Alex Attias

About

Switzerland's Alex Attias has been involved with dance music since the late ‘80s, beginning as a house/funk/disco DJ who held residencies in Lausanne and eventually moved on to spin at numerous venues throughout Europe. He stepped into his first production work in the mid-‘90s, first by contributing a track to a compilation called Five Star Gallery, and then by initiating the Bel-Air Project -- the outfit scored underground hits with "Magik," "Dark Jazzor," and "Jazz with Altitude." By 1997, Bel-Air ceased to exist, but Attias had already started his first label (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Corn-Flex%22">Corn-Flex</a>) and another pair of collaborative entities (<a href="spotify:artist:2Kgx2mfayviU0OnzyNB4Tt">Beatless</a>, Funkanova). Attias moved further into the jazz-inspired sector of dance music by becoming involved with broken beat, a scene centered in West London, England. Attias' relocation to England allowed for total immersion. While <a href="spotify:artist:2Kgx2mfayviU0OnzyNB4Tt">Beatless</a> remained active, Attias spawned another pair of aliases -- <a href="spotify:artist:6SzllZJIW5n0ZQZMdf1NwO">Mustang</a> and Catalyst -- that produced some of the broken beat scene's finest output. The Visions Inc. label was set up by Attias in 2000, which became a home for another number of the producer's affiliations; in addition to releasing <a href="spotify:artist:6SzllZJIW5n0ZQZMdf1NwO">Mustang</a> productions, there were releases from Plutonia (a collaboration with Pavel Kostiuk), <a href="spotify:artist:5C4gaWnEwsHzn34UhjVV8c">Vanessa Freeman</a>, Idema & Co. and Attias' brother Stephane Attias. Visions Inc.'s first several releases were anthologized in 2002 for the full-length Alex Attias Presents the Chromatic Universe. That same year, Attias delivered an excellent broken beat mix album for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Goya+Music%22">Goya Music</a>, the first installment of The Selector Series. Attias has also worked with his brother under the River Plate guise and has released tracks as the backwards happy Xela Saitta. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi