Tags: electronic, french, indie, indie pop, rock
Summary: Thomas Mars, Deck D’Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz started playing music as kids in a suburb of Versailles during the same cultural period that produced late-’90s bands such as Air and Daft Punk. Phoenix formed in 1999 and started off as the backing band for a remix of Air’s “Kelly Watch the Stars” single. Soon after, Phoenix released their debut album United in 2000. The name “Phoenix” was officially chosen in 1996 when Laurent Brancowitz permanently joined Pheonix after his other band Darlin’ disbanded. The other two members of Darlin’ (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) went on to form Daft Punk. Phoenix are based in Paris, France and their music has been featured in such films as Shallow Hal and Lost In Translation, with the band themselves appearing in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, a film, like Lost In Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola, Thomas Mars’ partner. The band’s fourth album, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” was released in 2009. It contains “Play1901”, which peaked at #9 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in November of that year.
The Whitest Boy Alive, Tahiti 80, Vama Veche, Cut Copy, Travka
