Mr. Oizo (pronounced Monsieur Wah-zoh, deformation of the French word “oiseau”, bird) is the French music producer Quentin Dupieux.

In 1997, Laurent Garnier of F. Com bought a car from Mr Oizo’s father. Garnier then found out about Dupieux’s talents and let him direct the music video for his song “Flashback”. Later Dupieux was signed by F. Com Records where he released his first EP fittingly titled, “#1″. Dupieux is most known for his electrotrack ‘Flat Beat’, which became a hit throughout Europe in 1999 and was featured in a series for Levi’sjeans TV commercials. Dupieux also directed the ad, which featured a yellow puppet named “flat eric” nodding his head to the sound of the track while riding in a pickup truck. After “Flat Beat”, Oizo released his first album in 1999, Analog Worms Attack, featuring a single of the same name. In 2005, Oizo released his second album entitled Moustache (Half a Scissor). In 2006 and 2007, Oizo produced remixes for Kavinsky, Jamelia, Cassius, Scissor Sisters and, most recently, Calvin Harris. Dupieux’s first feature film, Steak, was released in France on June 20th 2007.

Mr. Oizo’s first EP released on Ed Banger Records, is called Transsexual. The EP features a re-working of the 1970′s Disco track “Do It At The Disco”. The track appeared on Oizo’s Myspace page in 2006 under the title Patrick122.

On October 16, 2008, a video appeared on Oizo’s Myspace page, a promo for his upcoming album, Lambs Anger. The First Single off the Record was “Positif”, which was released 3 days after Lambs Anger.

check him out:

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mr oizo Videos:

Mr. Oizo Flat Beat

Mr Oizo – Positif [Lambs Anger]

-Uffie (born Anna-Catherine Hartley in Miami, USA), is an American musician.

In 2006, she debuted with the singles Pop the Glock and Ready to Uff, released on French electro label Ed Banger Records, after getting a limited promo release on Arcade Mode in January. Both singles contained elements of electronic dance music and rap. Uffie’s singles have been produced by French electro artists Feadz and Mr. Oizo as well as a remix by label-mate SebastiAn. Her music was first made available to the public in late 2005 on her MySpace page.

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Uffie Videos:

Uffie interview

Born in Nigeria, Nneka relocated some 10,000 miles to Hamburg, Germany, at the age of nineteen to pursue a career in singing along side a degree in Anthropology. Having landed in the German port, the singer hooked up with DJ and Hip-Hop beatmaker DJ Farhot and ever since, their strong musical relationship has been the backbone of Nneka’s success. Her influences reflect her younger days in Nigeria as well as her time in the Western world. The distance she has travels shines through in her voice as does her diverse musical influences. She cites famous compatriot Fela Kuti and legend Bob Marley as well as contemporary rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Mobb Deep and Lauryn Hill as key influences in her pursuit of musical recognition.

After finishing her debut EP “The Uncomfortable Truth” she toured Europe, commencing a long live schedule, performing to up to 6000 people at her later gigs, this young talent supported the likes of Femi Kuti, Seeed, Sean Paul and Gnarls Barkley. Performing all over Europe, from her adopted hometown of Hamburg to Holloway Prison in London.

Nneka’s album “Victim Of Truth” was released in September 2006 to rave reviews from the music press. The songs on the album provide a range of sounds from deep soulful ballads like ‘Confession’ to funky Hip-Hop tracks like ‘Stand Strong’ to ‘Changes’, which is a modern reinvention of the 90s UK soul sound.

Despite her Nigerian background, Nneka’s sound is strongly connected with her European journey.

“The way they dress, the way they carry themselves, their religion. So many things that are important to me are not important to them. For two years I was overwhelmed.”

This difference in ethical outlook comes to the fore in her music, with her social responsibility to her homeland of Nigeria laying heavy on her mind.

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“I get inspired when I take a severe look at the things going on in our world today; especially in my country. How people live, suffer and endure pain, politics and religion, when I see all that man has evoked and created out of self-centeredness and devotion to material things”.

Nneka’s voice strikes an eerie balance between rage and pain which mirror’s the abrasion of two continents, Europe and Africa, within Nneka’s life so far. Nneka reiterates her humility in the face of her musical talents.

“I do not see myself as a performer but as somebody who shares her heartfelt feelings with others. I have fortunately, by the grace of God, the opportunity to sing my message to you on stage.”

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Nneka Videos:

NNEKA – Africans

Nneka – Heartbeat

Nneka live bei NEUE HELDEN im “Studio Eins”

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You see the little eskimO loved nothing more than just to sing. Now, every night shortly after the moOn came out and gazed down he would collect his stories and songs and walk away from the village, past the lake and towards the large snow hills. On arriving he would clamber onto his ark, and smile. Home, the ark was the only place the little eskimO felt comfort and belonging. It was here in his beautiful ark that he would figure out how to join the stories with the songs that floated around in his head.

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Through the still of the night the sounds would wander across the lake, into the quiet corners of the land. Enchanted by the beautiful sound, three very curious animals decided to be brave and follow the noise.

First to head towards the sounds was a giraffe. The giraffe’s favourite thing in the whole world was to bang on stuff. So, not surprisingly that’s what he did, mostly from the moment he opened his eyes to the moment before he drifted away to sleep. The little eskimO smiled at the giraffe as he joined in and added rhythm to the eskimO’s songs.

