ALAN BRAXE, FRED FALKE & FRIENDS 'THE UPPER CUTS' 2LP (2023 Edition, Rose Pink & Baby Blue Vinyl)

LABEL: Domino
VINYL RELEASE DATE: 3/31/2023
ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: 2005
VARIANT: 2023 Edition, Rose Pink & Baby Blue Vinyl 2LP

“Simplicity, sincerity … et voilà!”

If you want to understand how French producer Alan Braxe ended up making some of the most important house music records of the late 1990s and early 2000s, you need to understand his modus operandi.

Everything has to be simple; and everything has to be sincere. You hear this time and again in Braxe’s music, from the golden emotional minimalism of Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You”, a worldwide hit he produced with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and singer Benjamin Diamond, to the perfectly uncluttered house music strut of “Intro”, his underground anthem with Fred Falke. 

The Upper Cuts, originally released in 2005, is a compilation that rounded up several of Braxe’s greatest hits. This newly reissued version of that album adds seven bonus tracks, including the classic Braxe / Falke production “Chrystal City,” which originally appeared on the “Rubicon” single; Braxe’s iconic remix of Britney Spears’ “Anticipating,” “You’ll Stay In My Heart,” a tear-jerking Braxe / Falke work that was never properly released; and two completely new tracks that show Braxe at his best. (Full track list below.)

“My music is simple,” Braxe (né Alain Quême) explains. “The drums are very simple; the production is simple and the construction is basic. And if you respect that, then your music can be timeless.”