More about Dragonette…
Hercules and Love Affair is a New York-based musical project. Their record company (dance music mainstay DFA Records) describes them as “a pan-sexual mix for our troubled times”. That is one way of describing this eclectic bunch of artists and guest vocalists: Antony Hegarty (the Mercury prize-winning torch singer and radical gay performance artist, with a strong interest in gender reassignment), transsexual vocalist Nomi Ruiz, dancer Shayne, a gay B-boy and mainstay of New York’s voguing scene, and Kim Ann Foxmann (a Hawaiian lesbian jewellery designer famed for running a notorious club called Mad Clams, where one could apparently “get away with anything – smoking, sex, drugs, peeing in the corner, dancing naked”). The band’s central figure, Andrew Butler, began his musical career at 15, DJing in a Denver leather bar run by a hostess called Chocolate Thunder Pussy. He then moved to Brooklyn, in order to attend Sarah Lawrence College and fulfill his dreams of building a career in music.
Hercules & Love Affair’s debut album (produced by Butler and Tim Goldsworthy) was released on 10 March 2008 on DFA Records. It has been critically well-received and charted in the top 40 in several countries. The band made their live debut on May 17, 2008, at the Studio B venue in Brooklyn, New York, before going on a European and North American tour.
Hercules and Love Affair – Blind (feat. Antony Hegarty)
Their song “Blind” co-written and featuring guest Antony (lead vocalist in Antony & The Johnsons) was awarded Best Song of 2008 by Pitchfork Media. The band’s second single “You Belong” and accompanying video featured NYC vocalist Nomi Ruiz.
For Butler’s sophomore album under the Hercules moniker, he says he will involve “a whole handful of new artists,” stating that it is his plan to release music with a rotating cast of performers and musicians.
Kings of Convenience is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway. Consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, the band is known for their delicate tunes, calming voices, and intricate and subtle guitar melodies. Øye and Bøe both compose and sing the songs.
Gaétan, Amaël and Antonin are Pony Pony Run Run. These three former Fine Arts students hail from Nantes (France) and they’ve been rocking stages in France and Europe for a couple of years already. Their album You Need Pony Pony Run Run is out now on Wagram/3éme Bureau. You can download it on iTunes.
The first single ‘Hey You’ has been out for a while now and it has been remixed by some of the best remixers out there. So I’ll just throw in a few of the remixes here. First is Pony Pony Run Run’s own Dance Remix (a bonus track on the album), then Mondkopf’s downtempo take on the track and finally Crystal Fighters, bringing in their signature sound, cut vocals and multi-layered beats…
Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (PPRR Dance Remix)
Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (Mondkopf Remix)
Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (Crystal Fighters Remix)
This is what the band has to say about their sound: ‘We grew up in the 90s and always liked listening to lots of different things. Our baggage is all the pop music that we heard on the radio: some good stuff and some outrageous stuff, a mix of electronic and rock culture, sometimes very mainstream, sometimes very alternative. We like everything. There’s no value judgement… We’ve long forgotten about what’s in good taste and we have no “guilty pleasures” anymore.
What you’ll find in You Need Pony Pony Run Run is a mix of all our influences, everything we listen to. It’s clearly pop but some of the songs, which were originally quite positive, got a lot darker and more complex in the process of making the album.’
Annie – I Don’t Like Your Band
The second studio album by Norwegian electropop singer Annie, Don’t Stop, was released on 19 October 2009 in the UK and on 17 November 2009 worldwide. The record includes collaborations with Richard X, Timo Kaukolampi, Paul Epworth, Brian Higgins, and Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos.
Bad news Annie’s last single ‘Anthonio’ is not be included on the LP but some new tracks such as ‘I Don’t Like Your Band’ made the cut and are a welcome surprise! It’s a ridiculously enjoyable track with uplifting synths and an irrestible pop edge… Enjoy!
French Horn Rebellion are Robert Perlick Molinari (lead vocals/ keyboards/ French horn) and David Perlick Molinari (vocals/ keys/ programming), two brothers from Milwaukee who are now based in New York. On stage they are joined by Paul Hammer on drums and Deidre Muro (vocals).
