Cassius (Artist)

Cassius was a French musical duo consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, better known as Zdar and Boombass (or sometimes Philippe Zdar and Hubert Boombass).[1] [2] [3]  Under its different incarnations the duo is likened to the "French Touch" movement of electronic music in the second half of the 1990s.

Contents

 * 1Members
 * 1.1Boombass
 * 1.2Zdar
 * 2History
 * 3Discography
 * 3.1Albums
 * 3.1.1Studio albums
 * 3.1.2Compilation albums
 * 3.2EPs
 * 3.3DJ mixes
 * 3.4Singles
 * 3.5Production credits
 * 3.5.1Albums produced by Cassius
 * 3.5.2Tracks produced by Cassius
 * 3.5.3Albums produced, mixed and recorded by Zdar
 * 4References
 * 5External links

Boombass[edit]
Hubert Blanc-Francard (aka Boombass) is a French musician and producer. He is the son of producer Dominique Blanc-Francard. His younger brother Mathieu became famous under the pseudonym Sinclair.[citation needed]

Zdar[edit]
Philippe Cerboneschi (aka Zdar), born January 28, 1967 in Aix-les-Bains and died June 19, 2019 in Paris, was a French musician, producer and sound engineer. Zdar was Dominique Blanc-Francard's assistant at studios + XXX (Plus30) when he met Boombass in 1988. Outside the Cassius group, Zdar was producer and sound engineer. He notably recorded several albums of -M-, Phoenix and Chromeo. He also recorded for Franz Ferdinand, Beastie Boys, Lou Doillon and Sébastien Tellier among others.[4] [5]

History[edit]
Zdar and Boombass started working together in 1988, producing albums for the French hip-hop artist MC Solaar. In 1991, they created their first project, called La Funk Mob, and the following year, they started to increasingly experiment with electronic sounds. Zdar's experience with electronic music was influential in his involvement with Étienne de Crécy in the project Motorbass, who released a sole full-length album, Pansoul.

In 1996, Zdar and Boombass then created "Foxxy", their first self-released house music track, under the name Cassius, and the moderate success that followed lead to them remixing tracks for acts such as Air. In January 1999, they released their first single to become a mainstream hit, "Cassius 1999". It was published by Virgin Records, and entered the UK Singles Chart at #7.[1]  This was soon followed by their debut album, 1999, which had two more singles released from it, "Feeling For You" and "La Mouche". The music videos for "Cassius 1999" and "Feeling for You" portrayed the character Deadman, from DC Comics, as a DJ superhero.

2002 saw their second album release, Au Rêve. This featured the "empowered female disco" track "I'm a Woman", with Jocelyn Brown on vocals, as well as the hit single "The Sound of Violence", featuring Steve Edwards on vocals. This album also had collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah and Leroy Burgess.

Cassius returned to the studio in 2006, for the more experimental single "Toop Toop", but the next album, titled 15 Again, featured more vocal collaborations than the duo had done with Au Rêve.

While rehearsing their 15 Again album tour, Cassius provided the community with the a cappella track of their single "Toop Toop" and encouraged fans and friends to start remixing the song. It became an immediate success: the band started the Cassius Workshop project and released more a cappellas for remixing purposes. They claim to have received more than 400 remixes.[6]

Cassius's song "I Love You So" was sampled on the track "Why I Love You" on Jay-Z and Kanye West's 2011 collaboration album Watch the Throne.

In 2016, Cassius released his fourh album, Ibifornia, with Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder, Cat Power, Mike D and Matthieu Chédid (as guitarist of the album) as guests[7].

On 19 June 2019, two days before the release of Cassius's fifth album Dreems, Zdar died after falling from a 19-story building in Paris. He was 52 years old. On the release day of Dreems, the band announced that the album was the final release from Cassius.[8] [9] [10]

On 20 September 2019, Boombass released a remix of "Grand petit con" performed by -M-.[11]

Compilation albums[edit]

 * The Mighty Bop Meets DJ Cam et La Funk Mob (as La Funk Mob, with Bob Sinclar and DJ Cam) (1995)
 * The Bad Seeds 1993–1997 (2004) (as La Funk Mob)
 * CASSIUSPLAY: Nike+ Original Run (2008)

EPs[edit]

 * The Rawkers E.P. (2010)

DJ mixes[edit]

 * I Love Techno (2011)

Singles[edit]
Cassius La Funk Mob
 * "Tribulations Extra Sensorielles" (1994)
 * "Casse Les Frontières, Fou Les Têtes En L'Air" (1994)
 * "Casse Les Frontières, Fou Les Têtes En L'Air" (1996; re-release)
 * "357 Magnum Force" (2004)

Albums produced by Cassius[edit]

 * MC Solaar - Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo (1991) (Production by Boombass and Jimmy Jay)
 * MC Solaar - Prose Combat (1995) (Production by Boombass and Jimmy Jay, co-production by Zdar)
 * MC Solaar – Paradisiaque (1997)
 * MC Solaar - MC Solaar (1998)

Albums produced, mixed and recorded by Zdar[edit]

 * MC Solaar - Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo (1991)
 * Phoenix – United (2000)
 * Cut Copy – Bright Like Neon Love (2004)
 * Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (2007)
 * Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
 * Chromeo – Business Casual (2010)
 * Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History (2010)
 * The Rapture – In the Grace of Your Love (2011)
 * Lou Doillon ‎– Places (2012)
 * Kindness – World, You Need a Change of Mind (2012)
 * Phoenix – Bankrupt! (2013)
 * Sébastien Tellier ‎– Confection (2013)
 * Sébastien Tellier ‎– L'Aventura (2014)
 * -M-, Toumani Diabaté and Sidiki Diabaté - Lamomali (2017)
 * Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending (2018)
 * -M- - Lettre infinie (2019) (Recorded and mixed by Zdar except "Superchérie" et "L'autre paradis")
 * Hot Chip – A Bath Full of Ecstasy (2019)