It is with great delight that S.T.D. welcomes what will be one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year in China. Digitalism, for the first time ever will be arriving in China to play DJ shows in Lantern Beijing and Ibiza Shanghai. Considered one of the pioneers of the “Dance Rock” phase of the late 2000s along with Justice, they have garnered huge international success both from the studio and on the stage headlining the world’s largest festivals.
If Franz Ferdinand are doing rock music that make people dance, Digitalism are making dance music that make people rock.
There are loads of rock bands making music for the dancefloor. Digitalism make electronic music that everyone can rock to. For the past two years, they have been the go-to men for indie remixes, having reworked the Klaxons, The Test Icicles, Cut Copy and The Futureheads.
Digitalism is Jens Moelle & Ismail Tuefekci from Hamburg. They met at the city’s Underground Solution record store, soon bonding over their shared love of dance and rock records. When the store’s owner, Ollie Grabowski, began casting around for a couple of fresh, young DJs to play at party, he suggested that Isi and Jens team up. “We were of the same generation,” says Isi, “we liked the same records, so we were put in one room together.”
As the duo’s DJing reputation took off, so the harder the pair worked to find obscure, unheard records to animate their crowds. In 2001, the price of CD writers dropped sufficiently to allow the boys to burn their own records. “We started with some edits,” says Jens, “just for our DJ sets.”
The first was a version of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. This eventually found its way onto vinyl and sold well, marking Digitalism out as electronic producers who could cross over into the rock camp. Yet it was Gildas Loaec from Kitsuné in Paris who eventually contacted the duo with a serious label deal.
Their first album “Idealism” was released to international acclaim and success. Every DJ from Tiga to Erol Alkan were including various tracks from Idealism into their sets. Songs like Zdarlight, Pogo, Jupiter Room and Digitalism In Cairo became staples on the dance floor.
In 2010 they released their follow up EP Blitz, also under Kitsune. Their latest EP came in 2011, titled I Love You Dude and drew a more indie tone to their original hard electro tones. Recent songs released on DJ Kicks have seen Digitalism find their much appreciated techno roots.
Digitalism still record in the same bunker they started with. The building wouldn't look out of place in a dystopian film like 1984. Its thick concrete walls, blast doors and cell-like atmosphere suits the duo perfectly. “We drink something, we have fun,” says Isi, “we don’t have any daylight, any distractions; I think maybe our sound come from the bunker atmosphere”.
来自德国汉堡的跳舞朋克电子双人组Digitalism组建于2004年。同一家独立厂牌的工作经历使他们结识，在厂牌老板的提议下，音乐爱好相合的两人从打碟放歌生涯开始，继而尝试独立创作。2007年的DIY首专“Idealism”引得法国电子大厂Kitsuné与发行商EMI的注目，得以全球发行，他们极具攻击性与煽动性的电子节拍，以及潜伏其中的摇滚乐基因，让这股袭自Daft Punk等前辈的独立电音热潮继续在全世界蔓延。
早期金曲“Idealistic”、“Jupiter Room”、“Zdarlight”已让Digitalism在圈中声名大噪。继而推出的单曲“Pogo”被收录在“极品飞车11”和“FIFA08”两款热门游戏中，这让乐队得到了更大范围的喜爱，他们的音乐被拓展到了更多不同的领域中。2011年乘胜追击的新专辑“I Love You Dude”继续延续Digitalism的大热曲目传统，“2 Hearts”、“Circles”等曲目甫一推出便迅速抢滩全球舞池。
除此之外Digitalism的remix出品亦是壮观无比，从Daft Punk、Tom Vek、The Presets、Cut Copy到Depeche Mode、The Futureheads、Klaxons，其中甚至还采样The Cure的政治金曲“Fire In Cairo”，为其注入玩乐元素，成为“Digitalism In Cairo”。Digitalism持续的创造力和影响力还让他们得到了无数电子厂牌合集的制作机会，今年便主理了柏林老牌厂牌!K7的“DJ-Kicks”系列。
骨子里的摇滚份子给予Digitalism更多的可能性，“Digitalism In Cairo”已展示了他们诠释摇滚乐经典作品的能力，而“Magnets”、“I Want I Want”、“Pogo”等作品中的人声表现让许多地道摇滚乐队也自叹弗如。可以预见的是，他们可以在The Chemical Brothers之后成为又一组有着有如摇滚乐队地位的电子组，让死忠们信仰崇拜。
Digitalism在Coachella、Lollapalooza、SXSW等全球各大音乐节上的出场都得到了一呼百应的明星级反应。同时，他们的巡演步伐也越走越远，从德国到全欧洲，从北美到亚太地区，他们几乎走遍了世界上每个必经的俱乐部，把自己独有的坐标插遍全世界。
