Metronomy

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Metronomy
Metronomy at London Rough Trade East
Metronomy at London Rough Trade East
Background information
Origin London/ Brighton, England
Genre(s) IDM, Electropop
Years active 1999–present
Website www.metronomy.co.uk
Members
Joseph Mount
Oscar Cash
Anna Prior
Gbenga Adelekan
Former members
Gabriel Stebbing

Metronomy is an electronic music group formed by Joseph Mount in Totnes, Devon, England in 1999. The current band consists of Joseph Mount (Composer, Singer, Keyboards and Guitar)and Oscar Cash (Saxophone, Backing Vocals and Keyboards).[1] Their music consists of instrumental electronic music and more recently, with the release of Nights Out, vocal electronic pop music.

Metronomy are accomplished remixers, having remixed many artists including: Dead Disco, Roots Manuva, Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons, Goldfrapp, The Young Knives, Zero 7, Ladytron, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Kate Nash, Love Is All, Late of the Pier,and Lykke Li.

Metronomy have, thus far, released two albums of original material, Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe) and Nights Out.[2] The singles and EPs "Radio Ladio", "My Heart Rate Rapid", "Holiday" and "Heartbreaker" all come from Nights Out.

Metronomy have toured widely throughout the UK and Europe supporting acts such as Bloc Party, CSS, Klaxons, Kate Nash and Justice. They engaged in their first headline UK tour in 2008 supported by London based act Primary 1. Metronomy have also played gigs in America and Canada notably at the 2007 SXSW.[3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Joseph Mount started Metronomy while he was still living in Devon as a side project to the various bands he played drums for. He has since claimed that most of these bands were torn apart by girlfriends. Using an outdated computer sold to him by his father, Mount began to make his own electronic compositions.

After relocating to Brighton Metronomy began to build up a reputation for charming live shows, sometimes solo, sometimes joined by Gabriel Stebbing and Oscar Cash who provided support as Metronomy's backing band The Food Groups. They are now no longer referred to as The Food Groups having been incorporated into the band proper.

The name Metronomy was originally chosen by Joseph as Metronomy sounded cool and interesting and was in keeping with the bands he was heavily into, namely Autechre and Funkstorung.[4]

Metronomy had a 3 year gap between the release of the first album and accompanying singles and the release of new material. During this interceding time Joseph has remixed many other artists, often adding new vocals and instrumentation and in the case of his Goldfrapp remix a French Monologue about Nottingham.[5] Remixing is a process that Joseph takes very seriously "(b)asically, I only like remixers that really care about what they're doing. I can honestly say that I have got really involved in all of my remixes. If I’ve not got anywhere with one I will tell whoever it is that I’m giving up. That doesn't happen that often."[6]

It was announced through the bands Myspace page on the 27/04/09 that Gabriel Stebbing would be leaving the band. Joseph wrote "It's all very amicable and he's assured me he doesn't think he's fleeing a sinking ship. Gabriel wants to work on his own band, Your Twenties.[7]

[edit] Pre-Metronomy

Before Joseph started writing music as Metronomy he, Gabriel and good friend kevin Hawes, whom passed away in 2005, performed and wrote music as part of The Upsides and The Customers.

The Upsides were a band that Joseph and Gabriel joined when still in their early teens. According to Joseph they "played played proper original pop songs - we like to think we were the original Busted".[4] The band came to an end when both guys moved to Brighton to start university.

The Customers started out in 1996 as a studio project for Will and Gregg who lived in a neighbouring village to Joseph's and Gabriel's home in Devon, but did not enter its present form until all members had moved from Devon to Sussex.

Will worked with Gabriel and played out live under the guise of Willis. The name changed to The Customers on Christmas Day 2001. Joseph joined the band as drummer in 2002 and they welcomed Gregg back into the line up to complete the four piece.

[edit] Live performances

Metronomy live at the Manchester Academy 3

Up until April 2009 Joseph Mount's performance of keyboards, vocals, and guitar in the live band was accompanied by members Oscar Cash (keyboards, melodica and saxophone), and Gabriel Stebbing (keyboards and bass guitar). Since Gabriel left the new form of Metronomy's live sets is not yet known but Metronomy 2.0 has already been highly praised by Gabriel.[8]

Metronomy's new band features former Lightspeed Champion drummer Anna Prior, and bassist Gbenga Adelekan.

Metronomy's live shows include dance routines and light shows. Most notably for the use of push lights stuck to their chests. Joseph explained in an interview where the idea came from:

"We did our first gig in Brighton and a few days before I saw these lights in a pound shop and I thought ‘we’ll whack these on our t-shirts and do some synchronized light shows!’ I’m totally aware that some people hate it but equally I think some people enjoy it just for the fact that it's a bit of fun."[9]

The push lamps have been replaced by pre-synced chest lights that do not need to be pushed. They have yet to find a way of attaching these efficiently to the breast pocket of their new stage outfits

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] Remixes

Like many contemporary artists Metronomy have utilized MySpace to promote and release music. Joseph has in the past uploaded unreleased remixes and covers from the likes of Britney Spears, Bright Eyes and U2 as well as his own original material.[11].

[edit] Unreleased remixes and cover versions

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/metronomy_0908.htm
  2. ^ http://www.upmagazine.co.uk/magazine/up5/page12.html
  3. ^ http://www.musictowers.com/news/features/interview-metronomy-go-all-zooroper-on-claire-kember/
  4. ^ a b UP MUSIC MAGAZINE - Absolutely Free Web Based Interactive Music Magazine ::
  5. ^ eGigs - Absolutely Free Web Based Magazine ::
  6. ^ Planet Notion - Metronomy Interview
  7. ^ Myspace - Metronomy Blog post
  8. ^ Twitter post - 1:32 PM Apr 28th from web
  9. ^ Loud & Quiet » Making Waves » Metronomy
  10. ^ "Official Album Chart for the week ending 20 September 2008". ChartsPlus (Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd) (369): 5–8. 
  11. ^ http://www.egigs.co.uk/index.php?a=12204 Metronomy Interview

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronomy"
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