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Biz3
Born Sebastian Akchoté of Bosnian-Serb heritage in Boulogne, a town in Northern France, SebastiAn found his way to the Paris headquarters of Ed Banger by making a random cold call to its office. He quickly made a name for himself via his remixes of Daft Punk, Uffie and Cut Copy, but did not cultivate his image in the same manner as some of his cohorts.
Touring with Daft Punk in 2007, SebastiAn maintained a low profile within the raucous, vodka-Red Bull-infused new face of "French Touch," spearheaded by label mates Justice. He waited until 2009 to make his live debut, while releasing four EP's and two remix compilations, in the interim.
Though the Ed Banger sound was gradually supplanted by disco beards and bass wobble, SebastiAn has returned to dance floors with an eclectic new album, 'Total,' which features appearances by M.I.A. and Mayer Hawthorne and a remix by DJ Premier. Spinner sat down with the soft-spoken French producer, who appears engaged in an open-mouthed kiss with himself on the cover of the album, to talk about his hip-hop roots, heavy-metal influences and inevitable comparisons to Justice.
Tell us a little bit about 'Total'
About the picture on the cover?
Sure, we can start there.
It's a joke about the artist in general, about the rapport they have with their ego, and it's a joke by me -- but not about me. The artist, most of the time, [they] want to kiss themselves. I also wanted to change a little from the general Ed Banger style we had, which was always full of colors and everything. That's all.
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