Artists to Watch 2011: Benoit & Sergio

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Artists to Watch 2011: Benoit & Sergio

18 January, 2011 | 5.17AM

Written by: Beatportal
Filed under: Music News: artists to watch 2011, benoit & sergio, birds & souls, spectral, visionquest

When Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves, Lee Curtiss, and Ryan Crosson finally launch their much-anticipated Visionquest label at the end of this month, its inaugural release won’t come from any member of that quartet, but rather from a fledgling project called Benoit & Sergio.

Surprising, perhaps, given the hype that’s been building around Visionquest’s individual members as well as their collective identity—but also a testament to the expectations for the rising Washington, D.C. duo.

Benoit & Sergio released their debut EP in late 2009, for Bruno Pronsato’s thesongsays label, and last year they continued developing their dusky, midnight disco sound on the “Midnight People” singles for Spectral Sound. (Sergio also plays in the duo Birds & Souls, also on Spectral, with Ryan Crosson.) With their Visionquest EP, they take yet another step forward, this time moving into full-on pop territory, albeit presented in the context of the dance floor.

Read on for an interview with the purveyors of what they call “heroic, melancholic dance pop,” and check out their top 10 list at the end, featuring an awesome selection of tunes from the likes of No Regular Play, Warpaint, Nicolas Jaar, and Kalabrese.

What kind of music do you make, and how long have you been doing it for?

We would qualify our sound as heroic, melancholic dance pop. Our grooves vary from what we call Cadillac/Caribbean groove to square disco beats. Our vocals are androgynous but our influences emerge from indie rock, disco, and bleak ‘70s sunlight.

We’ve been working together for almost two years. We started with a light sound in “Full Grown Man,” which hybridized house and pop, and we are taking a rock route nowadays. All this is to say that we like to experiment, viewing each encounter with the synthesizer as a chance for something new and weird.

What projects do you have coming up for 2011? Beyond that, what do you hope to have accomplished by this time next year?

We are set to release “Where The Freaks Have No Name,” the debut EP for Visionquest, in late January. We follow that with the “Boy Trouble” EP for DFA in February. And then “Let Me Count The Ways” EP for Spectral, in time for WMC.

We start our “Freaks Have No Name” Tour early February in Europe.

By this time next year we want children to be singing the vocals to “Boy Trouble” as they play tetherball at recess.

If you had to make one music-related resolution for the new year, what would it be?

We want to move away from the bad habit of MIDI.

Finally, could you tip us off to an up-and-coming artist that you think people should know about?

Footprintz, a new group from Montreal. Amazing. And Slow Hands.

Benoit & Sergio Top 10

Explore Benoit & Sergio on Beatport

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When Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves, Lee Curtiss, and Ryan Crosson finally launch their much-anticipated Visionquest label at the end of this month, its inaugural release won't come from any member of that quartet, but rather from a fledgling project called Benoit & Sergio.

Surprising, perhaps, given the hype that's been building around Visionquest's individual members as well as their collective identity—but also a testament to the expectations for the rising Washington, D.C. duo.

Benoit & Sergio released their debut EP in late 2009, for Bruno Pronsato's thesongsays label, and last year they continued developing their dusky, midnight disco sound on the "Midnight People" singles for Spectral Sound. (Sergio also plays in the duo Birds & Souls, also on Spectral, with Ryan Crosson.) With their Visionquest EP, they take yet another step forward, this time moving into full-on pop territory, albeit presented in the context of the dance floor. 

Read on for an interview with the purveyors of what they call "heroic, melancholic dance pop," and check out their top 10 list at the end, featuring an awesome selection of tunes from the likes of No Regular Play, Warpaint, Nicolas Jaar, and Kalabrese.
When Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves, Lee Curtiss, and Ryan Crosson finally launch their much-anticipated Visionquest label at the end of this month, its inaugural release won't come from any member of that quartet, but rather from a fledgling project called Benoit & Sergio.

Surprising, perhaps, given the hype that's been building around Visionquest's individual members as well as their collective identity—but also a testament to the expectations for the rising Washington, D.C. duo.

Benoit & Sergio released their debut EP in late 2009, for Bruno Pronsato's thesongsays label, and last year they continued developing their dusky, midnight disco sound on the "Midnight People" singles for Spectral Sound. (Sergio also plays in the duo Birds & Souls, also on Spectral, with Ryan Crosson.) With their Visionquest EP, they take yet another step forward, this time moving into full-on pop territory, albeit presented in the context of the dance floor. 

Read on for an interview with the purveyors of what they call "heroic, melancholic dance pop," and check out their top 10 list at the end, featuring an awesome selection of tunes from the likes of No Regular Play, Warpaint, Nicolas Jaar, and Kalabrese.

Read more at: http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/artists-to-watch-2011-benoit-sergio/

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