Boston Bun
Karl Hab
When Busy P endorses a new artist, dance fans listen. A prominent figure in the Paris music scene, the producer (born Pedro Winter) is best known for having managed Daft Punk for more than a decade and founding the tastemaking label Ed Banger Records in 2003. Although the label is known for its heavy, filtered disco sound thanks to acts like Justice and Mr. Oizo, that could be changing with Boston Bun. The 28-year-old Paris DJ (real name: Thibaud Noyer) shares a studio with Winter and has an infatuation with classic Chicago house music and its offshoot, Detroit techno.
Noyer has been making waves in France since the release of his debut EP Housecall in 2012, but he’s begun to draw international attention thanks to a remix of Of Montreal‘s “Bassem Sabry,” performances on the sold-out Holy Ship cruise, and a three-part EP series titled Just for Freaks, the first of which was released in January. On Friday (April 2), he’ll kick off a six-date North American tour with Winter to promote the series’ second EP, due out April 27.
Billboard has the first look at the music video for his next single, “Highland Park,” which revives old footage of a house party in the Highland Park suburb of Detroit, shot by Wayne Nelson Perry in 1994.
Noyer’s momentum may signify a regeneration for the Ed Banger label. Winter had been searching for artists that could capture the “golden era” of Chicago and Detroit dance music (the ’90s) the way DJ Mehdi and Riton did with their tribute project Carte Blanche, before Mehdi’s tragic passing in 2011. The following year, Winter heard a remix Noyer produced for the French DJ Maelstrom titled “House Music” that was partnered with a montage video of aerial shots of Chicago. He was sold.
“Boston Bun is the new juice of Ed Banger records,” he told Billboard, noting that he’s a departure from the label’s disco-house legacy. “We needed something like this… Even if people think Ed Banger is a label for sweaty indie boys and girls, we know our House music history.”
The Just for Freaks series will have three EPs total, with the final installment due out in June. Each release includes two tracks that weave together elements of soul, deep techno and classic house. (For a taste, listen to Vol. 1’s gorgeous “Levitate.”) They’re a bit more graceful than previous Ed Banger releases, but it’s a purposeful maturation. “Stage diving and beer spitting is over at Ed Banger,” Winter declared. “We did it in 2007, but we’re in 2015. Let’s dance.”
Tour dates for Busy P and Boston Bun are below.