Quantic; The "Most Required" Llama

Was surfing Cool Hunting yesterday instead of preparing for exams and discovered a great young artist, UK-based DJ/producer Quantic. His latest album, An Announcement to Answer caught my eye, and I quickly bought it on iTunes.

It's generally uptempo, and combines some eastern influences (check out Absence Heard, Presence Felt) with some older-school Latin stuff (Sabor) and some horn-friendly hip-hop that reminds me of Talib Kweli (Ticket to You Know Where). And some of it just plain rocks (Tell It Like You Mean It). I dig.

Random single you need to purchase on iTunes: You Fly Me by Fingathing. (You can listen to it on the crummy Amazon.com sample player, but you really should just drop the $0.99 and buy the thing.) I pulled this guy out of this pretty cool mix made by Stephane Pompougnac, a French DJ who is famous for the mixes he makes for Hotel Costes (no joke, that's actually the website), apparently the Parisian equivalent of the uber-chic Hudson Hotel.

Pompougnac, who is apparently two parts DJ and one part European-celebrity-metrosexual, has this hilarious over-the-top bio on him online that was written by someone who was remarkably close to being fluent in English. The money quote(s):

This is the real Stéphane Pompougnac, seen as an “urban neo-aristocrat” in Italy, as a “French signature DJ” in England, as Hotel Costes’ little prince turned “Baroque Olympus” in Germany, and hailed worldwide as the icon of New French Sophistication. Today he is DJing at Gucci, hopping from Bristol (where he plays at Massive Attack’s open bar) to Rio, working with Madonna (he remixed “What it feels like for a girl”), whirling Nicole Kidman at Cannes for the release of “Moulin Rouge” or performing at Cameron Diaz’s restaurant in Miami, the Bamboo Bar. Mixing jet lags and forever between planes...

[...]
Today, Stéphane is one of the most required DJ, spreading the music "à la française" all over the world.

What an ass. Though I have to admit it would be nice to be the "most required" something. And frankly I like the sound of mixing "jet lags and forever." Has the sound of a bad American Airlines-DeBeers joint promo.