Jan
31
Music Monday – DAT Politics Will Make You Put on Your Party Pants (…or Get Naked)
Believe it or not, I actually do miss bumping elbows and knocking knees with sweaty club kids with tri-colored hair and soaked-through white Ts. I actually do miss the energy generated from being around people who feel the music so much that they can’t help but mosh and mingle perspiration droplets and, at times, saliva.
I just miss having a life; something that graduate school (and my internship and this beloved site) have stolen from me. But for those of you who do have lives and enough hours in your evening to make it out the door, put on your party hats, pants, socks, shades…whatever you slip on to get in the mood. DAT Politics has the soundtrack to your night out and thereafter.
To call this electro-pop laptop duo “upbeat” is like calling a hyperactive child energetic: the tempo of every song will induce frenzied dancing and a disregard of all things serious upon eardrum penetration. And with songs like “Turn My Brain Off” and Dizzy Zip” (off of Wow Twist, their most popular album to date), any ideas of austerity fly out the window.
DAT Politics has been tempting seizures and titillating partygoers now for over a decade. The group was started in 1999 in a small French town by the name of Champagne, and when members got bored with the music around them at the time, they did what any inventor does: they concocted a sound using experimental instruments, noises and everyday objects for inspiration.
By 2002, the explosive sound they created was recognized by the likes of Chicks on Speed, and soon after their career skyrocketed.
Their sound is infectious, catchy and emphatically seductive. If you plan on listening, be prepared to not only stand up, but to either get naked, sweat your makeup off, mosh with whomever is in the room, or get ready to go out. Standing in place simply will not suffice when you listen in.
The Afterlife Walking Dead DAT politics Remix by DAT POLITICS
And to get a little taste of what one of their live shows is like…
Tell us a little bit about DAT Politics.
Claude: We met in high school. We were into underground art and noisy music, so we were feeling like freaks in our small town of Champagne. We quickly start to jam abstracts noises in Gaetan’s garage, using any kind of sources; radio/videogames samples, distortion, drones, brutal rhythms, and feedback. We moved to Lille to study Art and Cinema at the University and we created our first musical project Tone Rec and DAT politics few years later.
What is the craziest show you ever played?
Claude: We had many great shows all over the world, but last year we had our first tour in South America. We didn’t know really what to expect, but Buenos Aires turned out to be one of our best shows; it was a packed club with a singing along crowd. They were doing all the work and I was barely hearing my voice! That was awesome, we can’t wait to go back.
Your favorite song of your own?
Claude: I have several ones like “Own thing Part I” and “Freak Me Out“, but if I have to choose one my favorite song would be “Bad Dream Machine” from our Mad Kit album. I think that we succeed in this track to inject what makes our sound something to last for a decade… a kind of twisted Synth-Pop.
Who are you guys inspired by/who are you listening to right now?
Gaetan: When I was a kid, my big brothers’ vinyls, like Kraftwerk, Jarre, Klaus Schulze or Motörhead… But since my childhood, I have also been really into soundtracks like Carpenter or Goblin.
Claude: As a teen, I was into 80′s Synth-Pop like The Buggles, Jacno… But we met in the 90′s during the Shoegaze big wave…
Gaetan: Right now I’m really into old Synth-Pop classics like Omd, Ruth, Chris Carter, Yazoo, and some new stuff too like Salem, Siriusmo, and Oneohtrix.
Where in the world or what festival would be you most like to play that you haven’t played yet?
Claude: Fuji Rock…I love Japan. The crowd is always very great there!
