In many ways le Maison de Kitsuné is one of those cultural forces that has struck America in whispers but with their upcoming 10th compilation, upcoming plans to take over the US and an ever expanding base of fans, the past and future of Kitsuné just seems to lay in cautious and relaxed business plans. Along with a clothing line, record label, parties, musicians and a lot more coming up, I sit down with Gildas Loaec to chatter about life, Kitsuné and music.

Jorge: I was looking through the Kitsuné website this morning while I waited around and I was noticing a pattern of musicians that managed to become really famous — are there any bands that are especially memorable to you?

Gildas: Yes definitely. Kitsuné we were doing a  lot lot of singles with many bands and also doing the compilation series on which we were featuring a few bands too that got a bigger exposure then. I think Klaxons singles was a turning point for Kitsuné.

How so?

Because they were ahead of their time, really indie and at the same lots of pop and great songs — so exactly what we love at Kitsuné.

In many ways Kitsuné the music label works like old labels in the 90’s worked where you signed the band for one single, do you prefer signing them on for one or two songs or are you heading towards managing and developing their careers?

Step by step Kitsuné is growing up. We got one band signed to Kitsuné at the moment Two Door Cinema Club, singles and compilations are a way to test and see how the market react. We are also getting more confident in our A&R-ing. By the time when we see some bands like Metronomy or Klaxons, or La Roux etc, being successful then that gives trust in our taste and credibility. So management, bands give us credit too, so it is a positive virtuous loop. We are able to do albums now — Two Door Cinema Club is on radio in France, in UK; we are over 130,000 copies so far and I think in USA it is starting to grow also. We are finalizing a deal with Downtown (NY) at the moment, so more albums soon.

I would have figured you already trusted your A&R 100 percent, you did sign Hot Chip in 2005 and you were even managing Daft Punk, do you always feel a bit insecure when it comes to new bands?

Signing a band isn’t only signing a good band, then you need to spend some time with him — like by the time you put the band in studio and you release the album then the campaign can be 3 years of common life, so you need to have a good relationship with the band, the management…

With not only Kitsuné the fashion line, the label, the parties and the brand — how are you finding the time to do all this? Coffee?

We aren’t doing that much, I mean yes we are doing a lot but in fact we do a good clothes line-2 women lines per year and 2 mens line per year-plus releasing a few singles and compilation plus working one or two artists album a year — we got a good team at Kitsuné.

My English isn’t super good, sorry..

Haha, no worries my French is so bad too even though I took 3 years. All I can say is something like salut, petit, peu.. Speaking of France, how French do you feel Kitsuné is? The clothing line actually looks quite American, almost WASP-y and your most French sounding band is Yelle.. Would you say that the exotic is always foreign?

Yes true — we are based in Paris but mostly we are releasing anglo-saxon music. I’ve always been into English bands: Happy Mondays, The Smiths, KLF etc, so my background is there. I wanted to always break a band in UK too, as a music label goal so working on it. I think we aren”t far with Two Door Cinema Club to break them in UK . We were on TV last week with Two Door (Video) After we got a clothes line called Kitsuné Parisien and a little store too — in Paris, 52 Rue Richelieu. We are doing clothes in France, like chino , polos, cardigan and it is only available in this little parisian store and at the moment i’m working into a 100% French compilation, with only French bands to be released in February. For the clothes line definitly yes indeed, preppy American is an inspiration but I think we bring a French twist in too..

Who are some of those bands?

The bands on Kitsuné French compilation are newcomers not any you heard about (yet) I think — like Destin ,Sauvage, Birkii etc.. The idea is also promoting the local bands as we are living in Paris, we are always asked about French music so here it comes..

RELATED POSTS:

No related posts.