There is a phrase that should never be pronounced in front of Julien Granel: “You can’t do it”.
The impossible tempts him, excites him. The challenge is his oxygen. Alone on stage, he improvises, dances like hell, expels and gives, he (re)lives. All it takes is one chorus for Julien to make any audience dance and sing. And when Julien Granel isn’t touring in France with his friend Maxence, he’s with Angèle, another friend, pouding the pavement during the Belgian singer’s Zenith tour. Music, dance, video, photography, fashion, contemporary art, he doesn’t snub anything, he’s interested in everything, like his latest collaboration with the designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He overflows, he devours, he pushes forward, again and again.
When Julien Granel was 13 he discovered Chromeo on the track “I Am Somebody” by DJ Mehdi feat. Chromeo off Ed Banger’s Ed Rec Vol 1 compilation. He listened to it on loop on the bus to school. 9 years later after his first EP “Bagarre Bagarre”, tours across Europe, a campaign with Christian Louboutin and 100,000 fans on Instagram, Julien, the king of colors and electro-pop, is releasing “Dress Code” on Chromeo’s label Juliet Records. “Dress Code” splices together French Touch 2.0 with funk & electro pop to execute the type of song we’re all craving.
He’s Paris’ multicolor wunderkind, a beast on the keys, a natural on the mic and a magnetic presence on stage. It’s no wonder the City of Lights is abuzz about Julien Granel, who collaborates with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac one day and tours across Europe the next. But Julien is also a diligent student of the funk by way of the patrimonial French Touch. He claims that at 13 years-old, hearing DJ Mehdi & Chromeo’s “I Am Somebody” on Ed Banger’s Ed Rec Vol 1 was a formative musical moment. So much so that 15 years later he reached out to the Funklordz to send them music. They decided to release “Dress Code” on the spot: a meticulously composed puzzle of grooves that twits and turns, dipping into boogie, electro and even a few choice jazz chops. A vibrant slice of nu-funk that’s equally compelling with Julien’s crooning (in French, of course) as it is as an extended instrumental with additional production by Julien Galner of the cult synth-specialists Château Marmont.
1 Dress Code (Radio Edit)
2 Dress Code (Extended)
3 Dress Code (Extended Instrumental)
Written by: Julien Granel
Performed by: Julien Granel
Produced by: Julien Galner
Mixed by: Juan Gil Lener
Mastered by: Alex Gopher
Artwork: Diamond Pete
