When the moon rises through the smoke of the crisis...
Internationally recognized as one of the most signifcant and experimental artists to come out of France in recent years, hero of the French Touch movement and author of one of the biggest dance anthems of the past decade, You Are My High. Demon is back with his hotly anticipated third LP, NIGHT ON EARTH.
For fuck's sake wake up, I can hear the sirens...
With his previous two albums Midnight Funk and Music That You Wanna Hear both receiving widespread critical acclaim, NIGHT ON EARTH promises to be another extraordinary and conceptual album, combining the anthemic and electronic with explorations into the darker side of pop. NIGHT ON EARTH is composed, recorded and produced by DEMON and features the vocal talents of Craig Walker (ex-Archive) and DEMON himself.
The story so far
Born in Paris in 1977, Demon’s early work was heavily infuenced by hip hop and artists such as the Wu-Tang Clan and Blackmoon. This culminated in his frst musical release: Prophetie made in conjunction with French hip-hop collective Symbiose.
Further experimentation drew Demon to the development of the French electronic scene, and with the creation of his record label 20000ST, DEMON's debut EP A-Typique would go on to become a seminal record in dance communities worldwide. A whole host of remixes and subsequent ep releases followed the success of his debut and ultimately this led to the release of his highly acclaimed album Midnight Funk.
Following on from the success of the album, Demon went on to compose the massive international club hit You Are My High, which featured the now cult video containing a 2'50 sequence shot of a languorous French kiss that would later have him nominated for the french music awards (Victoires de la musique) and an MTV Music Award for best french act beside Daft Punk and Manu Chao.
Years after its release, You Are My High has sold more than 200 000 copies and still receives heavy international radio rotation. In addition to his own productions, Demon's talent as a remixer has always been heavily in demand and his discography now looks like a who's who in French dance music. Having worked closely with artists such as Etienne de Crecy, Daft Punk, Roy Davis Junior, Alex Gopher, Cassius, Mr Oizo and many others, the 2003 album Branding captured a number of these joint efforts.
Always following his experimental instincts, 2004 saw Demon release the concept album Music That You Wanna Hear with the intention of transcending genres, the album would feature a whole host of respected international guests including Buckshot from Blackmoon, Craig Walker from Archive, and dancehall star Mr Vegas.
Beside his parallel works in hip-hop production (113's double gold album, 113 degrés or La Rumeur's second LP, Du coeur à l'outrage), in 2006 Demon released Happy Therapy, the debut track for his new label Help Yourself. The original single, along with the typically groundbreaking remix and video package included, proved a huge success in both underground and mainstream circles.
June 2010 sees Demon's comeback: his new EP, I Think, featuring remixes by D.I.M., Memory Tapes and others, has received top feedbacks, getting heavily playlisted worldwide (Erol Alkan and Alex Metric chose its D.I.M. Remix for their BBC1 program).
Its dramatically pop feeling makes I Think a somehow impredictable peak time track: its release is a further evidence of Demon's tireless struggle to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in contemporary electronic music.
From the end comes an end...