Digitalism (band)
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Digitalism is a German dance punk duo founded in 2004 in Hamburg and consisting of Jens "Jence" Moelle and İsmail "Isi" Tüfekçi. They are signed to French label Kitsuné Music, and have released four singles to date: "Idealistic", "Zdarlight", "Jupiter Room", and "Pogo". Jens likens Digitalism's songs to simple chapters in a complex novel about social interaction and attraction, with distorted bass lines and thumping rhythms comprising the punctuation.
Digitalism has remixed tracks for The Presets, Tom Vek, The Futureheads, Daft Punk, Tiga, Klaxons, White Stripes, Monk, Depeche Mode, Cut Copy and many others, including a re-edit of "Fire in Cairo" by The Cure (entitled "Digitalism in Cairo"). Their tracks and remixes are played by DJs such as Erol Alkan, Soulwax, Boys Noize and Justice.
Digitalism have made appearances at festivals such as Coachella, South by Southwest, and Ultra Music Festival as well as various clubs worldwide.
Jens Moelle has two solo releases on Kitsuné Music; "I Ragazzi Dell 1982" as Palermo Disko Machine and Wired as Jence.
Band history
Moelle and Tüfekçi met at a record store in Hamburg and became friends. Later, the store's owner asked them to DJ a party, and they then began mixing and recording. Moelle said they record in a World War II bunker they own in Hamburg.[1]
Digitalism's debut album, Idealism, was released 9 May 2007 as Digitalism (デジタル主義, Dejitaru Shugi) on Toshiba EMI Records in Japan, on 21 May 2007 on Kitsuné Music in France and on Astralwerks in North America. The album includes re-edits of the previously released singles "Jupiter Room", "Zdarlight" as well as their "Digitalism in Cairo" original re-edit of a track by The Cure.
The Pogo EP was released as a single in support of the LP in May, with two alternate versions of the track.
Influences
They claim Daft Punk[2] and movie soundtracks as influences.[1] It's often said that they named the song "Zdarlight" after Philippe Zdar from Cassius. Zdarlight, however is not an homage to Philippe Zdar, only a less conventional spelling of the word "starlight". After the release of the single, Zdar claimed Digitalism had used his name without permission.[citation needed]
Live act
They perform live using a Macbook Pro laptop as the heart of the act, along with a Behringer BCF2000 MIDI controller, a KORG microKORG, an Akai drum pad, a set of Roland V-Drums, along with some other synthesizers (such as the KORG MS-20), and various drum machines (such as the KORG Electribe ESX-1 and EMX-1).[citation needed] Moelle performs live vocals over the top.
Discography
Releases
| Year | Title | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | "Idealistic" | 12-inch single | White label |
| 2005 | "Idealistic" | 12-inch single | Kitsuné Music |
| 2005 | "Zdarlight" | 12-inch single | Kitsuné Music |
| 2006 | "Zdarlight" (Edition Moonlight / Discodrome) | 12-inch single | Kitsuné Music |
| 2006 | "Jupiter Room" | 12-inch single, CD single | Kitsuné Music |
| 2007 | "Terrorlight" | 12-inch single | Kitsuné Music |
| 2007 | Idealism | Vinyl, Compact disc, digital download, Cassette Tape | Astralwerks |
| 2008 | The Moshi Moshi Ep (Japan Only) | LP/CD | EMI Japan Records |
| 2008 | Kitsuné Tabloid: Mixed by Digitalism | CD | Kitsuné Music |
Remixes
All remixes named Digitalism Remix, unless otherwise specified.
- 2005 Einzeller - "Schwarzfahrer"
- 2005 Munk - "Disco Clown"
- 2005 Martin Peter - "Psychoville"
- 2005 Sono - "A New Cage"
- 2005 Lisa Stansfield - "If I Hadn't Got You" (Digitalism Remix/Digitalism Dub)
- 2005 Tom Vek - "Nothing But Green Lights"
- 2005 White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army" (Digitalism Twist-up Remix)
- 2006 Cajuan - "Dance, Not Dance"
- 2006 The Cure - "Fire in Cairo"
- 2006 Cut Copy - "Going Nowhere"
- 2006 Daft Punk - "Technologic" (Digitalism's Highway to Paris Remix)
- 2006 Depeche Mode - "Never Let Me Down Again"
- 2006 The Futureheads - "Skip to the End" (Digitalism Remix/Digitalism Re-Rub)
- 2006 Klaxons - "Atlantis to Interzone" (Digitalism's Klix Klax R-R-Remix)
- 2006 The Presets - "Down Down Down"
- 2006 Test Icicles - "What's Your Damage?"
- 2006 Tiga - "(Far From) Home"
- 2007 Dave Gahan - "Kingdom"
- 2008 Digitalism - "Pogo" (Digitalism's Robotic Remix)
In popular culture
The single "Pogo" is featured in the official soundtracks of Electronic Arts popular video games Need for Speed: ProStreet and FIFA 08. It was also featured as the soundtrack for a Canadian Virgin Mobile advertisement, both in French and English, during December 2007. For a while it was also used on Sky Sports live football coverage as the pre-halftime-break highlight clip backing music.
The track "Idealistic" is used in the first trailer for Rockstar Games' title Midnight Club: Los Angeles. An uncredited remix of "Zdarlight" was also used in the trailer[3] for Nadeo's TrackMania Nations Forever released in early 2008.
The Flemish Belgian tv station "Canvas" used a slightly edited version of the track "Magnets" in their introduction trailer "The New Canvas". The trailer was intended to introduce the radical new look of "Canvas". This VRT tv station featured a more serious style in the past.
References
External links
