with just a few eps, sebastien devaud aka agoria has asserted himself as one of the most promising french producers on the dance scene.
his mother an opera singer and his father a visionary architect, provide him with a rich and cultural background, no doubt playing its part in the development of his artistic talents.
starting off his career with a hectic djing schedule [playing at many international clubs alongside renowned artists such as jeff mills, dj hell, kevin saunderson, carl cox and ritchie hawtin, to name but a few], he quickly became frustrated only playing other people’s tracks and fervently began to produce his own material from 1999.
influenced by the detroit sound, agoria has a unique groove, melody and a dancefloor approach to his music. numerous french independent labels like umf, tekmics and zebra 3 or a-traction were immediately charmed by the french prodigy and released his first productions.
in 2000, he was the first dj to be taken on by the prestigious fair, a french support fund for new acts, signing his first publishing contract with peermusic the same year.
the year 2002 marked a new era for him when he signed to [pias] and released the first ep called ‘la 11ème marche’.
in a very short period of time, this techno anthem had been playlisted by the best international djs [from laurent garnier to hell, including andrew weatherall, alexander kowalski, angel molina and funk d’void] and top radio djs pete tong, seb fontaine, fergie and colin murrey.
the british press could barely contain their enthusiasm and called it “one of the most emotive tracks of the year” [mixmag], while muzik described it as: “paris meets detroit groove only much much bigger”.
the follow up ep ‘sky is clear/kofea’ was released shortly after and was equally welcomed. this second hit consolidated his reputation as one of the hottest new faces outside the limits of french’s frontiers. “another winner” [muzik], “devaud maakt intrigerende techno met een housey inslag” [go magazine], “coming hot on the heels of the much lauded ‚la onzieme marche‘, agoria‘s roll shows no sign of stopping. unmissable” [dotmusic].
friendships and aspirations in music get more and more diverse, resulting in a new ep ‘touched by...’ [may 2003] featuring ‘kofea’ remixed by eedio ‘the’ french producer, from clermont-ferrand [bpitch control], to keep an eye on, ‘sky is clear’ entirely re-thought by kompakt label boss michael mayer, and the inevitable ‘la onzieme marche’ remixed by alexander kowalski, the rising star of kanzkeramt.
meanwhile, agoria works in his den, named the circle room, a year of non stop sessions, polishing, construction, doubt, happiness, destruction... all alone, most of the time.
at a deviant groove party (paris), he meets sylvie marks [bpitch control]. she listens to a demo, goes home to frankfurt... asks for the parts and puts her voice beside kofea’s vocals [an imaginary character]. ‘spinach girl’ is born.
one evening in paris, tricky listens to an instrumental six times in a row. verdict: “it’s the best hip hop track i have heard for ages!” in the bathroom of his hotel room, tricky finds the theme and the lyrics. he wants to record straight away. ‘2thousand3’ is done the next day.
a few weeks later, sebastien finishes his remix of the legendary ‘big fun’ from inner city. immediate enthusiasm from kevin saunderson, they exchange a few emails and kevin’s wife – ann saunderson [the voice behind octave one’s ‘black water’] – records ‘worth it’... followed by an invitation to play at movement – edition 2003 of the detroit electronic music festival – sharing the stage with his idols kevin saunderson, juan akins ! kenny larkin. |