Next to join the party was a monkey. “I can play the bass and the horn” shrieked the monkey. Every note the monkey played was in perfect harmony with the little eskimO’s heart.

The eskimO, giraffe and monkey stopped playing as they listened to the most beautiful guitar sound that any of them had ever heard. Looking out over the ark they saw a penguin padding his way towards the ark strumming his guitar.

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The little eskimO was so excited, that he and three new friends all began to play music and sing along to his stories.

After much singing, banging, strumming the guitar and honking the horn, the four friends stopped, looked up at the sky, stared at the moon, and wondered what lay beyond the shimmering stars that featured right on the tip of skyscape.

They decided that they would all head out and travel above the seas, past the moon and the planets and venture out through the stars. They would travel together on the eskimO’s special ark. For this was no ordinary ark, this was a dream ark. On this they could go anywhere theywished, all they needed to do was to play their music and follow their dreams.

check him out:

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One Eskimo Videos:

One eskimO in New York

a night at the chapel

kandi clip one

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James Yuill Videos:

James Yuill – No Surprise

James Yuill – No Pins Allowed

Ladytron

THE JAPANESE POPSTARS

The Japanese Popstars are riding a wave of great live gigs, major festival bookings, and media praise off the back of thier amazing energy driven live shows and their critically acclaimed debut album ‘We Just Are’.

Native to Northern Ireland (any fetishists expecting cute Japanese girls can leave now), and consisting of Declan McLaughlin aka Decky Hedrock, Gary Curran, and Gareth Donoghue. The Japanese Popstars are signed to bespoke indie label, Gung-Ho Recordings (Gus Gus, Zoo Brazil) in the UK, and Beatnik in Japan (home of Underworld, Aphex Twin, Cinematic Orchestra).

The Japanese Popstars’ only parallel with rock music is that they’d built up a sizable live following before releasing their first major single – some might even say cultish, judging by the amount of clips on Youtube. Their gigs are typically raucous affairs, with an energy that crackles with each beat, chord, and keyboard stab.

However, let’s get one thing straight about the music – The Japanese Popstars aren’t indie rave, or any other sub-sub-sub genre, theirs is big room, cool as f**k electronic music built for festivals and stadiums. They’re not dance kids aping indie kids, nor are they indie kids dropping synths and calling themselves ‘ravers’.

The Japanese Popstars – back to the future dance music for today, tomorrow, and forever, and it’s coming to a field near you very soon.

Check’em out:

Crystal Castles

“ We’re not meant to be a band. We were merely messing about with sounds and we put the results on the internet for some friends to download. Somehow a few labels heard the songs and wanted to release them. Crystal Castles is an accident. ‘Alice Practice’ is Alice practicing. She didn’t know I was recording.[8] –Crystal Castles in an interview with Kieron Gillen September 2006 This accidental band from Toronto has started to generate a lot of buzz from bloggers and labels alike. Making sounds that will remind you of excite bike and your babysitter. While they aren’t making music you haven’t heard before, they are making good music.

check’em out:

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Crystal Castle Videos:

Crystal Castles – Courtship Dating

Dosh

Dosh grew up in the Twin Cities. At a young age he also took piano lessons and then discovered FM radio in the early ’80s. Dosh began drumming at age 15. By the time he left home for Simon’s Rock College at age 16, he had decided music would likely be his profession, however, he subsequently got a degree in creative writing.

Throughout the ’90s, he played with a number of bands on the East Coast. When he moved back to Minneapolis in 1997, he started his own band, as he had begun to compose his own music. He also worked at his alma mater, Lake Country School, teaching percussion, driving the school bus, and assisting classroom teachers. Immersing himself in the local scene, Dosh played with many bands over the next five years: Nasty Goat, Best Red, Animals Expert At Hankering, Iffy, Vicious Vicious, “T,” and Lateduster; all this time, recording tape after tape of original music on a 4-track machine.

Dosh’s work with Andrew Broder in Lateduster and Fog gave him an experience that helped him begin to perform solo. In 2002, he released his debut recording, Dosh CD, which he had recorded himself, mostly in his basement. The CD developed a following in the local Twin Cities scene.

After playing many shows, City Pages voted him second on their annual “picked to click” list.

Dosh CD was re-released internationally in September 2003 on anticon. records, and was reviewed in the Village Voice, Urb, Flaunt, Xlr8r, The Big Takeover, and a number of online magazines.

Dosh is also known for the incorporation of his family life into his work. His EP, Naoise is named after his son. On “Naoise” is “Happy Song for Tadgh,” a reference to Naiose’s half-brother, Tadgh. He is also known for writing a song for his future wife at the time called, “I Think I’m Getting Married.”

check’em out:

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Dosh Videos:

Dosh

Micromattic .UK

Micromattic is an artist collective working towards a truly groundbreaking concept for stage presentation of electronic music and visuals. We manipulate sound and images through movement with Nintendo Wii controllers, we beatbox and use our voices to generate sounds which we then loop, warp and twist in abstract textures. Now imagine all this served on a base of monochrome deep hypnotic IDM Techno grooves. That’s what we are about!

Micromattic’s performances are great fun to watch and are fully integrated with the audience, which we think is something the electronic music world often lacks. How many times you have been in a club watching a dj or a live band creating wicked noises but actually spending hours on staring at computer screens doing god knows what. Did you find this exciting? We don’t and that is why we want to change this and lead the revolution to bring the electronic audio visual performer back to the front of the stage and create memorable and engaging experiences for our audiences.

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