THE HACKER – « L’homme de l’ombre »… From his start in the hardcore techno to the massive success he found with Miss Kittin, Michel Amato aka The Hacker is one of todays most talented and innovative French artists. With Electro (Kraftwerk) to New Wave (The Cure and Depeche Mode for ever) as a musical background he was also familiar with the French rave of the early 90′s. Michel starts doing music in 1989 at the age of 17 in Grenoble (France). Duran Duran was around but he discovers the dark sides of Electro with Cabaret Voltaire and D.A.F. In 93, although in love with LFO, he took the hardcore side and released a few 12”s with Benoit Bolloni (aka Money Peny Project) under the moniker XMF on the label of the same name.
In 95, he lowers the bpm but not the energy. Under the name The Hacker he makes his own music in a classic Detroit style with Jeff Mills in mind. His first tracks are released on Ozone and Interface. Three years later he found his own label Goodlife Records (a classic track from Inner City) with his friends Oxia and Alex Reynaud, but still releases tracks on other labels such as A Strange Day on UMF and Method Of Force on Sativae. The tones of his debut album “Melodies En Sous-Sol” (spring 2000) surmise his musical dreams where you can hear New Order, Dopplereffekt or the hardcore of PCP.
His first album “Mélodie en sous sol”, the 12”s Electronic Existentialist (Missile) and Cabaret Futura (Feis)) and the remix Greed (Laurent Garnier) made the statement that The Hacker was the new messenger of the French Electronic scene. Nevertheless it’s another project that will put The Hacker on the international stage.
He creates some fun 80′s electro-pop with his friend Caroline Herve aka Miss Kittin. DJ Hell loves their first track “Gratin Dauphinois” on Technics and signs them on his new label Gigolo in 97. In Germany the success comes immediately with “Champagne” and “Intimités”. They are booked everywhere with Miss Kittin appearing as a dominant nurse and The Hacker cold as ice behind the machines and decks. With the beginning of the Electroclash in 2001 they become hype all over the world ! Parties everywhere, talked about by Karl Lagerfeld and Elton John amongst others, The Hacker is one of the most sought-after producers remixing for Mark Almond, Fisherspooner, Air and Nizer Ebb.
In 2002 after their U.S. tour, Michel and Caroline decide to take a break from their project. The Hacker takes this opportunity to create new tracks to release 12″s such as “The Beach” on Mental Groove (with miss kittin) and “Dance Industria” on Tiga’s label Turbo. He collaborates with Kiko and Alexander Robotnik, Millimetric & David Caretta. he toures all over the globe as deejay and he released his second solo album “rêves mécaniques” in october 2004 on pias.
2006 saw the release of a second mix cd “and now” followed by a european and U.S tour. a new 12″ released on different called “art&industries” show the new direction of the hacker . several remixes for other artists are on the way and more new stuff for 2007.
ARNAUD REBOTINI – Released four years ago, the first Black Strobe album, Burn Your Own Church, took everyone by surprise with its furious feel, aggressive guitars, nods to hard rock and deliberate refusal to stay within the electro-pop limits rife at the time. In 2007, exhausted from burning guitars on stage during the worldwide tour that accompanied the album, Arnaud Rebotini decided to hole himself up in the studio, switch off his computer and forget about the programs and plug-ins used everywhere else, sometimes to great effect, often not… He went back to all his old machines acquired over the years, the TR-808, SH-101, TR-909, TB-303, Juno 60… all instruments that have earned their place in the old school techno hall of fame. Back then he said, “Faced with my old drum machines and keyboards again, I felt so at home, like I’d been using them all my life. Getting so much pleasure from going back to those sounds was a revelation. When you switch on a synthesiser, you’re playing an instrument that is part of music history. A laptop will always be something you use to send e-mail.”
Nowadays, in an age where vintage is the latest fashion, ancient synths go for silly money on eBay, where the still-worshiped instrument manufacturers are concocting new machines, and where many famous producers openly criticise the creative limits of composing music on a computer, we can finally see to what extent Music Components was a record that managed to cultivate a certain nostalgia for techno’s golden years, whilst refusing to hide in the past. On the contrary, it was visionary, clearing the way for a glorious future… a future that now has a name, no matter what the time
