The quintessential Paris label Versatile had an anniversary celebration the other week with a heavyweight lineup including the likes of Trevor Jackson, Dixon, Joakim, and I:Cube among others. Things got out of hand. RBMA Radio has all the highlights.

In a day and age where many people question the meaning of a physical record label, Versatile is very much the validation of their continued importance. Whereas many people argue that every artist can hold their own ground, the French label goes on to prove with each release that being associated with a specific trademark, and with specific ethics and aesthetics, an artist can have more benefits than just the convenience of not having to deal with the administrational side of things. Having said that, character, originality and a certain freedom are the main virtues of Gilbert Cohen’s (DJ Gilb’r, Chateau Flight) enterprise - or to nail it all with a proverb: Variety is the spice of life.

Born during the height and out of the French house or so called French funk craze that started with Motorbass and peaked with Daft Punk and Cassius, Versatile did their part. Tracks by I:Cube (Chateau Flight’s other half started the dance with his “Disco Cubizm” classic with the punk robots on remix duties), label owner Gilb:r (check the DJ Gregory remix for “Venus” on the Cheek plate) or Pepe Bradock (5500 A/R being a prime example of his idiosyncratic funk) fed the flame or kept the fire burning. Since then the Paris-based label never went out of balance. Independent from the demise or mutations of the aforementioned filter and sample madness, Versatile went on to become a phenomenon of its own.

Whatever floats your boat in electronic or dance music, you are likely to find it here. From Chateau Flight’s elegance and interest in restoration and progress to Joakim’s (a true jack of all trades) sweet indecisiveness between being a singer/songwriter/rock star or the Seine’s Giorgio Moroder. From diminutive Detroit statues via Belgium on Fabrice Lig’s criminally overlooked “Purple Raw EP” to I:Cube’s multidirectional albums and planetarium soundtracks. Then, of course, there are the releases from Manu Dibango, Osunlade, and Phil Asher’s alias Focus among others. We could also talk about remixes. Because there are many. Like the hypnotist Radio Slave reworking Joakim’s “Drumtrax”, German house engineers Âme on Etienne Jaumet’s “Repeat Again After Me”, disco viking Prins Thomas on “Before I Started To Dance” or boogie alien Maurice Fulton rendering two of his finest ever for I:Cube and Chateau Flight. And all of this is proof to the visionary A&R-ing and a broad mind sans randomness of the label. These days, Versatile Records is the permanent musical home of a bunch of highly individual artists such as the adorable John-Carpenter-addicts Zombie Zombie, fusionist Etienne Jaumet, the new psychedelic prog-rock wave project of Gilb’r and Poni Hoax’ front man Nicolas Ker Aladdin, and of course Versatile’s le fleuron I:Cube.

Re-experience their 15th anniversary party from last month at Le Machine Du Moulin Rouge in Paris featuring appearances from friends, family members and some of their dearest artist and colleagues here: the incomparable label placed their crew of stars (Joakim, Aladdin, Zombie Zombie, I:Cube, Gilb’r, Chateau Flight et al) next to his DJ grace Dixon, Berlin’s microscopic mirror ball machine Soundstream, Ed Banger’s Busy P, Oslo’s Todd Terje, cosmic DJ Daniele Baldelli from Italy, weirdo edit specialist Loud E and London’s dandy 3.0 Trevor Jackson. Versatile it still is (they didn’t call it like that for nothing), and sunshine people they truly are. Check Mr. Mass's pics from the night, as well as the audio highlights below.

Trevor Jackson  

Dixon

  All photos courtesy Mr. Mass