Cassius
Cassius was a French house duo active from 1988 to 2019, consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi, known as Zdar, and Hubert Blanc-Francard, known as Boombass. The pair began working together in 1988 producing for French hip-hop artist MC Solaar, then formed their first joint project, La Funk Mob, in 1991 before increasingly experimenting with the French touch sound that defined much of the country's house scene through the 1990s.
As Cassius, the duo released across labels including Virgin, Ed Banger and Because Music, and their catalogue became a reference point for French house's fusion of disco, funk and filtered house textures on dancefloors internationally. Outside Cassius, Zdar built a parallel career as a producer and sound engineer, running the Motorbass studio and recording albums for Phoenix, Chromeo, Franz Ferdinand and the Beastie Boys, work that ran alongside his DJ and production role in the duo.
Zdar died on 19 June 2019 in Paris at age 52, ending the group's three-decade run. Cassius performed at festivals including RockAdel, and their extended catalogue, alongside Zdar's outside production credits, placed the duo at the center of the French house movement's international export through the 1990s and 2000s.