HI HOTEL & F COMMUNICATIONS

 F communications, famous french electronic label, signs the sound design of HI. The music is broadcasted in the whole hotel and on the HI radio that clients can access through the television internal channel.
The label was founded by Eric Morand and Laurent Garnier in 1986. Fcom introduced us artists like LLorca, St Germain, Frédéric Galliano, Avril, Mr Oizo or Alex Kid, with 120 maxis and 30 albums.
Every month, we discover with Fcommunications one of their artists: LLorca, Ready Made, Aqua Bassino have already mixed at the HI bar.
A selection of CD’s are available for the technocorner rooms at the lobby.
Every month Hi and Fcom organize the promotion of an artist featuring its new album during a live mix at the happy bar, proposing to sell the album at the e-shop and on the website; the biography and discography are available in the technocorner rooms and in the lobby.

[read Fcom biography][Fcom_artists@hi]



F COMMUNICATION BIOGRAPHY

We might as well say it straight away : Fcom is the best French label. A few labels can brag of such a reputation. Soma and Guidances and that Californian label that has nice covers are similar to Fcommunications.

It’s the domain of excellence, even if a Fcom record appears strange, we listen to it carefully as if it was a special album. All the artists gathered in the “think tank” created by Eric Morand and Laurent Garnier showed that is was in the centre of a current intelligent sound. At first, the slogan of the label was “After E comes F”, a wise sentence that mentioned house and laughed of ecstasy. The F logo again very simple diverts the French road symbol. Fcom from the start wanted to represent France abroad, at a period when the French touch concept was unknown in the clubbers circles.

Very fast, Fcom experienced in all musical domains: soul techno of Ludovic Navarre and Shazz on the Fnac label ; ambient twist, Parisian garage, classic and techno house even the hardcore. St Germain, Aurora Borealis and Nova Nova where unknown when the label welcomed them.

The first lives came quickly, something the label had to learn to control. Laurent Garnier’s career continued to evolve, his musical fickleness is wider and his technic irreproachable. Fcom uses a finesse and professionalism that are unique for a French label. It is a label who decided, from the beginning, to do things correctly, with a certain ethic: pay people, be humble, encourage artists. With more than 120 maxis and 30 albums, spread out on 5 years, Eric Morand and Laurent Garnier have proved that they know how to work and that they also have a nice taste. Of course, everything is not perfect. Eric Morand doesn’t go out or dance anymore. Laurent Garnier did a concert at the Olympia, that I personnaly didn’t like. None of them takes drugs. It is very serious for a techno label. It wouldn’t take much for us to hate them or to doubt their legitimacy. But, Morand and Garnier have tonnes of that.

Morand was the first to sign French artists. Garnier fell in house music since he was small. And a lot of people remember that. And even if M. Oizo featured an enormous success in Europe, it didn’t change the optic of the label.
It is just the success that Morand and Garnier were bound to have. And even if they will have to accept this success, it is a label that is convinced that they have to work on the long term. Instead of exhausting a success, like “strictly rhythm”, Fcom managed to play with the impatience of the public and a good development of the artist. The departure of Shazz and Ludovic de Navarre was a hard experience but the label currently follows 15 artists.
Fcom works with 6 employees and 2 trainees: it is a small family. The label never went to the “winter music conference” of Miami but prefers the Barcelona “Sonar”. And their offices aren’t flashy as if they were a pretentious start-up.

Today’s slogan is “electronic with no limit”, which resumes well the fact that the label could sign everything, Avril’s first record is the living proof. With some distance, we could be reminded that fcom could have signed the French touch. With what we know, it wouldn’t have worked. Instead, Elegia, Scan X, Nova Nova, Jori Hulkonnen, Frédéric Galliano, A reminiscent drive, Ready Made, Soul Designer, LLorca and Aqua Bassino have signed with them. A lot of wonderful compilations came out like the three volumes of megasoft office and “musique pour les plantes vertes”, records that we have all listened during holidays. Fcom was successful in bringing melody and powerful sound system together into our lives. It is a house success story. When the 90’s began there were dozen of important labels.
Today, there are a lot less and, in France, one can count them on their hand. Fcommunications succeeded to do the transition between the two periods because of their passion for music. That is what I think.


Didier Lestrade


Fcom artists who mixed at hi :

Alex kid
Aqua bassino
Avril
fabrice lig
Frederic galliano
Jay alansky
Jori hulkonen
Laurent garnier
Llorca
Ready made
Scan x
The youngsters
Think twice
Vista le vie
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