on the radio : "Dear science" (
Listen on Spotify)
The Roots : "The Tipping point" (
Listen on Spotify)
E.S.T. "Seven days of falling" (
Listen on Spotify)
6. How did the three of you hook up?
I know Fred for 12 years when we were students in music school in toulouse, we play together in different bands for 8 years. I met Max in a Jam session in Toulouse 7 years ago and we played a few times together with vocalist or for ""one shot" gigs. In 2009 I decided to make a trio and of course I called my friends! Easy! We knew musically each other already well, so it worked immediatly!
7. Are you a solo artist as well?
This trio is 90 % of my time but I sometimes play with other bands, and especially with my girlfriend Frederika who is a great vocalist! Check her out on
Myspace.
8. What does the creative process behind a new Rémi Panossian Trio tune look like? Jam sessions or more traditional song writing?
It's more like a Jam session around new material one of us bring. It could be anything, a groove, a bass line, some chords changes. And then we just explore possibilities and try to develop the first idea all together.
9. From what we've heard so far you're an instrumental group. Are there any dream collaborations with vocalists, rappers or others?
From my side I would say Tuned Adebimpe from TV on the Radio, and Lou Reed.
10. You’ve got such a unique sound. One of the first tracks we heard that blew us away was "Runaway". That break after 1.41 sounds just like a Dilla beat to us. Was it indeed inspired by Dilla or is that only in our heads? Could you tell us how that tune came about?
It wasn't inspired directly by Dilla but I think by the hiphop we've listened to such as Dr Dre, The Roots and RZA. We're not hiphop specialist but we love the groove! I don't really remember how it came to us, i think it was during one of our sessions. We were working on the first part and then Fred I think suggest to break the tempo and played this groove so we tried things on it.
Listen on Spotify:
Remi Panossian Trio - Runaway
11. Another tune that stunned us from you current BBANG album was "BBQ". Especially the way you experiment with the piano sounds playing a "muffled pizzicato" combined with a double bass and live beat. It reminds us of the late nineties drum'n'bass live sound from the likes of Roni Size's Reprazent project, Photek or Peshay. Could you tell us what inspired that tune?
For the sound of the piano, one of the thing we love is changing the acoustic sound without electronic equipment. It's actually just a tape on the strings and the sound becomes very different. And for the groove and bass line, I don't how it comes, we just love groove and so we try to find different one for each song.
Remi Panossian Trio - BBQ (2013)
12. What can we expect from the Rémi Panossian Trio in 2013?
A lot of gigs! We've got several great things planned. For example our first visit to Canada is next June and July. We're gonna play at Montreal jazz festival, Ottawa jazz festival, Vancouver jazz Festival, Halifax, and London (Ontario). Looking forward to it!
We also have two others tours in Asia and a great tour of France in October with a concert at the New Morning in Paris. And of course we'll continue to work on new material!
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Watch this space for a Beathearts exclusive clip from the Remi Panossian Trio. Coming up soon!
In the meanwhile enjoy
The Remi Panossian Trio - Inspirations Vol.1 (Spotify)
