# Braxe + Falcon

Braxe + Falcon are a French touch music duo consisting of the cousins Alain and Stéphane Quême, known professionally as Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon. Each released music on Thomas Bangalter's label Roulé in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but were not aware of each other's music careers, having only sporadically met before at family gatherings. They met seriously in 2014, producing demos that they left untouched until 2020, when the Domino Records, manager Peter Berard, convinced them to finish their work.
They released the tracks "Step by Step" with Panda Bear, "Creative Source", and "Elevation" with Sunni Colón in 2022, supporting that year's Step by Step EP. They produced a remix of "Winter Solstice" for Phoenix and appeared at Lennox's shows with Sonic Boom in 2023, and in 2024 released the single "All This Love" with Bibio. That year, the duo performed as part of the closing ceremony for the Paris Paralympic Games.

## Background

Both musicians had careers in music; in 1997, Braxe released the single "Vertigo" (1997) and Falcon released the EP Hello My Name Is DJ Falcon (1999), both on Thomas Bangalter's label Roulé. Braxe had a hit with Bangalter and the vocalist Benjamin Diamond as Stardust with the track "Music Sounds Better with You" (1998), and Falcon with Bangalter as Together, releasing the dance track "So Much Love to Give" (2002). Braxe continued releasing music throughout the 2000s with Fred Falke. Falcon co-produced the track "Contact" from the Daft Punk's 2013 album Random Access Memories, but was otherwise musically inactive, taking up surfing, DJing, and photography. Around the time Falcon worked on the Daft Punk track, he and Braxe began to make music together.
Braxe and Falcon are cousins, but had only met at family parties and did not know of each other's production careers. They became close once they learned of their work in common. In 2014, the duo made several demos but nothing came of them. Around 2020, the spoke with the Domino Records manager Peter Berard, who convinced them to finish the demos. Falcon described his return to music production akin to having children, saying that his return had to be for the right reason, and that he would be able to look back satisfied on his work in the future. Falcon concluded this on their choice to collaborate:
    "I just want to be sure that I'm adding something meaningful to the table, rather than engaging in cultural pollution. We want to have the feeling that we do this for the love of it".

## History

In March 2022, Braxe + Falcon released their first single, "Step by Step" / "Creative Source". "Creative Source" was described as disco house with slap bass and cut-up vocals. A remix of "Creative Source" by the Canadian DJ A-Trak was released in August 2022. "Step By Step" was made with Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox of Animal Collective. Braxe noticed the band's work was similar to his and Falcon's, and initiated a collaboration. Lennox described the title phrase as a "hopeful mantra" present throughout the song. In May, they released "Elevation", featuring Sunni Colón. On 24 June 2022, they released the EP Step by Step, and on 26 August they released vinyl pressings. That August, they released a music video for "Step by Step", written, directed, and produced by Toru Tokikawa, and starring the Japanese skater Ginwoo Onodera. They announced two shows in November at Brooklyn's Elsewhere and El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles.
In January 2023, Swedish DJ Axel Boman released a remix of "Step by Step". In May, Phoenix released Braxe + Falcon's remix of their song "Winter Solstice". The band described it as the summary of their experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was made since they had stayed in touch with Falcon during that time. Braxe described it as the result of Falcon's friendship with the band, and said the twelve-bar loop was "where it's easy to get lost in a very pleasant way", keeping the vocal subdued to preserve Thomas Mars's voice. In July, they performed at three of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom's tour, at Paradise Rock Club, 9:30 Club, and Knockdown Center. In July 2024, they released "All This Love", featuring Bibio. Braxe had received a remix request from Warp Records for Bibio's "S.O.L.", and the two chatted until they decided to collaborate, with Braxe sending Bibio a demo produced by himself and Falcon. Bibio was familiar with the duo's work on Roulé, and worked with them on the track based on the theme of addiction. On 8 September 2024, the duo performed at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games closing ceremony. They performed back-to-back with Pedro Winter at Portola Music Festival 2024, which took place on 28–29 September.

## Artistry

   "Modular [synthesisers] can be used for everything and that's interesting to us because the possibilities are endless within a closed world. You can create leads, bass, effects, play chords, sample waveforms or make drums, and you also put yourself in a situation where you can finally have a relationship with a specific instrument, just like a guitar player with his guitar."
Braxe described his use of musical equipment as minimal, while Falcon was the opposite. Braxe describes himself and Falcon as "not real musicians" considering their lack of knowledge of conventional instruments like a keyboard instrument or guitar, so the duo usually try to begin with a modular synth loop or a few chords they came across spontaneously when composing music. Much of their work is achieved by modular synthesisers, a process described as satisfying and stimulating for its many usages and especially for its way to manipulate mistakes when used in tandem with a MIDI box or sampler.
Braxe and Falcon both use the Strymon Magneto processing device on their music because of its delay, reverb, and pitch shifting effects. Typically, the duo use Ableton Live initially when recording, though once they compile all the parts in a song, they export the files to Digital Performer because of the favourable audio quality and easier editing ability. Falcon usually uses the Eurorack and Cwejman modules, and works with the Electro-Music Assimil8or sampler.