Mirwais

You heard "Disco Science" on the Snatch Soundtrack. Now veteran French musician/producer, Mirwais, most recently known for his superb production and songwriting efforts on MADONNA's 'Music,' releases his latest Production in the US. He also locks down:

* People Magazine's "Pick Of The Week" for his "dazzling French dance set";

* Scores an A- in Entertainment Weekly for his "delicious French pastry with many layers";

* Takes 3.5 stars from US Weekly who says "the final product is delectable"!



"I truly believe that this man is a genius… I listen to his stuff and I think, this is the future of sound." - Madonna (Billboard -- August 5, 2000)



The moment word leaked out that that 39-year-old producer Mirwais Ahmadzai had been christened as Madonna's newest muse and mentor, his meek existence as a composer of obscure, avant-garde electronic music came to an abrupt end. Overnight, he became heralded as the man who held the future of popular music in his hands. But for all its tech-pop panache, Music was merely an invitation into Mirwais' audacious and adventurous audio universe. The party truly begins with Production, Mirwais' debut full-length solo effort. It is the unbridled, undiluted manifestation of his musical vision - an eclectic album that congeals his disco, pop and punk influences into an exciting cinematic journey where straightforward pop sensibility is juxtaposed with challenging technological innovation.



"There are two sorts of people involved in music," Mirwais says. "People who like a specific style of music and want to do it better and people who want to experiment. Each new scene is a system and I don't want to be part of just one scene. I want to do something different."



Born in Switzerland to an Italian mother and an Afghanistani father (his family relocated to Paris when he was six-years-old), Mirwais' demand for distinction was obvious long before he began delighting the world's dancefloors and backroom lounges with his gritty, space-age grooves. His inspirations were apparent as far back as 1980, when he began a seven-year tenure a lead guitarist for the seminal French pop outfit Taxi Girl. "For a teenager, the late 70s were a strange mixture of disco music and punk, and it was okay to like them all," he says. Taxi Girl captured the punk rock power of The Stooges, the techno futurism of Kraftwerk and the disco euphoria of Giorgio Moroder and molded the diametrically opposed styles into an electrifying new-wave sound that entertained and inspired a generation of listeners bored by the complacency of 80s French pop. Even the current darlings of the French electronic music scene, such as Daft Punk and Air, continue to namecheck Taxi Girl as a major influence on their artistic directions.



After a slew of successful singles - 1980's "Cherchez Le Garcon" being the band's high-water mark - internal problems within the group (the drug-related death of its drummer, for one) caused Taxi Girl to disband in 1987. Mirwais soon found a new creative outlet in Juliette Et Les Independents in 1989, for which he also played guitar. The band wielded a melodic, acoustic-driven sound and a melancholy introspection that ran in sharp contrast to Taxi Girl's bouncy techno-pop, but it wasn't long before the energy of the evolving dance scene (and the fact that "you didn't need money to make a [dance] record") called Mirwais back to the production board, where he reinvented himself as the new don of French electronica.



Mirwais emerged with his first offering, "Disco Science," in April 1999 on French indie label Naïve records. The single was an instant smash, not only because of its sultry juxtaposition of throbbing disco bass, gritty keyboard squalor and wailing guitar funk, but also because of its tantalizing highly-erotic video, directed by fashionable French photographer Stephane Sednaoui (whom Mirwais befriended during his days in Taxi Girl.)



But the endearing brilliance of "Disco Science" only hinted at the depth of the musical genius that was unleashed on Production a year later. The album is a sometimes silly, sometimes surly, undeniably sexy sonic journey that pilfers from the past as it plots out the future, bobbing and weaving through myriad tempos and textures throughout its careening course. Production is certainly a call to arms for dancefloor dwellars - the ferocious funk of "Disco Science," the euphoric, vocoder-vocaled electro-pop of "Naïve Song," the heavy, guitar-riddled groove of "I Can't Wait," and disjointed big-beat bounce of "Definitive Beat" serving as spirited soundtracks to frenzied and festive nights on the town. But the album also reveals Mirwais' down(tempo) side - the slow-burning melancholy of "V.I.," the disjointed, hip-hop paranoia of "Junkie's Prayer," and the yearning, psychedelic sorrow of "Paradise (Not For Me)" (featuring Madonna on the mic) illuminating his ability to fuck with the mind, as well as the feet.



Shortly after its release, the album topped the charts in Germany and Holland and garnered heavy airplay on Britain's BBC Radio 1 and France Radio NRJ. But Europeans weren't the only ones who heralded Production as an intense marriage of human emotion and synthetic soul. The album also caught the ears of Madonna, who was so impressed and inspired by the album, she quickly enlisted the up-and-coming artists to help with the production of her new grooves. Mirwais' superb production and songwriting efforts on Music refined the sonic persona of the world's premier musical icon to the applause of consumers and critics across the globe, topping the charts in 34 countries and earning the duo three Grammy nominations. It also thrust Mirwais into the high court of modern electronic musicians faster than you can say "boogie-woogie." But Production proves the man doesn't need to ride the coattails of a superstar pop diva to cement his status as the new millenium's most innovative and inspired musician. His music does that all on its own. Welcome to the future of sound.