Philippe Zdar, French Producer and Cassius Member, Dead at 50

Philippe Zdar, a member of French electronic duo Cassius and a prominent producer, has died, Pitchfork reports. He was 50. A representative for Zdar told Pitchfork that the musician accidentally fell from “a high floor of an old building in Paris.”

Born Philippe Cerboneschi, he and Boom Bass (given name Hubert Blanc-Francard) first began releasing tracks under the moniker Cassius in the mid-Nineties, which led to remix projects with artists such as Air. Their debut album was titled after the year it was released, 1999. In 2002, their sophomore album, Au Rêve, included a track (“Thrilla”) featuring Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah.

Following the release of 2006’s 15 Again, Cassius didn’t release another album until a decade later when they dropped 2016’s Ibifornia. In the interim between Cassius releases, Zdar, who also owned Paris recording studio Motorbass, worked as a producer, engineer and/or mixer on a number of projects, including Chromeo’s Fancy Footwork, Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and the Rapture’s In the Grace of Your Love.

For Ibifornia, the duo paired with Beastie Boys’ Mike D and Cat Power for “Action,” and Cat Power also appeared on Cassius’ “Feel Like Me” and “Go Up,” which also features Pharrell Williams. Zdar had previously worked with Cat Power on her 2012 Sun album.

Cassius recently unveiled their new single, “Don’t Let Me Be” featuring Owlle. The track will appear on their forthcoming Dreems album, which is slated for release on Friday.