Kartell ft: Kurtis Wells - Mars (Official Video)
Picture Credit: Dimitri Lanctuit
French electronic producer Kartell shares his latest single ‘Mars’ featuring Kurtis Wells, accompanied by the official video. Alongside the track, he announces the release of his album, ‘Everything is Here’, out May 31 via Parisian imprint Roche Musique.
Closely following the single ‘Space Odyssey’, which arrived on January 17, ‘Mars’ showcases Kartell’s effortless knack for downtempo electronica and R&B-tinged grooves. The track takes the listener on a hypnotising journey over languid drum beats and hazy, vintage synths while Berlin-based, Trinidadian artist Kurtis Wells sings in soaring falsetto about undergoing inner change and accepting the unknown.
On the track, Kartell says: ‘I first wrote the chords of Mars in 2016 and forgot about it. When I started working on the album with the theme of space, I found it again and this airy floating composition came back naturally. It embodied a line between the innocence of a quest and the tension of a future at stake. Kurtis Wells was the perfect match for this track and his interpretation absolutely captures this balance.’
‘Mars’ sets the scene for Kartell’s debut full-length ‘Everything is Here’, out May 31: an album defined by its intrepid sense of musical exploration. With the 15-track record, Kartell well-and-truly comes into his own after an already immensely successful, decade-long career. The album features guest appearances from Tkay Maizda, Barney Bones and Kurtis Wells among others, while drawing on many genres like 70s rock and alternative hip-hop, R&B, soul and disco, all of which are filtered through the syrupy lens of ‘French-touch’ electronica in the vein of artists like Air and St Germain. Production style is somewhere between R&B / Hip Hop at the edge of soul and infused with soft rock influences. The resulting project brims with analogue synth textures and funk-tinged beats: a must-listen for fans of the most authentic and soulful types of electronic music.
On the record, Kartell says: ‘This album began with me asking myself, ‘OK, how did I fall in love with music in the first place?’ I started to visualise childhood memories of me listening to music in the summer and wanted to create something that worked in that scene and landscape.’
Born in Tours, in the Loire Valley, Kartell first fell in love with music through his dad’s extensive soul, disco and early house collection which was constantly on rotation in the family home. It’s a formative experience that’s never left him and has permeated his musical excursions since. In his early teens he began experimenting with an old computer and Reason software in his childhood bedroom, spending hours honing his production techniques before moving to Paris in his early 20s after connecting with fellow DJ and producer Cézaire.
The pair hit it off, with Cézaire introducing Kartell to the city’s dynamic club scene and making Kartell’s Riviera EP the first release on his Roche Musique label when he launched the imprint in 2012. Kartell’s talent for low BPM, groove infused, productions, caught widespread attention and fitted in perfectly with a resurgent house and disco scene. Soon he was holding down a residency at Paris’ esteemed Social Club and beginning to get booked globally as a DJ everywhere from California to South Korea.
Describing DJ’ing as ‘like therapy’ after years spent focusing on producing music in his bedroom, travelling the globe opened up Kartell to whole new worlds of club sounds and saw him follow his debut EP with several more on Roche Musique, including the ‘Daybreak’ EP in 2021, which featured collaborations with SG Lewis, Qendresa and Che Lingo.
With ‘Everything is Here’, Kartell showcases the sum of all of these experiences, as he demonstrates a complete and utter confidence in what his work can sound like and zero trepidation about exploring new musical horizons.