‘Music is Shaped by Struggle’ : A Conversation with Sevenbeatz

You released your EP Silent last November, a project consisting of four tracks featuring bass music sounds and breaks touches. What emotions or atmospheres were you aiming to convey with this project?

Sevenbeatz: “Hi Ransom Note and Le Type! Thank you Le Type for your interest in my label and my music over the past few years. For Silent, my goal was to return to a project focused on bass music and breaks, similar to what I had done with my EP on Egregore, while incorporating those African and Latin rhythms that inspire me daily.”

You spend a lot of time searching for new music, especially vinyl. You even launched a YouTube channel called Safe Disques, where you share records from your collection. Could you describe your relationship with music?

“Music, especially non-electronic music, is an integral part of my daily life. At home, there’s always a vinyl spinning in the background. When I travel between Bordeaux and Royan, I bring a bag full of records or go hunting for new sounds to enjoy when I get back.

I started mixing on vinyl and would really like to get back to that when playing in clubs. Nowadays, more and more releases that suit my style are available on vinyl, which is pretty great.

My creative process is rather spontaneous: I don’t have a fixed routine or method. Every track or project is an opportunity to explore something new. I often rely on samples from my vinyl records or digital collection, and, if needed, I use Splice when I’m looking for specific elements.”

Your music reveals a wide range of influences. Can you elaborate a bit on them? 

“I listen to a huge variety of genres, from African vinyl records like highlife, rumba, and soukous, to Caribbean rhythms such as compas, cumbia, and zouk, as well as sounds from the Indian Ocean like séga and maloya. And that’s not to mention what I play digitally—jersey, baltimore, funk, dembow, tribal, batida, bass music, UK funky, dancehall—I just can’t settle on one single style.

The richness of music is simply too captivating to limit myself. It’s also a delicate subject to address. These cultures, which I hold deeply in my heart and explore daily through vinyl records from the 1960s and 1970s, are shaped by struggles, periods of political and social fights, and expressions of identity. They inspire me, but that doesn’t give me the right to copy and paste them. I sometimes integrate certain elements, but always while striving to maintain an aesthetic that is uniquely my own. I regularly reflect on the idea of inspiration and the dissemination, as a DJ and producer, of musical genres from cultures that aren’t my own. There are many areas where I don’t feel legitimate, and my support first and foremost goes to the artists who are the true ambassadors of these genres.”

It’s been four years since you launched your own label, Le Ciel Record. What challenges do you face as an artist and the head of an independent label?

“Probably visibility. Nowadays, you have to be constantly active on social media, and that’s not at all how I envision music. Being alone in this venture—except for Adrien, who has recently started helping me—and funding everything on my own, I have to admit there’s little to no profitability on projects that require premieres, visuals by a graphic designer, and so on.

What makes me happy, though, is that over the course of our releases, I’ve realised we’ve often had the chance to put out the first EPs of artists like Neida, DJ Latinchat, Nnus, Jo Capïsh… It’s truly rewarding to have contributed to their beginnings and to see them making progress in the scene today.”

What does your involvement in collectives like Tustance or La Sueur bring you? For example, does it help you organize or find gigs?

“Not necessarily gigs. For instance, with Tustance, I sometimes play house, trance, or deep techno. However, it’s quite rare that I’m booked for those types of events.

With La Sueur, it’s a bit different. That style aligns more with my club and festival gigs, so it’s likely to have an impact. But La Sueur is also a full-fledged show, with dancers and choreographed performances, and I think promoters tend to prioritize booking the collective as a whole rather than focusing on one of the DJs.”

Last summer, you had the opportunity to play in Mayotte. It must be rewarding to see your music reach beyond Europe. How did you experience this event?

“It was amazing! I absolutely loved being there and discovering Mahoran culture—I had two great guides on-site (shoutout to Lucas and Zazu)! It was the final edition of their Kayamba festival, and after the official schedule, we closed the night with a B3B alongside Mariad and Avneesh, in the early morning hours, just a few hours before heading back to mainland France.

It was also my second time in the Indian Ocean, the first being in La Réunion for an event at Les Electropicales.”

What are your recent discoveries? Are there any tracks you’d like to share with our readers?

“Since I’ve mentioned so many different styles, here’s a playlist with tracks representing these genres. I’ve either dug some of them on vinyl or simply discovered them digitally this year.

In highlife, I’d recommend Yaa Amponsah by The Ogyatanaa Show Band; for rumba, Souyassa by Amedee Pierre; and in soukous, La Moussa De Ouaga by Denis Loubassou. From the compas genre, there’s Moin Pe Pa Vive San Ou by Jean Michel Cabrimol and La Maafia, while Mat’lo by Pascal Latour represents zouk. For cumbia, I’d highlight Colombia by Rosa Pistola, Mo Ti Ne Ganga by Jean Sophie in séga, and finally, Bwéo by Ti Fock in maloya.”