INTERVIEW: La Fine Equipe

French electronic and hip hop outfit La Fine Equipe bring us their latest work with the new album 5th Season, released via Nowadays Records. The group has been creating music together over the last 10 years and have dropped albums which have provided perfect snapshots of the French electronic style. Having worked with a plethora of other artists on previous releases, their new album is no different; they’ve also developed their sound to incorporate new electronic styles such as trap and footwork on their latest LP.

Listen to their new album 5th Season and check out the interview below

How did you first get into producing music?

We met through turntablism and then we went into production and sound engineering.

How would you describe your sound?

We like to call it “Beat Music” because the drums and grooves are the essence of our productions. It’s a mix of all our influences: hip hop, electronic music and all the sampled music like afrobeat, soul, funk, jazz. Those sounds and textures are very important in our music.

What’s been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?

Making enough money to keep on doing the music we love, as we’re not mainstream artists.

Which artist do you draw most inspiration from?

Although the basis of our approach comes directly from the work of J DiIlla and Madlib, we are also 4 french electronic music producers, beatmakers and turntablists performing live. We have drawn inspiration around bands such as C2C, Birdy Nam Nam or Justice. In the studio we have been listening a lot to the LA Beat Scene (Brainfeeder, Stones Throw) or contemporary electronic music from Flume to Kaytranada. Although the basis of our approach comes directly from the work of J DiIlla and Madlib.

Who’s been your favourite artist to collaborate with so far?

That’s a tough one cause in our last album we had the chance to collaborate with artist that we really like: Grems and 20syl (featuring on “Nobu”), we’ve been admiring their work for a long time. Also Illa J (Jay Dilla’s Brother) and T3 (from slum Village) featuring on “The Source”, this collab is a dream coming true. Dudley Perkins and Georgia Ann Muldrow bot nailed it on”Fonk Jedi”. They brought our track to another dimension. Also our side project GANGUE with Fulgeance and Haring was challenging and exciting, it’s a 6 producers based band. We performed live in major festivals : Dour, Marsatac, Nordik Impakt. We love to collaborate, we’re used to work with our artist’s family from Nowadays Records (Fakear, Unno, Jumo).

Who would you want to work with in the future?

Rappers like Tyler the Creator (if you read this interview we’re waiting for you), Akhenaton (from IAM), Q-Tip, Rejjie Snow, Busta… Lots of musicians and producers like Anderson.Paak, J-Cole, Thundercat, James Blake, Rosalia, Devin Morrison, ChannelTres and so on… other artists from Nowadays Records of course, the list is too long!!!

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to follow in your footsteps?

Try to find your sound, and once you found it keep digging in that direction. Do it because you love it and because you want to express something. If your intention is true, people will feel it and the rest will follow. But most important: be consistent.

How did you develop your sound on your latest release 5th Season?

We worked together on the production of this last album unlike the other one before. We all work with the Ableton live, its “Link” option is perfect to compose music and play live with multiple laptops synced. As a result, we all added elements on the tracks and made it sound like a “La Fine Equipe” Album.

What is the perfect setting for listeners to enjoy your sound?

This album is enjoyable pretty much everywhere, from you couch to your car, to the dance floor in your favourite club.

Who would be 3 artists to headline your dream festival? And where would it be?

Kendrick Lamar, Prince, Stevie Wonder playing in the summertime on “le frioul” (an island nearby Marseille our hometown).

What artist have you been listening to most recently?

Myd, Flamingiosis, Toro y Moi, J-E-T-S, Brockhampton, Kiefer and Devin Morrison to name a few.

What’s the main thing you want people to get out of listening to your music?

Our album is full of hope and mainly about a new era post apocalyptic on earth, where everything has to be rebuilt and perceptions have to be changed.

What do you have lined up for the future?

We’ll be playing live a lot, we’ve created a new stage setup with crazy lights structures including an aquarium filled with smoke. We’re also working on our next EP which has got some dope features.

Finally, would you rather fight one bear-sized duck, or ten duck-sized bears? Why?

I think we would choose the bear-sized duck, we might end up becomings friends with the duck. We’d give him some good french bread, we re not really into fighting anyway 😉