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Télépopmusik: ‘Our New Album Will Be Ready in Two Months’

Ahead of making his way to India for a four-city tour, Christophe Hetier aka Antipop talks about fame, their hit song ‘Breathe’ and working on new material

Oct 04, 2018

Telepopmusik's producer Antipop aka Christophe Hetier. Photo: Courtesy of Mixtape

At the turn of the new millennium, electronic music made its way into the mainstream like never before, thanks to artists like French electronic music producers Télépopmusik. In the early 2000s, if you heard the likes of Fatboy Slim on the radio and his music videos on TV, among close seconds would be Télépopmusik’s single “Breathe,” from their 2001 album Genetic World.

The easygoing, calming pop-influenced sound became Télépopmusik’s claim to fame early on, even earning them a Grammy nomination. Nearly two decades on, it’s still impossible to talk to about the artist without mentioning “Breathe,” even though the duo ”“ Christophe Hetier aka Antipop and Stephan Haeri (known as 2 Square) ”“ have been putting out music steadily over the years. More recently, Antipop has been at the helm of Télépopmusik, performing across the world.

The travels bring him to India courtesy of artist and event management company Mixtape, where Antipop will play DJ sets in four cities, kicking off on October 4th in New Delhi, October 5th in Mumbai, October 6th in Bengaluru and October 7th in Pune. Ahead of his debut India tour, we spoke to Antipop about making music and future plans. Excerpts:

It’s 20 years since Télépopmusik started out. What is it like keeping that interesting for yourself, especially when you play DJ sets?

We had proposed a different setup for our live show, sometimes it was with a drummer, sometimes it was more club-oriented. It’s very important to propose something different every time to keep the excitement and of course, making new songs help…

For DJ sets, it’s easier. I’m playing a mix of Télépopmusik remixes, classic tracks and of course new tracks (from other producers). So I’m trying to make a different set every time I’m playing. Every set is different as the audience and the club configuration are different.

The other unexpected thing perhaps for Télépopmusik, was the fame that you’d get from a song like “Breathe”? When you have a hit song so to speak, how does that change the way you write music?

Making a hit helps a lot to build a career and there are many parameters that make a song a hit but I don’t think it changed our way of writing music. From the beginning, Télépopmusik was about to write music in some different way (than) we used to do with our pop bands.

There’s an album in the works right now with you and 2 Square – it’s been a long time since you’ve done one of those, outside of the singles and EPs that have been coming out.

Yes we’re almost done with the new album, it’s more up-tempo. The album will be ready in two months.

It’s going to be 13 years since the full-length album – does something like that weigh on the process? Especially when you have to go beyond just a few tracks and remixes?

It takes times because we all have kids, work on solo projects and it took time to find out what kind of production we wanted for this new album. I guess it’s more complicated when you make a third album than when you make a first album. It’s of course less spontaneous.

You’ve written music for films, advertisements and much more. What’s the strangest context you’ve heard your music in?

I wasn’t there but Dave Grohl (from Nirvana, Foo Fighters) told our singer that his girlfriend was listening to “Breathe” every morning for months…and at the end he was hating the song so much (laughs).

After all the years of touring around the globe, you’re finally making your way to India – what is that like? What, if anything, have you heard about the Indian electronic music scene?

I’m very excited to come to India. I love music as much as traveling. I don’t know so much about the Indian electronic scene but I heard about (New Delhi producers) Hashback Hashish, Lifafa. I will be happy to play with Indian DJs.

Mixtape Presents Télépopmusik India Tour 2018

October 4th ”“ Auro Kitchen and Bar, New Delhi w/Vridian

October 5th ”“ Khar Social, Mumbai w/M.Mat

October 6th ”“ Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined, Bengaluru w/Small Town Guy

October 7th ”“ Euriska, Pune w/Reviver

Event details here.

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