Frequent collaborators Sander & Stephane Salerno return to UK imprint Crossings with their latest outing. A mesmerizing EP, ‘Relève Toi’ is comprised of two new original cuts and an outstanding remix by Michel Cleis.
Today, we sit with Michel himself and Leith, from Crossings, to talk about this upcoming release, pandemic days, and what to look for when taking on a remix.
Electronic Groove: Hello, Leith & Michel! Thank you so much for being here with us. How have been this year? How are you holding up with the whole quarantine situation? Are you excited about a possible end to all of this?
Michel Cleis: Ciao, Electronic Groove! I have to congratulate for the nice work you do here – thank you very much for the invitation. This year was generally a nice year. I mean, if I consider that family is doing good, that I take care of my daughter every day, I work in my studio – developing projects and remixes with friends – in the middle of this general disaster – I cannot complain. Anyway, professionally it’s a difficult year indeed, less travel is not that bad, but the industry is really suffering and some promoters will not be able to reopen clubs, this will maybe mean less fun and work in the future, so I’m more than excited about the end of this nightmare but a lot of open questions still subsist…
Leith from Crossings: Hello, guys – thanks for having us. It’s a pleasure to be here with you and Michel. As he said, I try to look at this horrendous year from a glass half full perspective. Alongside music, I am a lawyer, and I’ve had more time for that aspect of my career. I’ve also had plenty of time to work on new projects for Crossings, one of which is this stellar upcoming EP from Sander and Stephane Salerno I’m super excited about. It features powerful original vocal, written and performed by French slam poet Onéiroi, and a remix from Michel (who is one of my all-time favorite house music producers). That said, I tremendously look forward to life getting back to ‘normal’ in 2021!
EG: You both are seasoned artists. How do you envision the return to normal? Do you think such a thing is even possible?
Leith from Crossings: If there is one thing I understand from COVID-19, is that no one really understands it. I don’t believe there will be a silver bullet, vaccine, or else, which will return us to normality 2019. Whatever happens, the virus has changed the world as we know it. That said, there will be some adaptation time, but I’m hopeful it won’t be long before we can meet and dance with all our friends again, listening to our favorite artists, sharing special moments, and creating new memories.
Michel Cleis: I’m a ‘positive soul’ guy in general. Since the beginning of this ‘virus life’, the information we have concerning solutions or other details related to this new situation and its development are not clear enough to determine what our future will be. This is quite uncomfortable and puzzling. It’s difficult to make plans in these conditions, but I definitely would love to think that we will work it out and we will soon be in a kind of ‘new normal life’, maybe a bit different from before but hopefully not too far away.
EG: Leith, you’re here representing your imprint Crossings as well. How and when was the label born? What drew you to this particular sound you are after?
Leith from Crossings: The label was created in 2015 by my partner Aymen Souihli. He and I met a couple of years later in London and we became very good friends. At the time he was looking for someone with the skillset to manage artists and repertoire at Crossings. He was familiar with my previous work, as a DJ, but also through the HYPE events in Tunisia, and other house and techno events I organized – and he offered me to join the label as partner and A&R. We both love a melody and that is the common denominator in every Crossings release. Other than that, we look for music that combines originality, sonic spatial balance, versatility, and ingeniousness.
EG: How were you guys able to keep up creatively with this adverse climate around? Are you able to draw inspiration from the uncertainty of it all?
Leith from Crossings: Music and performances we create nowadays are often inspired by our experiences and surroundings, whether consciously or unconsciously. Inspiration is very dynamic and evolves, influenced by our environment, activities, and social interactions. However, there is also an innate ‘basic layer’ based on what we experienced in the early parts of our life, which is much more present, I find, when you are alone for prolonged periods of time. I found myself recently enjoying geeky old school synthesizers with an 80s electronic vibe, a sound which I love from my many years playing video games growing up in the 80s and 90s. For those fellow geeks and diggers out there, I recommend this late 70s gem of an LP: Mort Garson – Mother Earth’s Plantasia.
Michel Cleis: The creative process is not easy in these times and new conditions. Somehow (probably like many others), I do not feel free as before. Not free to move and to breathe normally like before is a big deal. Anyway, I still find it very exciting to go and work in the studio and this is probably my main source of creativity – I can mentally travel away. To start something without a clear idea of ‘what will happen’ and of ‘where I go’ is also somehow next to a definition of freedom.
Indeed, before the pandemic, it was easier to imagine my music played in a club, dance floors being the goal to reach, making people dance was the way. Now I have the impression that if the track or the idea is not so club-oriented, it is not that important as we have a different present. I really feel free in the process. Somehow, it’s perhaps the right time to try to do something different musically speaking – but nothing is easy.
“The creative process is not easy in these times and new conditions. Somehow (probably like many others), I do not feel free as before. Not free to move and to breathe normally
like before is a big deal” – Michel Cleis
EG: Leith, as A&R and head of Crossings, how do you select the remixers for different projects?
Leith from Crossings: Every remix has a story. Our EP’s often involves bringing together a mix of new talents, our core artists, and underground powerhouses we work with. Generally, it will be like-minded artists, who we know that do or will mutually admire each other’s music, and who could become collaborators and friends in the future.
It sometimes also involves an artist asking to bring his friends on board the EP for a remix, as was the case in our last release ‘Deadline’, where Chappano asked whether we could add his friends Nebula to the EP – with the result being wonderful.
EG: And what about you Michel? What do you look for when accepting to remix a track? Is it important what genre it is? Or do you feel that no matter the original genre, it’s still going to come out as ‘your’ sound?
Michel Cleis: Well, when I accept the project the idea has to be inspiring. I want to stay close to what I like and use my elements to build the idea, this process gives my imprint and unity to the final result.
EG: Right now, Crossings is promoting their latest release, ‘Relève Toi’, by Sander & Stephane Salerno. How did the decision to have Michel remix the lead track? He came out with some mesmerizing stuff, that really puts a whole new twist on the original elements. Were you expecting something along those lines?
Leith from Crossings: For this particular remix, the story starts about a decade ago. I went to a Cadenza party at which Michel was playing and Luciano layered vocals from French slam poet Abd al Malik over a house-y club track. I found the result powerful.
Fast forward to 2018 and my partner Aymen sends me a video of Sander layering a slam vocal during his live set at Horde’s event in Paris which we both loved. We then asked Sander and Stephane to produce a track with the slam artist, Onéiroi.
As soon as I received the original, it reminded me of that Cadenza party and I reached out to my favorite Cadenza producer, Michel Cleis, for a remix.
While I expected something housy and festive, with very refined drums, the end result was simply outstanding. I’ve played it on repeat for weeks when I first received it. It’s an instant classic and every person who heard the remix so far has been blown away.
It’s not surprising as Michel is a true perfectionist. He must have sent me at least 25 different versions of his remix, back and forth for months, before he was finally (almost) satisfied with the end result.
EG: Michel, can you run us through your remix? Is quite different. How did you arrive at the end product?
Michel Cleis: I started composing the beats. Leith was telling me how much he loved my remix of River Ocean feat. La India ‘Love & Happiness’. I started something from the female vocal of the original track, then came the disco bassline. I originally played it on a synth, and I later asked my friend Marcello Giuliani to play the same pattern on his bass-guitar. Then other elements came in and the remix took this electronic disco vibe. I used different types of North African percussions to make it sound a bit different.
I have to say, I’m still not totally satisfied with how some synths sound, in the very first piano part I wanted it more anagogic and rough, but in the end, when you have deadlines, you have to let it go even if you did not reach the full satisfaction. It’s always really painful for me to move between details and deadlines, but I think this is what can make the difference sometimes and I’m globally and definitely happy concerning this remix.
EG: Sander and Stéphane Salerno are the main pieces of the latest EP, ‘Releve Toi’. What makes this EP special and what do you think each one brings to the table in terms of production and creativity? How did they become part of Crossings Records?
