DEKADE, the group formerly known as NiteVisions (who were formerly known as The Electric City), will play their first show on Wednesday (April 21st) at Gold Dust.
DEKADE play their first London show since emerging from the pop incubators Xenomania. Andy Taylor Jr. and James Taylor proffer dark synths and heavy beats, sounding like "classic early electronic pop soaring over the Berlin Wall in 1984".
The London electronic noise duo is currently sculpting their debut album DECODE with Flood - producer of the Depeche Mode classic Violator.
Listen to the track "Haunt You":
Gold Dust: WEDNESDAY 21st APRIL HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN 8PM - 1AM £6 Click here for advance tickets.
EDIT 13/07: The Benicàssim website announces that NiteVisions will not play at the festival.
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NiteVisions have been added to the line-up of this year's Benicàssim festival in Spain. They will play on July 19th, alongside bands like Oasis, Gang Of Four, The Walkmen, and many others.
This will be NiteVision's official live debut. The four-man band was previously known as The Electric City.
NiteVisions have given a new twist to their career, with new songs with a marked electro-rock accent. They are working on their debut album with Brian Higgins/ Xenomania.
The inaugural Xenofest - a mini festival/garden party to showcase six of the acts signed to Xenomania Records - was held last Friday. The Xenomania mansion was open to receive journalists, PRs and record company people.
GQ describes the Xenofest as a "hit", adding that "pop music 2009/2010 is safe" in Brian Higgins' hands. Journalist Johnny Davis writes: «Xenomania's A&R girl had spent the last 18 months globe-trotting for talent - and their roster now included a throaty funk band, two Eighties-indebted indie-pop boys and a LA singer who'll give Pink a run for her money in the hair 'em, scare 'em stakes. Higgins himself stalked the garden in a zipped-up leather jacket, looking like a cross between Mark Fowler down the EastEnders market and an over-enthusiastic teenager.» Read the complete article ("Inside the hit factory") here.
Performing at the Xenofest were Mini Viva, Nightvisions, Pageboy, Vagabond, Alex Gardner and Jessie Malakouti. Read a few reviews:
-- MINI VIVA GQ: «two girls who share a Manchester flat together, whose future disco single "Left My Heart In Tokyo" sounded irresistible» This Must Be Pop: «I'd only heard the remixes that are on their MySpace before this, so I was hugely impressed with the proper songs. (...) Everyone was singing along when they played the studio version just after the performance, and most of us had only heard it once before.»
-- NITEVISIONS (aka The Electric City part 2) GQ: «euphoric electro-pop was so perfectly reminiscent of the Eighties someone joked they could have been Duran Duran's children - which, indeed, it turned out they were (the sons of Taylors John and Andy; Simon Le Bon's nephew was briefly on drums but was dismissed after being found to be "crap")» This Must Be Pop: «A male electro-pop band who were compared by audience members to Veto Silver and Phixx, but everyone agreed that Night Vision weren't as good as either of those bands. They easily got the least positive reaction of the night.»
-- VAGABOND GQ: «throaty funk band» This Must Be Pop: «I was surprised that they didn't do their current single, which is doing quite well and has grown on me quite a lot. They made up for it with good hair, and I can see them being one of the more successful of the Xenomania acts, but I could also see them being a big flop. Only time will tell!»
-- PAGEBOY GQ: «singer Brooke Gengras was discovered fronting all-female Led Zeppelin tribute act Lez Zeppelin in a New York bar and was just as brilliant a performer as that description would lead you to believe.» This Must Be Pop: «She's different to the other artists Xenomania has worked with, more of a singer-songwriter who might appeal to fans of Feist or Regina Spektor, but of course she's adding a Xenomania twist which will give her an edge over other similar acts.»
-- ALEX GARDNER This Must Be Pop: «A very young Scottish singer who seems like he could make a good popstar and is apparently high priority at the record label, but I didn't think any of his songs were especially good. I hope they'll find him something better to release, or he'll just be another in the track record of Scottish male popstars with disasterous careers. »
-- JESSIE MALAKOUTI GQ: «a LA singer who'll give Pink a run for her money in the hair 'em, scare 'em stakes». This Must Be Pop: «(...) the new stuff is excellent and apparently she's releasing a song through the Ministry of Sound label, which may be a good approach to take. She's gone from a Britney sound to a one-girl Girls Aloud, and I'm fine with that.» Popjustice: «Jessie is destined for quite big things - her tunes are pretty incredible and she's currently on tour with The Saturdays.» Jessie Malakouti is supporting The Saturdays on tour. Tonight is her first night.
GQ magazine writes that Brian Higgins is «notoriously exacting»: «you either work his way, or you're packed off on the train back to Victoria. Franz Ferdinand failed to see things his way for their recent album and went home with their tails between their legs (and a resulting album that dropped off the edge of the Top 40 pronto), and he'll neither confirm nor deny the rumours he once reduced Victoria Beckham to tears.»
