NUIT LIBERTE by GAULOISES pres. CHLOE (Paris) at THE BASEMENT

PARIS MIXE BEYROUTH
In part. w/ NRJ

Line-up:
– DIAMOND SETTER
…- CHLOE (Paris)

< About CHLOE >

Kill The Clichés : the fight will last as long as there are misunder- standings. What is the misguided perception of Chloé Thévenin. Acertain feminine discretion? The sobriety of a Dj belonging to the minimal brotherhood. What else? Maybe the only thing to know about Chloé could be written on a single line: her music (the music she composes and mixes) never tells you which foot to dance on.

Chloé refuses to respond to any aggression, braving it behind the barricades of the underground; it’s just her nature to question her- self continually. And when this isn’t enough, she invents her own questions.
People first woke up to her talent in 2007 when ‘The Waiting Room’, came out: first album, incredibly coherent, a musician who had taken her time. In this “ante-chambre” genres, definitions, labels melted like snow in the sun. Minimal? Electro? Lo-Fi? Pop? Who knows?. Many people responded to this “not knowing”; the album being highly successful with both the public and highly- acclaimed by the international press.

For many clubbers who already knew Chloé (her mixes, her ep’s, her remixes) over 10 years, The Waiting Room was an autopor- trait of an unusual girl, 18 years old in 1994, who, witnessing the raves and the explosion of electronic music, slowly abandonned her studies at law school. From club to club, mixing all over, she met a gang of girls who become a family, rapidly grouping together to form a club, the wild, the legendary, Pulp. Like a con- temporary laboratory; not only lesbian, not only electro, (and without doubt, the most rock n’ roll ). Chloé, Sextoy, Jennifer Cardini were the first residents, Fany Corral rapidly became the artistic director of the club, with the label kill the dj taking seed in the background.

In 2002 Chloé released a surprising ep on the label Karat called ‘Erosoft’. Totally unexpected, the exact opposite of the “hits” of the moment, against the tide of “electroclash”; a handful of lo-fi home- made tunes. In 2004 Chloé drove home the nail (albeit a soft one!) by releasing the a rare and subtle mix compilation whose title stuck two fingers up to the music establishment; ‘I hate danc- ing’! The next ep ‘Take Care’ and ‘Sometimes’ became landmarks in the musical landscape of the time. And everyweekend the best clubs and festivals (Mutek, Montreux Jazz festival, Benicassim, La Route du Rock, Marsatac, Sonar…) would invite her as guest. During the week Chloé studied electroacoustic courses at the Music Academy of Paris, not really returning to musical research but rather exploring new channels of research for her own music. In 2004 she began creating electroacoustic works, and has devel- oped, almost by necessity, artistic and musical collaborations with choreographers, performers and film makers.
The goal of these collaborations however are not to construct a music that is more intellectual nor more erudite but rather to widen the horizons of her music itself; it is not to acheive a higher artis- tic status, or recognition of her work, nor a rupture with the past as the dancefloor and dj-ing remain firmly centred in her sights and will do for a long time yet.

With her brother-in-arms Krikor, she has created a project called ‘Plein Soleil’. As well as a recent mix CD ‘Live at Robert Johnson’ which came out in 2009. Moving, dark and sensuel, the logical sequel to ‘Dysfunctional Family’ the incredible and voluntarily undefinable compilation mixed four-handedly by Chloé and Ivan Smagghe, released on kill the dj in 2006.

Each time is the same respect for the dancefloor, with this crazy idea to make it more beautiful, softer, more intelligent, more open. Chloe’s music doesn’t shut out anyone. Behind each title, there’s always a story, something that was felt in the silence and she transmits repeatedly to us. She is present, personal and personal- ly. Constructing herself little by little, finding a way to make the dancers advance futher, then to jog or even disrupt them a little. Always be there, all the time, never letting (them) go, never letting them disperse. Definition is complicated… maybe… surely. But Chloé’s work has inestimable value for those who understand it; as one in perpetual movement.