How it all began..
Motorbass was first a band, the first band from the French touch mouvement, putting out the first album of electronic music in 1995.
Pansoul the only Motorbass album ever made by Philippe Zdar & Etienne de Crecy, is still cherished and seen as a landmark album. Just before their great friends Daft Punk's "Homework" just before anything out of Paris.
Philippe Zdar becoming half of Cassius and a Grammy awarded producer, Motorbass stopped being a band and became a place.. a recording studio, on top of one of the most famous hill in the world : Montmartre.
When Philippe bought the ex Continental Studio, the place already had a mythical status, being the place where Serge Gainsbourg was recording albums for Isabelle Adjani or Jane Birkin, Robert Palmer recorded his Pride album, Cerrone, Sheila..
In 2000, the owner was ready to sell the place, Zdar knew that the 1977 Tom Hidley designed studio was a jewel, only waiting for refurbishing and polishing to gain its original beauty.
He payed for two armored doors and closed the place for 4 years in order to earn enough money to do it " like they do it in the US ".
After numerous sessions in different NYC or LA Studios, Philippe understood that the only way to have an international masterclass Studio was to do it like a "maniac".
5 years later, with his dear friends Phoenix, he entirely recorded and produced at Motorbass "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" an album which exploded in the world and won a Grammy for best independent album.
Zdar's attention for decoration, lighting, details, his obsession for incredible and rare gear. His philosophy of a place where everything is placed where it should look beautiful, and his magic for bringing the best talented people together, are keys to Motorbass studio's incredible reputation.
One day in the Meurice Palace hallway, Kanye West fresh from sessions in Motorbass for his and Jay Z 's project "Watch the Throne" bumped into Justin Bieber. Justin was looking for a place to record a song, Kanye told him : “there's this private place in Montmartre which is probably one of the most beautiful studio in the world ”. Philippe accepted to rent the place to Justin who spent the day there, and told the assistant on his way out, "Kanye was wrong, this is TRULY one of the most beautiful studio I ever went to"
Since then, Motorbass has welcomed :
PHOENIX, ROSALIA, THE PARIS OLYMPICS, JULIAN CASABLANCAS, JAY-Z & KANYE WEST, LORDE, PHARRELL WILLIAMS, JUSTICE, CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS, LITTLE SIMZ, SEBASTIAN, SONS OF RAPHAEL, METRONOMY, KAVINSKY, THE LIBERTINES, JUSTIN BIEBER, SEBASTIEN TELLIER, CAT POWER, THE RAPTURE, KINDNESS, CHROMEO, BEASTIE BOYS, JACKSON & HIS COMPUTER BAND, CHRISTOPHE, CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG, JULIETTE ARMANET, MR OIZO, PEDRO WINTER, TIGA, M, BLOC PARTY, HOTCHIP, KIDS RETURN, FRANZ FERDINAND, MYD, MOS DEF, VANESSA PARADIS, ETIENNE DAHO, FRANK OCEAN, VICTOR LE MASNE & GASPARD AUGÉ, ANGELE, TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB, HOUSSE DE RACKET & MORE..