«He expects his charges to put in long hours; something that doesn't always work with pop stars' schedules/egos and is the antithesis of producers like Pharrell Williams, who pride themselves in being able to knock out a Beenie Man b-side in an afternoon. "I can give Kylie a Top Five record in an afternoon," he once told me. "But what's the point in that?"»
«(...) Higgins' home is practically a stately home. It's certainly a house, a very big house, in the country. There's a swimming pool, ducks wandering past in the garden, rolling acres of greenery. Alice Liddell, on whom Lewis Carroll based Alice from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, used to live there. (Higgins recently sold the Bentley, but that just left more room for the fleet of private reg cars on the gravel drive.)»
Dan Laithwaite, the drummer from The Electric City, has recently announced that the band has split up:
«Some of you may have noticed a lack in activity on the band MySpace page, this is because after 3 fantastic years The Electric City has come to an end. Reasons for this are from within the band…nooo we haven’t fallen out or anything! But at this time, members of the band want to explore other musical or professional paths. (...)»
Back in February, The Electric City revealed on their MySpace blog that they were in Kent working on their debut album with Xenomania. In March, they played their first ever gig in the US at South by South West festival.
At the time, they had finished recording five songs with Brian Higgins. Click below to download/listen to a free (and legal) mp3 of "Rapture", one of The Electric City's most recent songs:
The Electric City formed in 2006, when friends and housemates Andy J. Taylor (vocals, rhythm guitar) and James Cantone (lead guitar, back vocals) found themselves immersed in the Ibiza rock scene and got inspired to have their own band. Back to London, they began looking for bandmates and found bass player Jonny Bullit and drummer Dan Laithwaite. Andy J. Taylor and James Cantone are sons of Duran Duran's Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor (respectively), while Dan Laithwaite is the nephew of Duran Duran singer Simon LeBon.
The group's live performances earned them various support slots alongside everyone from Fightstar to The Futureheads, played Benacassim and SXSW, and impressed Roger Daltrey so much that he personally asked them to open for The Who.
--- Attitude Magazine's blog has written a review of Xenomania's showcase from earlier this month:
«Pop children alert! This week the good folk at Xenomania Records, producers of all sorts of pop brilliance from Girls Aloud to the new (and amazing) Pet Shop Boys long player, held a showcase of their new talent at Notting Hill Arts Club.
This secret society of top-notch songwriters/producers, who are usually holed up in a country house in Kent, were in London to show off the new talent they rounded up in 2008 and hope to launch in 2009. And we were there. GET US.
Attitude was particularly a digging Mini Viva, two 18-year-old ladies in leggings, hi-tops and a way round synth pop stormer. Basically, the look is two teens on a dance stepper and the vibe is catchy-as-hell pop.
Plus, boy wonder Alex Gardner was simply lush, as they say in the Valleys (possibly).
Basically, Xenomania + the kids from Fame should = the best thing to hit the charts since the last best thing. Check out Xenomania Records for all Xenomania’s children.»
--- Watch recent videos of Xenomania's children playing live: This is Alex Gardner performing "Yesterday's News":
Pageboy 24 Feb 2009, 10:00 PM - Zigfrid Von Underbelly, London, - £5 18 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London, - £6 Mini Viva 25 Feb 2009 19:00 - Water Rats, London 4 Mar 2009 20:15 - Water Rats, London
Jessie Malakouti 24 Feb 2009, 07:00 PM - Zigfrid Von Underbelly, London 04 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - Monto Water Rats, London 10 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - The Dublin Castle , London 16 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - Notting Hill Arts Club , London (invite only) 23 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - Monto Water Rats w/Jefree Star , London 07 Apr 2009, 07:00 PM - Monto Water Rats , London
The Electric City 27 Feb 2009, 08:00 PM - West Rocks @ Shepards Bar *DJ set*, London 18 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - The British Music Embassy @ Latitude 30, Austin, Texas 19 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - offical SXSW showcase at WAVE, Austin, Texas 20 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - SXSW, Austin, Texas 21 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - SXSW, Austin, Texas 22 Mar 2009, 08:00 PM - SXSW, Austin, Texas
Vagabond (view all live dates) Vagabond are giving away tickets for their next London show (March 3rd @ The Troubadour). Guest list is limited, so first come first served. Email your name to: eliza@locomotionent.com.
It seems like tonight there will be a big Xenomania private party/gig at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London. If you haven't been invited, have a look at these recent live videos of some of the new bands that have been working with Xenomania. First up is Vagabond, who we already told you about, performing their debut single "Sweat (Until The Morning)":
Xenomania is a songwriting and production house based in Kent, England. It was founded by songwriter and producer Brian Higgins.
Since 1996, Xenomania have written, produced and remixed tracks for a string of successful artists including Girls Aloud, Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, Dannii and Kylie Minogue, Saint Etienne, Cher, Gabriella Cilmi and many others.
DEKADE, the group formerly known as NiteVisions (who were formerly known as The Electric City), will play their first show on Wednesday (April 21st) at Gold Dust.
