Dance Rock

Dance-rock emerged as indie-rock and electronic club culture came into alignment, during the early '00s. Its roots, however, can be traced to the early '80s, in the dance-punk of Gang of Four, the edgy synth-pop of New Order, and the spiraling post-punk-cum-world beat of Talking Heads. These original sounds were then rediscovered and reinterpreted by the latter-day neo-post-punk, electro and house scenes of the nascent millennium. The sound was first cultivated in the cities of New York and London, but songs like the Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers" and LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" -- both early anthems -- were soon heard in nightclubs in major cities across the globe. An important part of the movement is DJ remixes of bands: post-punkers like Glasgow's Franz Ferdinand, London's Bloc Party, Sao Paulo's CSS and New York's Interpol get retreads by producers like Belgium's 2 Many DJs (aka Soulwax), Philly's Diplo, London's Erol Alkan and New York's James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem). The record labels involved in fostering the movement are equally international, with New York's DFA Records, Paris's Kitsune Maison and Sydney's Modular Records leading the charge. Dance-rock reached its apex in 2007, as self-proclaimed "new ravers" the Klaxons, with their album Myths of the New Future, won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize for emerging artists.