The hits of Daniel Bangalter

CK303's deep investigation to one half of the duo, Thomas Bangalter's human past led him to find his father, Daniel Bangalter. Under the name Daniel Vangarde, the D.I.S.C.O. legend worked with the likes of Sheila B. Devotion, The Gibson Brothers, was sampled by Erykah Badu, wrote for Banarama and released under several monikers in France. Working with fellow writer and producer Jean Kluger as the Yamasuki Singers in 1971, they released cult album, Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki, as a pseudo-Japanese concept album of pop songs. The song "Aieaoa" on the album was later recorded, as "Aie a Mwana" by Bananarama, eventually becoming the first UK hit for them. He also worked extensively with 1980s act, La Compagnie Créole and was known for maing pop records with experimental tendencies such as left-field instrumental sections and incorporation of world music influences.

Besides having been credited with aiding Daft Punk in their early musical career from passing on a Minimoog to Thomas Bangalter for their earliest recordings, and helping them to navigate and control over the business aspects of their early career - perhaps certain underlying elements of humour and a desire to experiment was inherited by the duo today. 

To this day, Vangarde has maintained a surprisingly low profile, much like his son Thomas. In celebration of the man, CK303 known for his previous mixes skillfully collating the tracks supposed influencing Daft Punk's rich musical past, has made us an exclusive mix in tribute to Vangarde and all his hits.

TRACKLIST:
Yamasuki Intro
Who's Who - Hypnodance
La Compagnie Creole - AIE (A Moun'La) (Larry Levan remix intro/original mix)
Gibson Brothers - Come to America (instrumental)
Who's Who - Dancing Machine
The Lovelets - Midemman (Theme Midem 74)
Yamasuki Singers - Yama Yama
Ottawan - AIE (That's my song)
Daniel Vangarde - La Poursuite (extract)
Daniel Vangarde - Ad Libitum
Starbow - Intersidereal Message
Stanislas Kadik - Polska (CK's instrumental edit)
Who's Who - Ad Lib 80
Vicky Edimo - Let me love you tonight
Gibson Brothers - Ooh what a life!
Soul Iberica Band - Stop By
Vicky Edimo - Diwuse Lame
Yamasuki Singers - AIEOU
Rocky & Vandella - D'es que t'as dit disco t'as tout dit

Dazed Digital: How did you first come across Daniel Vangarde and what interested you about him?
CK303: I knew from reading early articles about Daft Punk that he had written 'D.I.S.C.O'  but the first time he really registered with me was in 2007 when I noticed that Erykah Badu had sampled a track written by him and his long time collaborator, Jean Kluger, on her 'New Amerykah' album. That led me to the Yamasuki album, and once I heard that in its entirety, I realised he was a very talented artist in his own right. So I started searching out other things he had done and then when I heard 'Hypnodance' - an amazing piece of music, and, like Yamasuki, a very unique sound- I really got sucked in.

DD: How prominent was his influence on disco in the 70s at the time?
CK303: It's difficult to know how influential his music was in the 70s since 'Euro Disco' – for want of a better term - is not a particularly well-documented genre, certainly in comparison to its American counterpart. The Ottawan and Gibson Brothers records sold in huge numbers so I guess there must have been many imitators. His incorporation of world music influences into disco/pop records was quite novel although he wasn't the only producer taking that approach. Even to this day, he's not a particularly well-known producer, which is surprising considering the great records he's made and how famous his son is. He seems to be very happy to maintain a low profile, much like Thomas. But his name does crop up here and there in unexpected places -  the Bananarama connection for example -and I read in an interview with Wally Badarou that he was responsible for introducing Chris Blackwell (of Island Records fame) to Wally, which was clearly a key event in the development of the Compass Point sound. In fact, Ottawan's version of 'A.I.E' sounds like it was recorded at Compass Point and would have made a great backing track for Grace Jones.

DD: In what other ways do you think he affected Daft Punk's musical output? Was he involved much with their work in the early days?
CK303: He gave Thomas a Minimoog and some other studio equipment that they used on their earliest recordings and he certainly helped them to navigate the shark-infested waters of the music industry and keep tight control over the business aspects of their career. He is thanked specifically in the ‘Homework’ liner notes for ‘his precious advices’ and also received a credit for Discovery under the heading of ‘Design Concept, Art Direction’. So there's little doubt that he was an influential figure in the background during the early years of their career. I also suspect that he must have been involved in the early development of their production technique – certainly it seems unlikely they created such a distinctive and utterly professional sound from a little bedroom studio in Paris without any input from an experienced record producer who happened to be living in the same house! But again, that's pure speculation on my part....