Music Not Diving with Scuba

#030 François X: Concrete, French touch, and the development of techno in Paris

Music Not Diving with Scuba

Show Notes

PLEDGE DRIVE 2025 - all new subscribers to the Musicality tier on Patreon will get a Not A Diving Club t-shirt in your size of choice, delivered to your door completely free of charge! Full details.

Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!

-- Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDiving

François X is a key figure in the history of French techno. From his DEMENT3D label and nights at Social Club to his residency at legendary club Concrete, he has helped redefine the music over time and made a huge contribution to its development in Paris and beyond.

We discuss all of the above, as well as the state of the scene right now and of course the music.

-- If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.

You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.

Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.

Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist

Chapters: 00:00 Brought to you by Acid Nation 03:02 Episode start 04:15 State of Paris clubbing 08:00 Music evolution and changing sounds 14:00 Roots of Francois X sound 18:00 Repurposing influences 19:42 Booking Scuba & Joy Orbison 21:00 Concrete: The legendary club 32:12 Paris’ club culture identity 34:00 Quitting the day job 38:00 Disco, House and Techno 38:25 The origin of 'Francois X' 39:00 House music ruled the roost 42:10 Electroclash, French touch and Ed Banger 45:00 Soulful to Techy: Records that flipped it 48:00 Klockworks, MDR and Dub Techno 50:51 Production beginnings 52:25 DEMENT3D and starting a label 58:24 How would you start a label now? 01:05:50 Social media pressure and identity 01:11:50 What's next for Techno?

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