Arnaud Rebotini is a French author, composer, performer and producer. He is also the founder of the Black Strobe Records
Arnaud Rebotini is a French author, composer, performer and producer. He is also the founder of the Black Strobe Records label in 2011. With his career beginning in 1995 with a few techno EPs released on diffe- rent labels he was spotted on the compilations Source Lab 2 and Source Lab 3 (Virgin) alongside Air, Daft Punk, Etienne de Crécy, Philippe Zdar in 1996.
In 2000, Arnaud Rebotini released his first album, Organique (Artefact, 2000), under the pseudonym Zend Avesta. It is an ambitious, avant-garde album, highly noticed and praised by the public and the media (a cover for Magic). He mixes pop, electronics, jazz and contemporary music, analog synthesizers, winds, brass, strings, electric guitar and voice - including that of Alain Bashung and Mono Soyoc. A French tour followed, including the festival La route du rock as well as television and the show Nulle part Ailleurs.
Arnaud Rebotini also founded the Black Strobe group. Many remixes and EPs initiate this new electro and club nickname: Paris Acid City, Source 1997 / Innerstrings, Output Recordings, 1999 / Chemical Sweet Girl, Me & Madonna, Fitting Together, Output Recordings, 2002 / Italian Fireflies, Kitsuné, 2003 / Deceive Play, Black Strobe Records, 2005 / Last Dub On Earth, Crosstown Rebels, 2006...
In 2007, Black Strobe‘s first album, Burn Your Own Church, was released by Beggars Group and produced by Paul Epworth (Adèle, Florence And The Machine, Block Party, The Rapture). The album mixes electronic music, rock, metal and blues, including the cover of Bo Diddley‘s track I am a man. This cover will be used for cinema and advertising: RocknRolla by Guy Ritchie (2008), Le Mac by Pascal Bourdieux (2010), Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino (2012), Eau Sauvage by Christian Dior (TV advertising campaign), Seat (TV advertising campaign) and GTA V (video game with the title Boogie in Zero Gravity). The title Blood Shot Eyes is used for the trailer of Martin Scorcese‘s feature film Le Loup de Wall Street (2013). Black Strobe made the cover of New Noise and followed up with a world tour with LCD Sound System, The Rapture and Soulwax.
In 2014, Black Strobe released its second album, Godforsaken Roads (Black Strobe Records, 2014). This was followed by another international tour.
Passionate about analog synthesizers, Arnaud Rebotini also devotes his career to electronic productions. He released two albums in his own name: Music Components (Black Strobe Records, 2008) and Someone Give Me Religion (Black Strobe Records, 2011). As such, the live performances of these two albums where the computer is abandoned are acclaimed by the public and the media (Trax Magazine coverage). The album Some Give Me Religion is also on the cover of Trax Magazine and Tsugi.
These electronic productions also mark Arnaud Rebotini‘s collaboration with the GRM (Groupe de Recher- che Musicale). After several creations for the Group between 2001 and 2005, Arnaud Rebotini collaborates with Christian Zanési on an
album, Frontières (Black Strobe Records, 2016), mixing analog synthesizers, acoustic sounds and concrete music. The creation takes place at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2012.
Revised August 11th 2021
Arnaud Rebotini adds to the various aspects of his career and productions, a collaboration with France Info since he was the composer of the radio soundtrack from 2009 to 2014. Arnaud Rebotini‘s beginnings, particularly with the style of Zend Avesta‘s
productions, also opened his career to cinema. The first director to call on him was Jean-Pierre Limosin. He commissioned him to write a title for the feature film Novo in 2002.
But it is with director Robin Campillo that Arnaud Rebotini‘s collaboration with cinema is sealed, as he si- gns the two soundtracks for the last two feature films, Eastern Boys (Black Strobe Records, 2014) and 120 Battements par minute (Because Music, 2017) - the feature film 120 Battements par minute received the Grand Prix du Jury in Cannes and Arnaud the César 2018 for best film music.
The remix of the track Smalltown Boy of Bronski Beat by Arnaud Rebotini from the film is part of the soundtrack of the film. It also illustrates Arnaud Rebotini‘s career as a DJ and remixer: Noir Désir (Lazy, Zend Avesta Mix, 1998), Dépèche Mode (Something to do Black Strobe Remix, 2010), Bock Party (Like Eating Glass Black Strobe Remix, 2010), Rammstein (Keine Lust Black Strobe Remix, 2011)...
In the spring of 2020, like for all artists, everything had suddenly stopped for Arnaud so he began to won- der how to make up for the lack of contact with the public. With the idea to compose a new title every week inspired by current events and emerging practices in this unprecedented period that he would relea- se every Friday until the end of lockdown. The „This Is A Quarantine“ series is a testimony of our confined lives. Each EP comes with remixes by producer like VTSS, Phase Fatale, Lokier, The hacker, Cardopusher Kittin, Pablo Bozzi and many more.
In January 2021 Arnaud released Shiny Black Leather on Mannequin Records. The EP pushes his EBM-in- fluenced electro-goth side to the limit making even the most doomy goth clubber happy.