Solar Bears
Featuring an exclusive mix for ‘SUP by Solar Bears at the end of the article.
The first and only Solar Bears album, She Was Coloured In (Planet Mu, 2010) was on repeat over my holiday break – part of a playlist designed to help me chill out and decompress. On the long plane journeys between the UK and the States, at my mom’s house with the family, outdoors in Jamaica, or by the pool in Miami, Solar Bears provided the perfect soundtrack for escape. (More …)
Earth
Earth play spacial, instrumental, orchestral music. The sound is so overpowering and engulfing that your insides will vibrate and your mind will start racing, head pounding. Best listened to as albums (on repeat!) and while performing live, they are a band who are interesting in their entirety, down to a history which began in 1989 in Seattle. (More …)
Blondes
Blondes are Zach Steinman and Sam Haar. Zach hails from San Francisco and Sam is from New Jersey. The two met in art school at Oberlin College in the mid-noughties where Zach was studying studio art and Sam, music. After a series of bands – everything from a performance art drum circle to synth-pop and a post-punk outfit – the two have settled on the musical duo they call Blondes. (More …)
Etienne Jaumet
Parisian Etienne Jaumet was once better known for his membership in a variety of different bands than for being a solo artist. For someone who can make the saxophone sing in ways you’d never imagine and whose debut album was produced by none other than Detroit techno legend Carl Craig, one can’t help but wonder who Etienne Jaumet is and why you may have never heard of him before. (More …)
Ben Frost
Thirty-year-old musician Ben Frost lives in Reykjavík, Iceland with his girlfriend and young daughter. There he works in Greenhouse Recording Studios with his friend and mentor Valgeir Sigurðsson. When he’s not making an album of his own, a task that Frost says takes him up to three years time, he stays busy composing music for contemporary dance performances, soundtracks, and to accompany the work of fine artists from around the world, as well as for his own visual arts collective Cicada. He is part of the record label/collective Bedroom Community, Sigurðsson’s record label, which also includes Nico Muhly and Sam Amidon. The label is home to Frost’s two most recognized albums Theory of Machines (2007) and By The Throat (2009) – both of which are critically acclaimed. (More …)
Liars
After eight years of making music all over the world, Liars are now five albums in, with the recent release of Sisterworld (Mute, 2010). Angus Andrew (vocals/guitar), Aaron Hemphill (guitar, synth) and Julian Gross (drums) have finally settled as a crew in Los Angeles, where they continue to inspire, persevere and surprise the listener with musical sounds always ahead of their time. A ‘SUP favorite, and one of the only bands we’ve interviewed more than once (in fact, three times now), we thought it was time to show Liars even more love. (More …)
Nicolas Jaar
Even though I lived in New York from 2000 to 2005 right down the street from Wolf Lamb HQ, I never actually made it to one of their parties. I always meant to, but usually by the time I was rolling home at 7 a.m., the last thing on my mind was more partying. Those infamous nights are still going, and in the last year, Wolf Lamb are proving to be one of the most interesting new dance music labels around. (More …)
Gonzales
We first came across Gonzales in 2000 when we interviewed him with Peaches after a show in San Francisco (’SUP MAGAZINE Issue 9). At that stage in his career, he and Peaches were on a loved-up, electroclash, rap-infused tour of the States. Back then, we caught a glimpse of his rhyming skills but really had no idea about his musical virtuosity, his prowess on the piano and his mastery of real entertainment. (More …)
Washed Out
Maybe it’s because I’m technically from the South that I always naturally gravitate towards things that are Southern. From biscuits and gravy to crunk, I’m always game. Nice, soothing, minimal, melodic electro–and from the South? Bring that on. (More …)
Retro/Grade
British-born-and-bred Serge Santiago and Tom Neville make up the dance duo Retro/Grade, that has taken the dance world by pleasant surprise this year. They’ve released two stand-out 12-inches, both of which have received plenty of air time on the dancefloor and great reviews. (More …)
