Cassius (band)

Cassius was a French musical duo consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, better known as Zdar and Boombass (or sometimes Philippe Zdar and Hubert Boombass).[1][2][3] Under its different incarnations the duo is likened to the "French Touch" movement of electronic music in the second half of the 1990s.

Cassius
Performing live in 2012
Background information
Also known asLa Funk Mob
OriginParis, France
Genres
Years active1988–2019
Labels
Associated acts
Past members
  • Philippe "Zdar" Cerboneschi
  • Hubert "Boombass" Blanc-Francard

Members

Boombass

Hubert Blanc-Francard (aka Boombass) is a French musician and producer. He is the son of producer Dominique Blanc-Francard. His younger brother Mathieu became famous under the pseudonym Sinclair.

Zdar

Philippe Cerboneschi (aka Zdar), born January 28, 1967 in Aix-les-Bains and died June 19, 2019 in Paris, was a French musician, producer and sound engineer. Zdar was Dominique Blanc-Francard's assistant at studios + XXX (Plus30) when he met Boombass in 1988. Outside the Cassius group, Zdar was producer and sound engineer. He notably recorded several albums of -M-, Phoenix and Chromeo. He also recorded for Franz Ferdinand, Beastie Boys, Lou Doillon and Sébastien Tellier among others.[4][5]

History

Zdar and Boombass started working together in 1988, producing albums for the French hip-hop artist MC Solaar. In 1991, they created their first project, called La Funk Mob, and the following year, they started to increasingly experiment with electronic sounds. Zdar's experience with electronic music was influential in his involvement with Étienne de Crécy in the project Motorbass, who released a sole full-length album, Pansoul.

In 1996, Zdar and Boombass then created "Foxxy", their first self-released house music track, under the name Cassius, and the moderate success that followed lead to them remixing tracks for acts such as Air. In January 1999, they released their first single to become a mainstream hit, "Cassius 1999". It was published by Virgin Records, and entered the UK Singles Chart at #7.[1] This was soon followed by their debut album, 1999, which had two more singles released from it, "Feeling For You" and "La Mouche". The music videos for "Cassius 1999" and "Feeling for You" portrayed the character Deadman, from DC Comics, as a DJ superhero.

2002 saw their second album release, Au Rêve. This featured the "empowered female disco" track "I'm a Woman", with Jocelyn Brown on vocals, as well as the hit single "The Sound of Violence", featuring Steve Edwards on vocals. This album also had collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah and Leroy Burgess.

Cassius returned to the studio in 2006, for the more experimental single "Toop Toop", but the next album, titled 15 Again, featured more vocal collaborations than the duo had done with Au Rêve.

While rehearsing their 15 Again album tour, Cassius provided the community with the a cappella track of their single "Toop Toop" and encouraged fans and friends to start remixing the song. It became an immediate success: the band started the Cassius Workshop project and released more a cappellas for remixing purposes. They claim to have received more than 400 remixes.[6]

Cassius's song "I Love You So" was sampled on the track "Why I Love You" on Jay-Z and Kanye West's 2011 collaboration album Watch the Throne.

In 2016, Cassius released their fourth album, Ibifornia, with Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder, Cat Power, Mike D and Matthieu Chédid (as guitarist of the album) as guests.[7]

On 19 June 2019, two days before the release of Cassius's fifth album Dreems, Zdar died after falling from a 19-story building in Paris. He was 52 years old. On the release day of Dreems, the band announced that the album was the final album from Cassius.[8][9][10]

Following the passing of Philippe Zdar, Ed Banger and Glitterbox Recordings have come together to release the final collaborative Cassius production, with the blessing of Boombass and Zdar’s family. It's a remix of the song 'I'm Not Defeated' by Fiorous. The song was released on February 21, 2020 on limited vinyl edition.[11]

After Zdar's death, Boombass continued his solo career. Being alone now, he says on May 2020, that Cassius has no reason to live.[12] On 20 September 2019, Boombass released a remix of "Grand petit con" performed by -M-.[13] He unveils on May 14, 2020, "Pour que tu" which is present on EP Le virage, composed of 5 songs and released on June 5 2020.[14]

Discography

Albums

Studio albums
Title Details
1999
Au Rêve
  • Released: 17 September 2002
  • Label: Virgin (Europe), Astralwerks (US)
15 Again
  • Released: 11 September 2006
  • Label: EMI
Ibifornia
Dreems
  • Released: 21 June 2019
  • Label: Because Music

Compilation albums
  • The Mighty Bop Meets DJ Cam et La Funk Mob (as La Funk Mob, with Bob Sinclar and DJ Cam) (1995)
  • The Bad Seeds 1993–1997 (2004) (as La Funk Mob)
  • CASSIUSPLAY: Nike+ Original Run (2008)

EPs
  • The Rawkers E.P. (2010)

