LowerState

The Lowerstate crew kick off 2009 with the Parisian trio dOP who land on Irish shores for the first time.

dOP cover jazz records, drink lots of vodka, sing on everything, play keyboards and horns, and do it all with an accomplished, self-regarding rock and roll swagger.

Made up of Clement Zemtsov, Damien Vandesande and Jonathan “Jo” Illel, dOP stumbled onto electronic music after trying all other kinds and finding they needed to be “too serious” or that “there weren’t enough girls”.

What they didn’t expect to find however, was their ability to meld disparate sounds (rap, blues, free jazz, Malian kora, house, experimental pop) into oddly stirring, funky packages has placed them on the cutting edge of contemporary electronic dance music.

Their I’m Just a Man EP, an ode to the limits of our solitary existence, released last July, reached anthem status as it tore up European dancefloors during the summer, and featured in Resident Advisor’s Top 30 tracks of 2008. Over a tribal African groove, Jonathan Illel sings “I’ve been to lands, where birds feel better than the man.” It’s a lyric with more gravitas than you usually find in house, a track that works just as well as a song.

You will find dOP energizing the dancefloor of the Cellar Underground next Sat Jan 31st, with residents Rory D and Audiofeen setting the mood from 10.30pm. Admission for the show is €12.

dOP - I’m Just a Man [Eklo]

dOP - Blanche Neige (original mix) [Circus Company]

dOP - Foly [Milnor Modern]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 2:13 am and is filed under Gigs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.