Artist Of The Year
It's been a while since the members of AOTY first met each other. Nathael and Camille were kindergarten friends, as were Louis and David. The four of them met in highschool. Music became a bond between them and in 1998, they started to take it seriously. After giving up on a « trip hop » formation, Nathael and Camille started to fiddle around with electronic glitches and textures, not unlike those of Pole and Pan Sonic. David and Louis joined them on certain compositions, bringing their own conception of rythms in the mix. It was because they were tired of the live versions of electronic acts (the music is still extremely interesting but there's not much entertainment aside from that) that the members decided to push the funk attitude a little more by throwing a big party on stage. One of the biggest strenght of the band is to be able to recreate live what we can hear on the album. Live musicians are somewhat easier to relate to and visually more interesting than a single guy on a laptop or deejaying. The shows are then centered around grooves, but the electronic edge is still very present.
Le Gala, their first album was somewhat of an experiment; the goal was to push the capacities of the computer and to make it crash as often as possible; a couple of blue screens brought tears of joy on the faces of the band members. The concept is obvious; A character is brought through different phases of a gala, from the pleasant "the invitation" through the mega hit "best crap of the year" until we finally come to an end with the somewhat unexpected after party "chicks with hidden dicks".
Though sometimes ambiant, this album was entirely created in a fun atmosphere, and even the darkest songs were accomplished with a huge smile. It has been described as "some edgy electronic music that is sharp though not pretentious. You can look like a nerd and a party animal at the same time... A truly original blend."
Cut Disco, the sophomore, was actually described as "a record that is both frenetic, danceable and delightfully unhinged" and "while it has the same ingredients as Le Gala, the proportions are literally the oppposite...the dirty funk is now dripping from your speakers, but the music is still clever...this could be the album of the deflaragtion"
The concept of Cut Disco was to show the influence of Vic Peterson on aRTIST oF tHE yEAR members. Vic was the founder of the Cut Disco movement, a genre that blended the emergence of hip hop with the last breaths of disco music and is the reference for number of bands that tried to follow the same energy he conveyed. Cut Disco is filled with skits that are a bit twisted. "sometimes a little weirdo humour is needed, and Artist of the Year step up to the plate and deliver the goods, in both official languages no less."
To support the album, the band played a numbers of venues. The most important were probably the 2005 edition of Mutek fest.(headlining the Experience 1) and also the 2005 edition of the International Jazz Fest, (Groove series). Cut Disco is still on different college top 10 charts in Canada and has even started to play in Paris, France.
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