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Showing posts from October, 2011

BEIRUT

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The EPs and the albums by Beirut are largely the work of   Zach Condon , a young Santa Fe, New Mexico native. Condon has recorded before: when he was fifteen and under the name of   Realpeople , he made an electronic record, fashioned after his love for   The Magnetic Fields . Condon was a straight-A student until he dropped out at the age of 17 to travel Europe with his cousin in a drunken haze, cavorting and partying with the locals wherever he ended up. It was during one of these evenings that he was first exposed to   Balkan music   (notably including the   Boban Marković Orkestar   and   Goran Bregović ), blasting from the upstairs apartment. Condon ended up with the Serbian artists all night, going through albums country by country, note for note.   The first album under the Beirut moniker,   Gulag Orkestar   (2006), was the direct result of what he learned that night. While it may sound like an   entire Balkan orchestra   playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbe

MNDR

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New York City ( 2009  – present)     MNDR is an electronic music duo, formed in 2009 in New York City, consisting of Amanda Warner and Peter Wade.     Warner moved from Oakland, California to New York City in 2008 to work as a songwriter for hire. It was only after meeting Wade that she began to consider fronting a musical act herself. MNDR has opened for bands like YACHT, Massive Attack, and Deerhoof and frequently collaborates with visual artist Jamie Carreiro, who provides visual effects for MNDR’s live shows.Warner and Wade uploaded four tracks to MySpace in 2009, and those tracks eventually became MNDR’s debut EP, E. P.E… The band is currently at work on their first full-length album, tentatively scheduled for release in early 2011. The song “Fade to Black” from E.P.E was re-recorded in the Simlish language of The Sims and is featured in The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff.     Amanda Warner is featured on the song “Bang Bang Bang”, the first single taken from Mark Ronson &

BASEMENT JAXX

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Brixton, South London, UK ( 1994  – present) Basement Jaxx is an English house music duo comprised of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe that rose to popularity in the late 1990s. Basement Jaxx started in Brixton, South London, UK in 1994, where they held a regular club night called Rooty, which would later become the name of their second album. The duo got their name from the location of the studio where they recorded their first EP - it was located in the basement of friends of Simon Ratcliffe.  In addition to their own work, Basement Jaxx have become in-demand remixers. Tracks such as 4 My People (which became a massive chart and club hit), Like I Love You and She Wants to Move have all had the Basement Jaxx remix treatment. Their official website is www.basementjaxx.co.uk

KRAAK AND SMAAK

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    Oscar De Jong, Wim Plug and Mark Kneppers and are the studio core of Kraak & Smaak. After originally bonding over a slavish devotion to vinyl and a love for classic funk records they went on to record their debut album Boogie Angst. Picked up in the UK by Radio 1 and in LA by KCRW the band quickly picked up fans especially in the Los Angeles TV and Film community. This led to their music being used in hospital chick show Greys Anatomy leading in turn to widespread use in other films and shows.      In the UK support has kept building steadily on the back of the incredible live show.   Annie Nightingale was a long time supporter of the band and the various guest mixes and spins on her Radio 1 show led to festival bookings and other R1 DJ’s getting on board.     2011 is the year that Kraak & Smaak will take centre stage with the release of their third studio album that will sureley satisfy their growing army of fans and win over new converts. The setup single from th