Digitalism has sometimes been described as Germany’s answer to the Klaxons. However the Hamburg duo doesn’t seem so much to touch on the common ground existing between rock and electronic music, as they tend to pinpoint the two extremes of the genres and cohere them together.
The initial formation of Digitalism took place in a record store in Hamburg, Germany. Jens “Jence” Moelle and İsmail "Isi" Tüfekçi both being music enthusiasts crossed paths in the shop and eventually became fast friends. The owner of the record store invited them to a DJ party and the two obligingly accepted the invitation. With a little lapse in time the two were mixing and recording material on their own. Their sound was edgy and original, filtering garage punk through overloaded house beats.
In some instances it seemed as though you could mistake their sound with Justice or some of Daft Punk’s more aggressive material, but there was always something original persisting at the core of their sound. Unsurprisingly the group signed to the Paris based label Kitsuné, a company co-founded by Daft Punk collaborator Gildas Loaëc.
The group’s debut album “Idealism” was released through this label on 21 May 2007 and was also released through Toshiba EMI in Japan, Astralwerks in North America, and through etcetc and Virgin Records in Australia and New Zealand. “Idealism” did remarkably well in the critical circuits and currently holds a 76 on the critical aggregator site “Metacritic”. The album consists of a total of 15 tracks and 7 additional downloadable bonus tracks. 5 songs on the album such as their reworking of the Cure’s “Fire in Cairo” had previously been released on some of Digitalism’s past EPs. The album also excelled commercially thanks credited to several add placements such as the promos for the video games “Midnight Club: Los Angeles” and “Need for Speed: ProStreet”. “Idealism” entered the US Top Heatseekers at No. 29 and at No.6 on the US Top Electronic Albums.
Digitalism put out the EPs “Pogo” and “Blitz” before releasing their highly anticipated 2011 sophomore release “I Love You Dude”. Though the album did not do quite as well critically or commercially it did feature a high profile collaboration with the Strokes’ singer Julian Casablancas on the track “Forest Gump”. The album also did reasonably well in Australia, charting at No. 9 on the Australian Dance Albums Chart.
The band’s influences ranges from French House sensations Daft Punk to German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. Film scores are another big inspirational force for the group. Their studio and live set up relies heavily on the MacBook Pro, Korg’s microKorg, KP3, MS-20, ESX-1 and EMX-1 and Roland V-drums and MC-202.
Courtney Barnett
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