72™ : Two numbers referring to the year 1972. And in two numbers, everything is said. The project is simple and ambitious, it is the soundtrack of life passing by, of our lives, of theirs: those of two boys who became two men, both born the same year. 1972. And contrary to its commercial destination, the «TM» sometimes affixed to these two letters appears here rather like a real mental tattoo, if not a purely aesthetic gesture, as if to tell us: these sounds, these feelings, these immaterial emotions, were deposited in the dark recesses of these two brains, these two minds, before passing through their bodies, passing through their fingers, then through the keyboards, the instruments, to transform themselves, to turn into sounds, which, themselves, through the alchemy of creation, become music. And this music is the soundtrack to these two lives: Benjamin Cohen. Ulysse Genet.
And these two lives which at one point crossed, met. And from this crossing was born 72. From these two experiences, from these memories, from the memories of the two artists, music is revealed. Four tracks for the moment, instrumental, mixing the reminiscences of hip hop, the echoes of the ‘ambient’ created by Brian Eno, the techno volutes of Detroit, and more particularly those of Carl Craig. Without forgetting the roots of what has been called the French Touch... this unique musical adventure revealing France abroad in a singular way, in which Benjamin Cohen has actively participated. Indeed, Benjamin Cohen, aka Diamond, is, and will remain forever, the voice of a song, of a worldwide hit: Music Sounds Better With You. A song that still resonates today, produced by the short-lived group Stardust, of which Benjamin is one of the members and composers, alongside Thomas Bangalter of the duo Daft Punk, also founder of the label Roulé, and Alain Quême alias Alan Braxe, DJ and musician, founder of the label Vulture. Afterwards, Benjamin Cohen became Benjamin Diamond, and signed several solo albums, including Strange Attitude (on the Epic label) in 2000 and Out Of Myself in 2005, on his own label, Diamond Traxx. It is also on this label that he produced a third album, Cruise Control in 2008, and signed several artists who would go on to have successful careers: The Hushpuppies, Octet, The Eternals and Pilooski. Not to mention two singular and epoch-making compilations - Dirty Diamonds (2003) and Dirty Diamonds II (2004) - featuring the house artists as well as the legendary Suicide, Grace Jones, Moondog and Martin Gore (founding member, writer and composer of Depeche Mode). Then, in 2010, the Diamond Traxx label stopped. Benjamin decided to concentrate on his own musical productions, travelled around the world and released a last E.P. Love
Overdose (2013).
Then, years go by, and at the end of the decade 2010, Benjamin meets Ulysse Genet through a common friend. The connection is immediate. Ulysse Genet has just returned from the United States where he spent more than ten years. A decade in New York during which he had several small jobs, including delivering weed.Before,in Paris, Ulysse worked for the mythical record distributor Chronowax, and he also designed the logo for the Espionnage label of a certain DJ Mehdi, future spearhead of French rap and producer of the group 113, among others.
Going even further back in time, Ulysse’s feat of arms dates back to 1991, when the then eighteen-year-old tagged the Louvre metro station with two accomplices, triggering the wrath of the authorities and a major scandal reported by all the country’s media. After an intensive investigation lasting nearly a month, the police searched and arrested the three perpetrators. They, including Ulysse, spent nearly three weeks in prison in Fleury-Mérogis. This was the first time that graffiti artists were imprisoned in France. Once he got out of this bad situation, Ulysse opened a record shop on rue Condorcet, called The Lab, which lasted for a year and a half (1992-1993). Today, Ulysse is a graffiti veteran, having spent more than thirty years as a graffiti writer. In 1997, he founded a graffiti collective called ‘Grim Team’, spread all over Europe, gathering France as well as Italy, Belgium or the United Kingdom...
Ulysse and Benjamin decide to make music together. Once the label was set up, TMS for «The Mind Speaks», they produced several tracks with cinematic titles, Lambert RIP, Vera’s Fish, Rock Embassy and 6 A.M. These four tracks constitute an E.P. which will be
released on December 4th on this independent label, TMS.
«We each work on our own, then we add, we build, we get to know each other, we explore new paths» explains Ulysse. «I needed a dialogue after years of making music on my own», adds Benjamin... «And then the fact that we’re older now, it becomes more interesting I think. There is less ego, and things are more in favour of the music itself... No everything is for the benefit of the work, which is not the case when you are young. Everyone wants to exist, to impose themselves. This is no longer the case... In fact today, whether it’s me or Ulysses, we take a back seat to the music. And that inevitably gives something stronger, better I think...»
As far as aesthetics are concerned, the project is global. It is not only a question of music but also of images, of visuals. With an attraction to contemporary art, a logo inspired by a work by Martin Barré, and an association with an artist, Jay1 Ramier, who created the logo. 72, in 3 dimensions, as a sculpture.
«The idea is to exhibit this sculpture as well as to show videos related to each piece, and photographs tracing the whole artistic and creative process of the music we produce...» explains Benjamin Cohen, adding «Today culture is everywhere, there are no more specific limits. This project is above all music, but not only. It can be disseminated in all possible artistic fields. That is our ambition. This soundtrack reflects so well the present, our lives, and is to be listened to, shared, now. This music also has a strong relationship to reality, to our realities. A relationship to what happens every day. As a result, these melodies and sounds were created partly on analog material, «Very important to us», the duo emphasizes.
Like the choice of photographer. The duo chose Geoffroy de Boismenu, a well-known photographer who works ‘the old-fashioned way’, i.e. using film. All these choices clearly indicate a desire to go towards the concrete, the authentic, the original, the tangible. «We also pay particular attention to the release of this first EP on vinyl because we want to be in the real world and not only in the virtual world (streaming, etc.)» explains Benjamin, before adding: «And then in thirty years, we will always be able to take out our vinyls, put them on the turntable and listen to them».
The ambitious new record from Kito Jempere blends jazz, hip-hop, psych-pop, and more with sleek yet intimate electronic production. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 27, 2023
