Baron Von Luxxury announces full-length "Women Of A Certain Age" due October on Manimal Vinyl
Drenched in late 70s/early 80s nostalgia the LA producer/songwriter touches upon Sparks, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Electric Light Orchestra.
LISTEN: Terry Richardson
LISTEN: Terry Richardson (Loose Shus remix)
(via XLR8R)
New Manimal signing, the Los Angeles based electro-disco producer Baron Von Luxxury is set to release the full-length "Women of a Certain Age" this October on the Manimal Vinyl imprint. (Warpaint, Bat For Lashes, Sister Crayon). Recently dubbed the "post-post synth pop king" by LA Weekly, Baron Von Luxxury is interested in the divide between the underground and the pop mainstream. Whether its remixing HEALTH one day and Hillary Duff the next; writing rapturously about Enya or Glass Candy on his beloved blog Disco Workout ; or referencing Pet Shop Boys and Steely Dan with equal respect on his upcoming album, BvL seeks that fine line dividing what is cool from what is deeply embarrassing. Co-written with kindred spirit, LA producer Keenhouse, the album's first single is a smooth disco-funk number replete with bass-popping guitar (a sound rarely heard since the dark days of 90s Red Hot Chili Peppers). The single comes with remixes from up-and coming SF disco producer Loose Shus and DFA artist Altair Nouveau. Be on the lookout for an excellent 3D video for the track soon (with a mystery cameo).
Upcoming Shows
July 30th - Hollywood, CA @ 3 Clubs
Baron Von Luxxury "Women Of A Certain Age"
out October 11, 2011 on Manimal Vinyl
Growing up with the somewhat more normal (if even less Jewish) name Blake Robin in San Francisco in the 80s, BvL was hypnotized by a dark disco instrumental song he heard on TV during the 1984 Olympic games. "I'll never forget how incredible and otherworldly the phased, throbbing 16th note synths sounded - it stayed in my head for years, haunting and obsessing me." It wasn't until Napster came about that he discovered the song was "The Chase" by Giorgio Moroder, and decided to devote his musical life to trying to chasing that same feeling the song had given him.
The new album "Women of A Certain Age" taps into this classic Moroder-esque disco vibe as well as more modern electronic-influenced indie pop, evoking equal parts Twin Shadow and New Order, with nods to Sparks, Empire of the Sun, Matthew Dear, and YMO, as well as ELO. As BvL spends as much time crooning a la Bowie as he does falsetto-ing up a storm, there is a darkness and an edgy wit rarely heard in electronic music outside of LCD Soundsystem. And yet while the music is bathed in dark beats with shimmering synths and his beloved 16th notes, at the end of the day, these are 10 pop songs, nearly all of them 3 and 1/2 minutes in length, and each possessing clever lyrics, a catchy chorus and sexy, hooky melodies for days.
For example, "Alice Underground" takes its name from the film his friend Theresa Duncan had written and was set to direct before her untimely suicide in the summer of 2007. "Half the album stems from trying to sort out what happened with Theresa and Jeremy, who had been like a sister and brother to me. The other half is me reacting to my own, sad songs and trying to write something a little lighter." Remixes from Soft Metals and Chrissy Murderbot complete this package.
"That Disco Beat" features the uncredited vocals of a certain British pop star who for legal reasons we need to keep a secret. But it's a girl. And she has small feet. The song finds BvL in a duet with said mystery girl over the most evocatively vintage disco track on the album, evoking equal shades of ABBA and classic Emergency Records 12"s.
"Rosebud Was The Name of His Sled" has just spoiled Citizen Kane for any of you heathens who have yet to see the classic Orson Welles tour-de-force. A slow burning disco funeral pyre evoking Washed Out as much as Sisters of Mercy, it's another tribute to Theresa and Jeremy, complete with a melancholy sax solo that would make Sergio proud.
Live, BvL is transformed into a rousing tour de force with guitar and percussion weaved into the synth heavy mix. The live incarnation of BvL has opened for Scissor Sisters, Midnight Juggernauts, Nite Jewel among others. In his day job as a published songwriter/producer under contract with Razor and Tie, BvL writes with and for aspiring chart toppers from Little Boots to Dr. Luke protege (and "California Gurls" co-writer) Bonnie McKee. At night he runs the beloved blog DiscoWorkout.com and has done remixes for CSS, Yeah Yeahs Yeahs, HEALTH, Glass Candy, Marianne Faithfull, and many more. Somewhere in between his populist and elitist interests comes his own music, and therein along the aforementioned high/low art divide lies his debut solo album "Women of a Certain Age", which will be out this summer on LA's Manimal Vinyl (Bat For Lashes, Warpaint).
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