HUMANTRONIC (FR)
Who is Humantronic ?
Just something simple that sounds like his music, and, needless to say, something that sounds just like him… Frédéric Alvernhe has made a career that is part and parcel of his personality.
Today, this DJ composer-producer comes up with a second signature on Kevin Saunderson’s label KMS Records, an new analog and visual live-act and another alias Ardan Bel to produce a deeper and emotional sound.
His label Manakacha set up with few European friends five years ago, have featured Humantronic, Sarah Goldfarb and MIDI for their debut EP, Some highly specialized material indeed, but miles away from a passing fad. Far ahead. But what happened before?
Before, it’s a long story of rhythmics. Starting in high school where he played the rhythmic guitar in his first rock band until, awe-struck, he discovered rave parties in the green English countryside, Fred would not rest until he finally took the plunge, round about 1997, when he started playing under the Fred Flower alias.
It would be wrong to reduce the character to a mere peaceful image, even though there are logical affinities with trance and psychedelic culture in general. He is, in fact, more than anything else, a true child of that 90s legacy : the musical crossover. If you want proof, take a look into his flight- case, or check out his open-minded techno : his route is that of a true musician. At the end of the century, this completely self-taught artist had several tasks in hand : he accompanied on the bass guitar his DJ friend Steph d’Elisium, composed and created music for plays (Au Pays des Hommes1, Théâtre Toursky) in which, for the first time, he carried out a fusion using both machines & instruments… That was the start, and there’s no stopping him now, as you can see in Two Heads On, an electro-jazz side-project.
His first label Neopren Records, was successfully launched in 2006 with the support of Apoll and key- player distributor Intergroove, starting with the blistering EP Kiss of the Flower Man which still remains Neopren bestseller. After several releases on Neopren Tongut, Malatoid or Schallbox, Humantronic starts his own label Manakacha In 2010. With unassuming yet unwavering efficiency, the producer reveals his own vision of techno : mesmerizing, massive and groovy tunes inspired by the great forebears as much as by new-school electro whiz-kids. A techno in his own image : sincere and unusual, part of the current climate only to breathe in some fresh oxygen. For all that, Humantronic and his ‘deep’ alias Ardan Bel are projects deeply rooted in its own era, the child of a new tech. buff. He handles with equal ease playing vinyls and the digital world. Yet this does not go unmotivated. He simply uses these tools among many others to serve an instinctive musical approach and his peculiar universe. In his approach to the dancefloor, as well as in the way he considered the technological vehicle, as an integral part of his music. And, when Fred plays behind the decks or with his machines, he really plays : there is real work here on textures, and atmospheres as well as on the development of his sets searching out his own way no matter whether it should shut him off or lead to the fast track of success. And nothing will stop this mutant with a beating heart who vanishes behind what he does best : Humantronic