The French house scene, if you haven't noticed yet, is very very small and very very tight-knit. There's Daft Punk, the Ed Banger Records family, Bob Sinclar, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, and that's about it. But despite it's small size, the quality of the stuff that comes out of it is absolutley fantastic, and pretty much unparalleled.
Due to the scene's small size, the same names float around almost continuously, and one of the big names, yet often unknown, is of the producer Alan Braxe, who's best known for his work with Thomas Bangalter in "Music Sounds Better With You", the 90's worldwide club hit. Braxe and Bangalter both left the collaboration, with Bangalter going back to Daft Punk, and Braxe going off to pursue his solo career.
He's produced a very scattered bunch of work, most of which is combined onto the record 'The Upper Cuts'. Here's the first track of the record, entitled "Most Wanted". I freakin love the way the beat in this track dives down under an esthetic layer of compression, then 20 seconds later reemerges in it's full beat. If you love the sound of compression, you're gonna fall in love with this track.

• mp3: Alan Braxe & Friends - Most Wanted