Marcelus

Frenchman Cédric Bros became a major figure in European techno during the first half of the 2010s. Born in 1986 in Paris, he grew up with mainstream pop music before the then-emerging "French touch" sound turned him on to house music, which he consumed via the city's two radio stations that played it. Aged 12, he started to make his own music using simple computer software, and later grew his home studio once he was able to go out and earn a living. He learned how to DJ and began playing in clubs, while still working on his own music. He was influenced by the likes of Jeff Mills, St. Germain, Laurent Garnier, Brian Eno, and in particular DJ Deep, whom he initially thought of as a house artist before seeing him play techno alongside Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann. He repeatedly contacted Deep until he agreed to meet, and passed him his demos, which Deep liked and offered to release on his Deeply Rooted label. The resulting EP1 in 2010, an accomplished blend of funky house and tough techno, was a sensation, with many critics expressing disbelief that it was a debut release. EP2 followed the next year to similar acclaim, and in 2012 Marcelus released his debut for Tresor, the Super Strength EP. That year he also started his own label, Singular, which would go on to become a showcase for his own material. Two more EPs on Tresor followed, and he became a resident DJ at the label's club in Berlin. Tresor released his debut album, Vibrations, in 2016. While incorporating mathematical principles in the tradition of Bartók and LaMonte Young, it was not a rigidly academic exercise and retained the spontaneity and lightness of touch that had made him so popular to begin with.
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