Ivan Smagghe
From the Rough Trade shop in Paris to Black Strobe, Kill The DJ and It’s A Fine Line: the long, dark-edged career of Ivan Smagghe.
- French DJ and producer, first known as Ivan Rough Trade after his job at the Rough Trade shop in Paris.
- Formed Black Strobe with Arnaud Rebotini (1997) and co-founded the label Kill The DJ (2005).
- Records as It’s A Fine Line with Tim Paris; now based in London.
Ivan Smagghe is one of the Paris DJs who shaped the darker side of French club music around 2000: electro, electroclash and slow, strange house. He started behind a record-shop counter, and his career has stayed close to the crate ever since.
Rough Trade and Black Strobe
Smagghe was an indie kid before he was a clubber. In the mid-1980s he bought his records at New Rose and Danceteria. He later worked at the Rough Trade shop in Paris, which gave him his first DJ name, Ivan Rough Trade; his mix CD French Fried Funk came out under it on Slip ’n’ Slide in 1997.
The same year he formed Black Strobe with Arnaud Rebotini. The band described its sound as “frozen balearic gay biker house”. Smagghe left in 2006.
Pulp, Death Disco and Kill The DJ
His career took shape at Pulp, a club on the Grands Boulevards known for its Thursday nights, where he started out alongside Rebotini. A run of mix CDs fixed his reputation: How To Kill The DJ (Part One) on Tigersushi (2003), Death Disco on Eskimo (2004), a key release of the electroclash years, and Fabric 23 for the London club in 2005.
In 2005 the Kill The DJ label was founded in Paris by Smagghe, the DJ Chloé Thévenin and managers Fany Corral and Stéphanie Fichard. It grew out of the Pulp parties. Chloé and Smagghe mixed The Dysfunctional Family for it in 2006, and the label went on to release artists such as C.A.R., Léonie Pernet and Clara 3000 as well as his own projects.
He has described a party called Le Food, in Brussels, as a turning point between 1990s deep house and early electroclash. Andrew Weatherall often played alongside him, and Smagghe has also released records on Les Disques De La Mort, the label that put out the first album by Save!.
It’s A Fine Line and beyond
Smagghe and Tim Paris, another French producer based in London, have worked together as It’s A Fine Line since 2008, with releases on Kompakt and in the Live at Robert Johnson series among others. Their self-titled debut album came out on Kill The DJ on 26 August 2016, with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand singing on “Redelivered”. The pair named Giorgio Moroder, Martin Hannett and Conny Plank as influences.
In 2017 he released two albums with Rupert Cross: MA on Offen in March and Timothy Dalton on Idle Press in October. He has also worked with Marc Collin in Volga Select and hosts regular shows on NTS Radio.
In the mix
Smagghe’s records and mixes favour mood over speed: dark synths, wiry basslines, music from any decade. If the electroclash years are your way in, read about DJ Hell and Tiga, then the wider history of French electronic music.
FAQ
Who is Ivan Smagghe?
A French DJ and producer, now based in London, known for Black Strobe, the Kill The DJ label and the duo It’s A Fine Line with Tim Paris.
Why was Ivan Smagghe called Ivan Rough Trade?
He worked at the Rough Trade record shop in Paris. His 1997 mix CD French Fried Funk came out under that name.
Was Ivan Smagghe in Black Strobe?
Yes. He formed Black Strobe with Arnaud Rebotini in 1997 and left the band in 2006.
