(le) poisson rouge

From Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, “The Twelves” consist of duo João Miguel and Luciano Oliveira back in 2005. The name came from the strange coincidence of their birthdays: 12th July 1980.
 
The breakthrough for The Twelves came in July of 2007 when they remixed the track “Boyz” from M.I.A’s sophomore album, Kala. The reworked track with an added club feel resulted in one of the most talked about remixes of 2007. The blog coverage surrounding the remix was extensive and eventually the track started to pop up in sets from high profile djs around the world, including Kissy Sell Out, who played it on BBC Radio One’s “In New Djs We Trust” series.
 
The duo followed “Boyz” with equally well-received remixes for Asobi Seksu and Erlend Oye, both of which were featured on a number of blogs and music related sites. This stream of good tracks soon caught the attention of a number of labels, including Modular Records (home of Cut Copy, Klaxons and others) who comissioned a “Twelves” remix of the song “Get Lucky” by New Young Pony club. The resulting remix was released alongside reworkings from household names like MSTRKRFT and Who Made Who, and received excellent reviews.
 
The Twelves released their first official compilation “Tabloid” globally through Kitsuné in 2011. The release was a double CD release featuring some reworked classic Twelves remixes and the first commercially released original from the band entitled “Handshake”.
 
The sound of the duo brings influences from many genres. Among the most influential to their sound are Daft Punk, Justice, Royksopp, Vitalic, Simian Mobile Disco, MSTRKRFT, Clor, Cut Copy and Goldfrapp. Their live show is a unique blend of live keyboards, drum machines, mash-ups and remixing on the fly. Always trying to improvise as much as possible.
 
Now with a revamped live show and heaps of all new edits of some popular classics, The Twelves are ready to hit the ground running in 2012 with a series of world tours and some musical releases..
 
www.facebook.com/thetwelves
www.myspace.com/thetwelves
www.twitter.com/thetwelves

Boredom and solitude are two things most musicians don’t wear well. Once detachment starts to kick in, terrible things tend to happen – hard drugs, loose women, broken television sets, you know the picture.
 
But when French electro maverick Yuksek found himself both more or less bored with the self-serving demands of the dancefloor and all too often alone on tour, solely accompanied by his collection of synths and FX boards, he wisely decided to avoid the aforementioned trappings and pour his heart and soul into song.
 
The aftermath: ‘Living On The Edge Of Time’, an album inspired by the numbness of life on the road, the feeling of being alone in a crowd and constant need for creative exploration – but also a collection of unabashed, jubilant pop tunes; introspect and uplifting at the same time.



Photo credit: Quentin De Briey
 
http://yuksekmusic.tumblr.com/
http://soundcloud.com/YUKSEK

Rumors of NYC nightlife’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. While the ever-pervasive rumors of “no dancing allowed” and draconian cabaret laws continue to reverberate around the world’s cities, the state of underground dance music in the big apple is indeed much stronger. This is thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of Dave Pianka and Josh Houtkin (DJing as Dave P and JDH, respectively). The two have been responsible for bringing over some of the most credible DJs and live bands and giving them a proper venue and environment in which to play. In addition, they have honed their DJ and production skills over the years, and are increasingly breaking new records and sounds with their back-to-back sets. Dave has also recently kicked into gear with production duties, contributing remixes of established acts like the Klaxons and Bloc Party.
 
The two first met through Josh’s affiliation with Flyer, a now-defunct cultural magazine. They were frequently booked separately to DJ at the same parties in NYC, often in the same rooms.
 
“We both came from very similar musical backgrounds growing up in the punk/hardcore scene,” says Dave. “We both basically progressed in the same direction from there, into indie rock and into the more electronic sounds where we find ourselves now.”
 
Says Josh, “Our influences come from a pretty wide variety of places. We both were heavily into the early-90′s punk/ indie scene. Fugazi, Dischord Records, Bikini Kill, that sort of stuff.”
 
The two quickly teamed up, expanding their horizons into techno, electro and other permutations of dance music. In early 2004, they started a party called Fixed at the Tribeca Grand hotel, where they quickly established a forward-thinking booking policy that found heavyweight, Berlin-based techno jocks like Ewan Pearson playing one week, with on-the-rise indie acts such as the Long Blondes the next. To date, blue-chip artists like Erol Alkan, Soulwax, Whitey, Justice, Digitalism, the Klaxons, Peaches, LCD Soundsystem, Mylo, Vitalic, Simian Mobile Disco, The Rapture, Art Brut, Tim Sweeney, and many more have all made appearances.
 
In a city full of nights with style over substance, Fixed is now known as a party with an eclectic crowd of sincere music lovers, where all sorts of interesting styles and genres find a place to come together.
 
“Aside from our musical upbringing, we are both influenced by nights such as Optimo, Trash, and Bugged Out!, says Josh. “These are great parties that don’t necessarily have a musical “policy” or “style.” For us, every style of music is good and merits attention.”
 
In terms of their DJing, the two have forged a defined musical understanding over the years. They often play back-to-back, each pushing one and other to find the perfect record to follow another with. “There are times when Josh and I are djing and one of us will put on a record and we’ll both reach for a track to play out of it and then realize that we both grabbed the same one,” says Dave. “We’re both very conscious of flow.”
 
Their Go Commando! Mix features many artists the two have brought over to perform, and also represents a broad cross-section of the styles and genres they play in a night. Joakim’s pop-funk kicks off the mix representing the more melodic side of their collective taste, later panning through avant-disco Stylings of Prins Thomas and In Flagranti, the deep, brooding techno of Swedish performers The Knife, into an electro barnstormer from Vitalic and finally touching down on a beautiful note with the panning synth swells of Superpitcher and Michael Mayer’s remix of Gui Borratto’s “Like You.”
 
Going forward, JDH and Dave P look forward to continuing helping interesting acts around the world establish a beachhead on US shores, as well as continuing to bring their act on the road. With recent DJ tours in Canada, Spain, the UK and Germany, they’re finding wider acclaim on a global stage while keeping up the ravenous appetite for breaking new sounds.
www.igetrvng.com
 
fixednyc.com
soundcloud.com/jdh_fixed