“That spark of stumbling on a forgotten gem … gone. Daft Punk were the kings of that. They could turn half a second of groove into a global anthem”: Justice explain why they no longer sample other people’s records and create their own loops instead

“Sampling the traditional way gets frustrating fast: bad tuning, rigid tempos, weird textures that don’t bend,” says Xavier de Rosnay

As they prepare to kick off their North American tour, French duo Justice – Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay – have been discussing their approach to music making – specifically in relation to 2024 album, Hyperdrama – and explaining why they no longer sample other people’ records.

Asked by Rolling Stone if this is about having more control over their sound, de Rosnay replied: “100%. Sampling the traditional way gets frustrating fast: bad tuning, rigid tempos, weird textures that don’t bend. So we started recording our own source material – built for flexibility. It saves us 900 hours digging through crates.”

We can certainly see the benefits – no royalty payments to be made to other artists, for a start – but de Rosnay also admits that there are downsides: “No more surprises. No more accidents. That spark of stumbling on a forgotten gem… gone,” he says. “Daft Punk were the kings of that. They could turn half a second of groove into a global anthem.”