Downtempo Anglo-Swiss producer Laurent Clerc serves up wonderfully understated blips and bleeps under his Little People alias. Currently a resident of Portland, Oregon, Clerc, who was raised on a steady diet of hip-hop and woozy electronica and has two full-length albums to his credit, dropped his utterly gorgeous Csay Csay EP in March. His three-track instrumental effort brandishes warm synth-based grooves, meticulous instrumentation and delicate beats. (The next time you’re feeling a bit down in the dumps, cue up “Enola” from the EP and in only a few moments this euphoric song to uplift your spirits.)
Fresh from playing a string of shows with Odesza, we asked Clerc to shine the spotlight on five of his favorite tracks of the moment.
Little People’s Csay Csay EP is out now on Youth & Progress. Little People’s remix of Pick A Piper’s “South To Polynesia is released this month on Abandon Building. Catch Little People at Further Future Festival in Las Vegas on May 2 and Lightning in a Bottle Festival in Bradley, CA, on May 22-25.
1. Rival Consoles
One of my favorite labels of the last few years has been Erased Tapes, which is home to Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds. I first noticed Rival Consoles name pop up on Erased Tapes’ Twitter feed but it took me a few months to get round to listening to it. I felt like it was a slight departure for the label — but in the best possible way. This is the last track off his album, Sonne.
2. Kania
You can literally lose days looking at other people’s SoundCloud pages. This was one such discovery. Kania only has a handful of songs but they are all intricately crafted. He likes to take his time building a head of steam.
3. Big Wild
Had the pleasure of touring with Big Wild for about a month. The man is very talented producer with an ear for catchy hooks. This remix is as catchy as you can get. I catch myself whistling this song all the time.
4. Luke Abbott
Luke Abbott is one of my favorite synth nerds out there. He makes some of the warmest and fuzziest techno. He’s a big reference for me.
5. Julien Mier
Another random discovery. I know very little about Julien, but this track has got all the elements I like: catchy, complex and fun.