Madison Park
While best known for Billboard dance hits “Sunrise”, “Ocean Drive”, “I’m Listening, and remake of Roxy Music’s “More Than This”, Madison Park is downtempo duo, James and DeAnna Cool (yes, “Cool” is their real last name). A marriage of music and mayhem, the couple launched their record label, basicLUX Records in 2002 and executive-produced a series of chill-out compilation CD’s, (including the critically acclaimed New Sound Theory series). New Sound Theory, Volume 1 was released early 2003 and naturally featured a few tracks by the duo, namely “My Personal Moon”. “My Personal Moon” unexpectedly garnered immediate attention, causing it to be released as a single which in turn hit the Billboard Dance Sales Chart. It was then that Madison Park decided to release their debut full-length CD, Boutique, earlier than planned. That was March of 2004, and that’s just the beginning…or sort of…
James (multi-instrumentalist/producer) and DeAnna (vocalist/songwriter/animal-advocate) began working together after meeting through mutual friends. They quickly discovered their shared passion towards similar types of music (their influences include: Roxy Music, EBTG, Goldfrapp, Kate Bush, Sade, Ryuichi Sakomoto) and began weekly recording sessions where the two would collaborate on fresh downtempo gems at Synchronized Sound in Atlanta. DeAnna shares a funny story, “James gave me a few tracks to write vocals to and when I returned to the studio the following week, excited to share my writings with him, he suggested we just strum through the melodies first as he casually reached for his guitar. Feeling slightly nervous I brought the mic in close and began to sing when James lifted his guitar behind his head and started jammin’ out. I fell out laughing. That’s just who James is… If things start to get too serious, he gets silly. So I knew then we would make for a perfect balance. Because making music together – which we take most seriously, I can get quite intense and the reality is it also has to be fun. It’s work, definitely, and it’s always good to get a laugh on while you work.”
It was then that Madison Park created an initial 10-track demo CD the two refer to as Barney, only because the CD cover is purple. “I hate purple. Just hate it. How did we end up with purple?” DeAnna looks at James. “We actually like the cover art, the color not so much. But anyway, we started shopping this demo CD to various labels and the reaction was really cool. But what we learned is, we would be giving away a lot more than we were willing, including artistic control. And that is not something either of us could do.” Still wanting to test the waters a little further, that’s when they decided to make their first release a compilation CD including a variety of artists both here and abroad, meaning New Sound Theory, Volume 1. It was also at that point when “My Personal Moon” garnered such attention and Boutique became a focus for them. Both “Ocean Drive” and “My Personal Moon” became Billboard hits for Madison Park. Other encouraging things took place such as Boutique becoming the most added album to college radio the week of its release.
Their sophomore album would be released June 20th, 2006 titled In the Stars. By matching the slickest production with the sexiest pop sensibility, In the Stars became more than just pedestrian beats and bobs. This finely crafted electronic pop music floats through many different genres and moves both the body and the soul. Those familiar with today’s modern dance music realize what a rare and powerful combination this is. MTV NewNowNext stated “Madison Park’s In the Star’s is a pop-flavored treat. Give ‘em a spin!” As a “Top 10″ iTunes dance album for multiple weeks, In the Stars also produced more Billboard dance hits such as “I’m Listening” (also making the Billboard Sales chart) and “More Than This”. “More Than This” brought many new fans to the Madison Park scene as it became the second most-played internet dance track for 16 consecutive weeks, following Kaskade’s “Steppin’ Out”.
December 9, 2008 marks the release of Madison Park’s third album, Another Yesterday. Again, substantial radio hits came from the album including title track “Another Yesterday” and “Come Out And Play”, a collaboration with Swedish house artist Monodeluxe. Later that year Madison Park’s remix of Nina Simone’s “The Look of Love” was placed in the film Sex and the City. It was right around that time that they launched a new remix contest through Peace Love Productions Acid Remix where they met Dutch dance producer Beechkraft for his winning placement remix of “Another Yesterday”. Due to that, Madison Park and Beechkraft went on to produce several singles together including radio favorite, “Fascinated” and current Billboard Club/Play charter “Sunrise”.
In between full-length CD’s, Madison Park released scores of singles and executive-produced four volumes of New Sound Theory, as well as titles Roxy Remodeled, In a Trance, The Mistletoe Lounge, Holiday Remixed, Summer Vibin’, while writing material for additional bands and cinematic projects including Sony Legacy’s Billie Holiday’s “I’m Gonna Lock My Heart” and Nina Simone’s “The Look of Love”. “The Look of Love” appeared in the Sex and the City film and soundtrack. Most recently, Madison Park provided the soundtrack for “The University Pool”, a documentary by Truett Lee Vaigneur, Jr regarding identity, self-esteem and acceptance issues that boys face in the world of sports, set for release early 2013. Madison Park’s music has appeared in a variety of films, major networks and TV shows such as Nip Tuck, Castle, A&E, Brotherhood, Made, MTV, Fox, and more…
Upcoming: On 12.02.14 Madison Park dropped another single, “Parts of Me” -this single being the first cut off of the (recently completed) upcoming fourth MP album due early 2015. The single and album both are a collaboration with Dutch-dance producer, Beechkraft, and a video for “Parts of Me” shot in Alaska was released 12.09.14.
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