You’ll be wondering where the band’s name comes from… Well, it’s very simple. The band was actually started because Robert, who plays French horn, was trying to convince other people this instrument but was frustrated when nobody wanted to. Hence the name French Horn Rebellion
Robert and Patrick have done some lush remixes for artists such as Empire of the Sun, Magic Magic or Hey Champ. Their music is best described as disco-electro-rock and you can sample their single (remixed by John Bourke) just below…
French Horn Rebellion – Up All Night (John Bourke Remix)
Magic Magic – Sleepy Lion (French Horn Rebellion Remix)
If you like what you hear, go to iTunes or to FHR’s official store to download the Up All Night EP. More about French Horn Rebellion on MySpace…
Fever Ray is Karin Dreijer Anderson’s new solo project. Her unusual compositions and characteristic vocals have inspired some of the best remixers and producers to create amazing reworks of the songs featured on her first solo album. Most of these remixes you can download on iTunes and one of them you can listen to just below!
Fever Ray – Seven (The Twelves Remix)
Now Karin Dreijer Anderson’s name might not immediately ring a bell but chances are you’ve heard her voice before…
In 1999, Karin and her brother Olof formed the electronica band The Knife. Their success in Sweden, their country of origin, was considerable: between 2001 and 2006 they released four albums and won 6 awards. Interestingly enough, they always stayed away from the media, shunned most interviews, never starred in their own videos, rarely made public appearances and only recently agreed to play live but they performed behind a screen, in the dark, with masks on.
This obsession with anonymity didn’t stop Andersson from sharing her talents with other artists and appearing on many of their records. In 2005, she supplied vocals for the track ‘What Else Is There?’ by Röyksopp, maybe one of her most famous contributions and surely that established her reputation on the electro/club scene. In 2008, she performed the dEUS song ‘Slow’ and in 2009 teamed up again with Röyksopp for the tracks ‘This Must Be It’ and ‘Tricky Tricky’ (featured on the album Junior).
Her solo album, under the moniker Fever Ray, is even more opaque, creepy and forbidding than Silent Shout, The Knife’s last album. Andersson’s first effort is a tribute to the most audacious and conceptual music of the 80s. There are lots of the synthesised faux-ethnic sounds similar to those you would hear on Peter Gabriel’s fourth eponymous album or Kate Bush’s The Dreaming: chimes, oriental motifs, talking-drum percussion…
Jupiter are ‘Q. & A.’ and they are based in Paris. They deliver vintage-flavored laser-disco songs that would be on heavy rotation on every radio station in a better world. And if you can’t help but think of annie when listening to the sweet voice of ‘A.’, I definitely agree with you. That just makes it even better though…
The band’s official bio goes like this: ‘The two members of Jupiter met on a dancefloor cleared by a slightly too retro hit. Their shared passion for a time tainted by glitter and care-free music drove them to bond together and write music halfway between “Thank God It’s Friday” and “Purple Rain”.’
You might remember Jupiter from their work as remixers for many cool bands. Their remix of Chew Lips‘ massive single ‘Salt Air’ was uploaded here a few months ago and you probably danced on this tune without even knowing that you owed it to Jupiter. Well here come another of their killer remixes, which they did for the band Metronomy. Enjoy!
Metronomy – Heartbreaker (Jupiter Remix)
Check out their new single ‘Starlighter’ just below and get it from iTunes or Beatport. Make sure you visit their MySpace for tour dates…
The xx is a band from South West London, formed in 2005. The four members of the band originally met at Elliott School, a school famous for alumni including Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet. Their debut album, xx, was released on Young Turks Records on 17 August 2009 to much critical acclaim. The album was produced by the band themselves and recorded in a small garage that was part of the XL studios. This setting and the fact that the recording sessions often took place at night contributed to the sleek, whispery nature of the album.
The band have toured with The Big Pink and Micachu. They also supported Florence and the Machine on her tour during September 2009, before embarking on a tour of their own in October 2009, followed by a U.S. & Canada support tour with Friendly Fires.
On 11 November 2009, it was confirmed that keyboardist Baria Qureshi left the band after missing several scheduled shows, citing exhaustion. She will not be replaced, and the band will continue as a three-piece. More info + tour dates on MySpace…
