Groove Armada - Hands of Time

Groove Armada is the English duo of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. The two were introduced by Cato's girlfriend and eventually started a club called Groove Armada. They began to release songs in 1997, eventually releasing their first album, Northern Star, in 1997. The duo started out by creating chill-out music, but have moved into the dance and club music as well. Since their debut release, they have released several albums and their music can be heard in everything from advertising campaigns, movies and TV shows to computer games.

Hands of Times is soulful tune with the great Richie Havens joining in. Havens also sang on two tracks from the 2001 release, Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub). Hands of Time is off their 2003 release, LoveBox, and was also included on the 2007, from the vaults release, GA10. The song is included on the soundtrack to the movie, Collateral, as well as the ending track for the pilot episode of the TV show, Trauma.

Air – La Femme D'Argent

French duo, Air, is of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. The two met when attending École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles. They began creating music that is generally termed electronica.

Their form of electronic music was influenced by the synthesizer sounds of the 1970s such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Francis Lai. and psychedelic rock pioneers Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream.

The duo uses a wide array of studio instruments (e.g. Moog synthesizers, the Korg MS-20, Wurlitzer and Vocoder) both for recording and live on stage. When performing live, they improvise and usually take well-known tracks from the albums and extended or altered them.

La Femme D'Argent is one of my favorite Air pieces off their Moon Safari release.

Trivia: The name AIR is a backronym for Amour, Imagination, Rêve which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream.

Röyksopp - Eple

Norwegian duo, Röyksopp, is made up of Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge. The two were schoolmates, but met up again in the 90's in Bergen. Bergen, at that time, was a vital scene for underground electronic music at this time (called Bergen Wave).

The band name is a stylized version of the Norwegian word for the puffball mushroom, "røyksopp" or literally, "smoke mushroom". Their music has been used in many commercials and as background music in movies and TV shows.

Eple off their 2001 debut album, Melody A.M. is their most well know song.

Stakka Bo - Here We Go

I wanted to start a new feature on Hoi Polloi. I've always had a fascination with a song or band that catches my ear, but that disappears just as quick as they came on the scene. They many not be a one hit wonder, but are more of a flash in the pan - Hear Today Gone Tomorrow. I'll occasionally post one of these tracks.

The first entry in this is Here We Go from Stakka Bo. Stakka Bo is Swedish musician Johan Renck. He scored a minor hit in 1993 with Here We Go off his Supermarket release. He released a second album, which didn't enjoy success.

Renck changed careers and switched to directing music videos for several artists, including Kylie Minogue, All Saints and Madonna. He recently moved into directing films and had his first film, Downloading Nancy, premier at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.

Nouvelle Vague - Dance With Me

Nouvelle Vague means "new wave" in English and "bossa nova" in Portuguese and it's name neatly sums up the group's concept: remaking classic new wave singles with a Brazilian pop twist. Dance With Me off their Bande à Part album is a remake of the Lords of the New Church new wave classic. If you have the chance, check out their self titled debut album. You won't be disappointed.