Leith from Crossings: Sander is the second artist I signed after joining Crossings and his track ‘Floraison’ (which is still one of my favorite signings) was part of our very first two tracks VA, ‘Reflections’, alongside Vander’s ‘Blue Eyes’. The idea was to bring two like-minded artists who don’t know each other together on the same release to provide a platform for those artists and their respective communities to interact and grow. This was a defining moment in the label’s direction.
Vander was a resident at The Gardens of Babylon in Amsterdam and Sander at Horde in Paris and there was undeniable similarities in their music. There was also a burgeoning overlap between their communities which has since lead to new friendships and great collaborations. Both became our friends, with Vander even taking a leading role in Crossings for some time.
I met Stephane initially through Sorä (who’s also a core artist behind Horde) when they collaborated on a remix for Crossings. Sorä is a dear friend to Aymen and me – we highly value his opinion – and he strongly recommended Stephane both in terms of talent and character. Little did I know how right he was. Stephane is a classically educated musician who plays 13 different instruments and has decades of experience performing with leading artists and bands (e.g. Fred Frith, Jugurtha) across music genres. He is also a true gentleman and shares my passion for the history, science, and practical aspects of music.
His partnership with Sander brings together understanding of the dancefloor and flow, with mastery of creation and instruments. When we learned that they were partnering, we asked them for an EP, leading to ‘Releve Toi’ and ‘Timeless’. We were going to premiere their live act last winter in London in collaboration with Horde but we had to cancel unfortunately because of the pandemic. They have recorded it instead, and it’s a true marvel.
“Our EP’s often involves bringing together a mix of new talents, our core artists, and underground powerhouses we
work with” – Leith from Crossings
Electronic Groove: What can we expect from Cross End, Michel Cleis, and Crossings for next year? Is there anything you can disclose with us?
Leith from Crossings: The launch of our new LPs project, ‘7 Collaborations’, which will include 7 collaborations between Stephane, Salerno, and 7 artists from his community and Crossings’ (including myself), each coming from a different part of the globe.
We also have releases from a couple of new talents, Hotel Rubio and Anima, as well as Valentin Huedo, which you will hear more about in the course of next year.
We have a number of other projects which are a bit on hold with the whole COVID-19 situation, both on the releases and events side, including event collaborations in London and Paris with Sander’s collective, Horde. We hope things will be back to normal by October, in time for ADE 2021, and that you’ll join us alongside all our friends at our yearly Saturday morning party ‘A Breakfast at the Record Store’ at the legendary Mary Go Wild record shop in Amsterdam.
Michel Cleis: I have a number of new projects including:
• A collaboration project with David Morales called ‘High Experience’ going out on his label Diridim Music, in January 2021.
• A new duo project with Luciano called ‘Los Ninos’ – the name of our first song is ‘Star Odyssey’, and it will be out on Rebirth in March-April 2021.
• A very summer and clubby featuring with an African artist on Little Louie Vega’s label –Vega Records – for the summer of course.
• A kind of disco project with DJ Hell, not signed but very juicy.
• A remix on Moblack, two remixes on Sony, and a remix of Basement Jaxx’ classic ‘Rendez-Vu’, all out soon.
• I’m also still going with this famous album I’ve been trying to finish for almost 40 years now…so I started a new one.
Electronic Groove: Thank you so much for your time, guys! It was a pleasure having you with us. All the best to you in the future!
Leith from Crossings: Thank you for your great work and continued support of the music scene in these difficult times. I hope we’ll get a chance to catch up face to face in London, Miami, or else, when things get back to normal. Merry Christmas and happy new year!
Michel Cleis: Thank you and thank you very much for having me. I hope we will have the chance to drink a glass of wine in normal conditions together soon. All the best to you for this upcoming 2021 and Merry Christmas!
Pre-Order Sander & Salerno’s ‘Relève Toi’, featuring Michel’s remix for Crossings here.
Follow Michel Cleis: Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | Spotify
Follow Crossings: Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud
