Who? Twenty-three-year-old Calvin Harris is a neo-disco wunderkind hailing from Glasgow, Scotland. As the U.K. club scene continues to explode, Harris paves a new path for aspiring DJs with his youthful zeal and utilized technology to circumvent club residencies and apprenticeships. His debut long-player I Created Disco drops stateside September 4th via the Almost Gold label.
What’s the Deal? Whether it’s campy self-touting confidence (“The Girls”) or getting a party started in your living room (“Merrymaking at My Place”), Harris could be considered the club alternative to the Arctic Monkeys meteoric rise to fame several years ago: same driven attitude, same crucial post in youth culture, same plane of reinventing the wheel. Everyone knows well that disco is dead, but Harris’ insatiable curiosity and fresh perspective lighten up the bouncing beats and bass that make the genre stylin’ good. His synthesizer splashes and cheeky cultural references make disco more than decent for this generation. And like his other electro-pop comrades such as LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, he performs his computerized club bangers with a live backing band and is selling out venues all over the U.K.
Fun Fact: Prior to becoming a club favorite, Harris was your average hardworking mate with a regular job. Just before inking a publishing deal with EMI, Harris was about to be promoted to Head of Produce of Marks and Spencer, a high-end department and grocery store in the U.K.
Now Hear This:
Calvin Harris – “Acceptable in the 80s” DOWNLOAD MP3
Now Watch This:
Calvin Harris – “Merrymaking at My Place”
QUICKTIME
On the Web:
Calvin Harris at MySpace
calvinharris.tv
Talk: Has Calvin Harris ‘created disco’ or a complete disaster?
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