{
  "slug": "french-house",
  "name": "French House",
  "aliases": [
    "french touch",
    "filter house",
    "nu-disco",
    "la french touch"
  ],
  "description": "Paris in the late nineties, looping four bars of a forgotten disco record and sweeping a filter across it until the loop becomes a song. Compressed, warm and unapologetically nostalgic — house music made by people who loved the samples more than the scene.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Paris, France",
    "year": 1995
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "chicago-house",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/",
      "inherited": "The machine and the format. The 909, the twelve-inch and the loop held past the point of politeness all arrive from Chicago intact; what Paris adds is compression and a refusal to let the loop develop at all."
    },
    {
      "genre": "disco",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/",
      "inherited": "The raw material, and openly. French house is largely a set of arguments about which four bars of a seventies record were the good ones, which makes it the most affectionate genre on this map towards its own ancestor."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 118,
    "max": 130
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/",
  "trackCount": 9,
  "curatedBy": [
    {
      "name": "The Waxonia Desk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/",
      "pickCount": 4
    }
  ],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you/",
      "title": "Music Sounds Better with You",
      "artist": "Stardust",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/stardust/",
      "year": 1998,
      "label": "Roulé",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "One Chaka Khan guitar figure, one filter, one vocal line repeated until it becomes a mantra. The most perfect single-idea record in dance music, and the trio never made another.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-french-house",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — French House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Stardust%20Music%20Sounds%20Better%20with%20You",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlAEiCb8m0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "daft-punk--da-funk",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/daft-punk--da-funk/",
      "title": "Da Funk",
      "artist": "Daft Punk",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/daft-punk/",
      "year": 1995,
      "label": "Soma",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A deliberately ugly synth lead over a hip-hop tempo, released on a Glasgow techno label. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo arrive already refusing to do the expected thing.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Daft%20Punk%20Da%20Funk",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PwILkY9gRrc",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "motorbass--ezio",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/motorbass--ezio/",
      "title": "Ezio",
      "artist": "Motorbass",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/motorbass/",
      "year": 1996,
      "label": "Different",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Étienne de Crécy and Philippe Zdar making the scene's most sophisticated record before the scene existed. Pansoul is the album everyone else was quietly working from.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-french-house",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — French House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Motorbass%20Ezio",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IFOzOp5Wolk",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "thomas-bangalter--spinal-scratch",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/thomas-bangalter--spinal-scratch/",
      "title": "Spinal Scratch",
      "artist": "Thomas Bangalter",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/thomas-bangalter/",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "Roulé",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A year before Da Funk, on his own label, and already the whole method: one loop, one filter, no development, total confidence.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Thomas%20Bangalter%20Spinal%20Scratch",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ft-01t1TDrE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "etienne-de-crecy--prix-choc",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/etienne-de-crecy--prix-choc/",
      "title": "Prix Choc",
      "artist": "Étienne de Crécy",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/etienne-de-crecy/",
      "year": 1996,
      "label": "Solid",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "From Super Discount, an album sold as a supermarket promotion. Wry, minimal and considerably more austere than the records it went on to license into existence.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/%C3%89tienne%20de%20Cr%C3%A9cy%20Prix%20Choc",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UIRRaTx7PNQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "cassius--cassius-1999",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cassius--cassius-1999/",
      "title": "Cassius 1999",
      "artist": "Cassius",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/cassius/",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Virgin",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Zdar and Boom Bass at their most physical. The drums on this are compressed to within an inch of collapse, which became the single most copied production decision of the era.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cassius%20Cassius%201999",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NDesnOyWzL0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "modjo--lady-hear-me-tonight",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/modjo--lady-hear-me-tonight/",
      "title": "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)",
      "artist": "Modjo",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/modjo/",
      "year": 2000,
      "label": "Barclay",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Chic guitar line, a summer, and a number one across most of Europe. The point at which the French touch stops being an underground argument and becomes pop.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Modjo%20Lady%20(Hear%20Me%20Tonight)",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mMfxI3r_LyA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro/",
      "title": "Intro",
      "artist": "Alan Braxe & Fred Falke",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke/",
      "year": 2000,
      "label": "Vulture",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Six minutes of pure ascent with a string line that never resolves downwards. The most euphoric record in the catalogue and the one DJs still reach for when a room needs lifting.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-french-house",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — French House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Alan%20Braxe%20%26%20Fred%20Falke%20Intro",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2kp7lMYdc",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 9,
      "trackKey": "justice--d-a-n-c-e",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/justice--d-a-n-c-e/",
      "title": "D.A.N.C.E.",
      "artist": "Justice",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/justice/",
      "year": 2007,
      "label": "Ed Banger",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The next generation, distorting the filter until it clips and adding a children's choir. Divisive at the time, and the record that proved the tradition could still produce something new.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-french-house",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — French House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Justice%20D.A.N.C.E.",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sy1dYFGkPUE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}