* En anglais uniquement
French producer
SebastiAn established a unique style of glitchy, distortion-heavy electro-house during the mid-2000s, later moving on to film scores and production work for several pop stars. His early EPs, including 2006's
Ross Ross Ross, helped define the abrasive yet dancefloor-friendly sound of Parisian label Ed Banger Records, which he expanded on with his proper debut album, 2011's
Total and on remixes for artists like
Daft Punk,
Kelis, and
Cut Copy. After staying behind the scenes for much of the 2010s, producing music for
Charlotte Gainsbourg and
Frank Ocean, his 2019 album Thirst drew from the different projects he'd worked on as well as the sound he helped pioneer.
Born
Sebastian Akchote in Boulogne, France,
SebastiAn started producing music at 15 and honed his skills working with regional rap groups. In 2005, one of these groups pointed him in the direction of Ed Banger CEO Pedro Winter and, after a cold call, he was signed to the label sight unseen. The next few years were extremely busy. On top of recording a 7" split with
Krazy Baldhead and four
SebastiAn EPs between 2005 and 2008 (
Smoking Kills,
Ross Ross Ross, Walkman 2, and
Motor),
Akchote was a remix machine, reworking songs by
Daft Punk,
Annie,
Cut Copy,
Revl9n,
Uffie,
Kelis, and
Kavinsky, among others. Much of this work was featured on a 17-track 2008 compilation titled
SebastiAn Remixes (aka
A Fine Selection of Remixes). In addition to his other endeavors, he scored the soundtrack for 2010's
Notre Jour Viendra (Our Day Will Come) before finally releasing his definitive debut,
Total, in 2011. The album included collaborations with
M.I.A. ("C.T.F.O.") and
Mayer Hawthorne ("Love in Motion"). The album's singles were compiled on a limited box set, 2012's The EP Collection, which included an addition 12" featuring two previously unreleased tracks.
In 2014,
SebastiAn produced French pop star
Katerine's album
Magnum. He then produced the title track to
Fall Out Boy's
American Beauty/American Psycho, which was released in early 2015. Several
SebastiAn productions appeared on
Frank Ocean's 2016 albums Endless and
Blond, and he was responsible for producing much of
Charlotte Gainsbourg's 2017 album
Rest. After writing the music for Yves Saint Lauren's Winter 2018 collection campaign,
SebastiAn returned in 2019 with his second album, Thirst. Featuring collaborations with
Gallant,
Hawthorne,
Gainsbourg,
Sparks, and
Sevdaliza, among others, Thirst reflected the more mature sound of the producer's post-
Total work. ~ Jason Lymangrover