DJ mixes
  • I Love Techno (2011)

Singles

Cassius

Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)		 Album
BEL
[15]		 FRA
[16]		 GER
[17]		 IRE
[18]		 NLD
[19]		 SWE
[20]		 SWI
[21]		 UK
[1]		 US
Dance
[22]
1996 "Foxxy" — — — — — — — — — 1999
1999 "Cassius 1999" 25 17 — 14 35 52 — 7 8
"Feeling for You" 52 72 76 — 57 57 — 16 6
"La Mouche" — — — — — — — 53 27
2002 "I'm a Woman" (with Jocelyn Brown) 55 — — — — — 63 — 7 Au Rêve
"The Sound of Violence" (with Steve Edwards) 58 — — — 29 — 79 49 1
2003 "Thrilla" (with Ghostface Killah) — — — — — — — — —
2006 "Toop Toop" 52 39 — — — — 76 — — 15 Again
2007 "Rock Number One" — — — — — — — — —
2009 "Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes" — — — — — — — — — Non-album single
2010 "I <3 U So" 15 47 — — — — — 52 — The Rawkers EP
2016 "Action"
(featuring Cat Power and Mike D)[23]		 — — — — — — — — — Ibifornia
"The Missing"
(featuring Ryan Tedder and Jaw)[24]		 — 121
[25]		 — — — — — — —
2018 "W18"[26] — — — — — — — — — Dreems
2019 "Rock Non Stop"[27] — — — — — — — — —
"Don't Let Me Be"
(featuring Owlle)[28]		 — — — — — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

La Funk Mob

  • "Tribulations Extra Sensorielles" (1994)
  • "Casse Les Frontières, Fou Les Têtes En L'Air" (1994)
  • "Casse Les Frontières, Fou Les Têtes En L'Air" (1996; re-release)
  • "357 Magnum Force" (2004)

Production credits

Albums produced by Cassius
  • MC Solaar - Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo (1991) (Production by Boombass and Jimmy Jay)
  • MC Solaar - Prose Combat (1995) (Production by Boombass and Jimmy Jay, co-production by Zdar)
  • MC Solaar – Paradisiaque (1997)
  • MC Solaar - MC Solaar (1998)

Tracks produced by Cassius
Year Title Artist(s) Album Credits
1994 "Tranquille" Sinclair Que justice soit faite! Production by Boombass
Mixed and recorded by Zdar
2013 "Burning Bridges" OneRepublic Native Production
"Something's Gotta Give" Songwriting and production
2016 "Oh My My" Oh My My Featured artist
2019 "Adieu mon amour" -M- Lettre Infinie Additional production

Albums produced, mixed and recorded by Zdar

References
  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 97. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. "Cassius Biography". IMO Records. London. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  3. "Cassius - Biography & History - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  4. "Philippe Zdar, mort d'un pionnier". Paris Match. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  5. "Mort de Philippe Zdar du duo Cassius : un homme solaire à l'ombre des studios - L'Express". L'Express. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  6. "CASSIUS". 30 November 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2012 – via MySpace.
  7. "Cassius revient ensoleiller la rentrée avec "Ibifornia" et un set à Rock en Seine". France Info (in French). 23 August 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  8. "Philippe "Zdar", membre du duo électro Cassius est mort (agent)". France 24 (in French). 20 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  9. Snapes, Laura (20 June 2019). "Cassius's Philippe Zdar dies in fall from Paris building". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  10. "Cassius Philippe Zdar - Grammy Winning Music Producer Dies in Accidental Fall at 52". MSN. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  11. "Ce remix sera la toute dernière production de Cassius - TSUGI". Tsugi. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  12. "Boombass : "Cassius n'a plus de raison d'être" - Jack". Jack. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  13. "Lettre Infinix - EP by M on Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  14. "Boombass dévoile "Pour que tu", extrait de son projet solo ! - Hands Up". handsupelectro.fr. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  15. "Zoeken naar: cassius". Ultratop (in Dutch and English). Ultratop.be. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  16. "Recherche pour: cassius". Lescharts.com (in French and English). 2003–2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  17. "Home – Offizielle Deutsche Charts". Officialcharts.de.
  18. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009.
  19. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl.
  20. "swedishcharts.com – Swedish Charts Portal". Swedishcharts.com.
  21. "Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade und Music Community". Hitparade.ch.
  22. John Bush. "Cassius". AllMusic.
  23. "Action (feat. Cat Power & Mike D) - Single by Cassius on Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  24. "The Missing (feat. Ryan Tedder) [Radio Edit] - Single par Cassius sur Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  25. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles Téléchargés - SNEP (Week 35, 2016)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  26. "W18 - Single by Cassius on Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  27. "Rock Non Stop - Single by Cassius on Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  28. "Don't Let Me Be - Cassius, Owlle - Deezer". Deezer. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
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