Holy Hail
Location: New York, NY
Website: http://www.holyhail.com/
Bio: Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) has an unfortunate problem: it tends to be undanceable. Indeed, there is great intelligence behind the experimentation and risks taken by ... (more) many producers, but it often lacks the rollicking bass lines, drum fills and lyrics with enough swagger to shake the dance that still manage to feed the brain? That's what the term IDM should, by definition, more wholly encompass. 

Brooklyn's Holy Hail deserves its own genre. Intelligent Dance Music, by all means and given the aforementioned definition, could be the name were it not already taken. With influences as diverse as X, Cocteau Twins, the Fall and the Carpenters, the band presents an upbeat amalgam of bass-heavy disco, angsty, art-smeared '80s Brit rock and an ideological hint of hip hop fundamentals from their hometown, Brooklyn. Formed by Cat Hartwell (vocals) and Kevin Cooke (vocals and keys) and rounded out last year by Jesse Sposato (drums) and Mike Egan (guitar), the band has been steadily blowing minds and shaking buns since 2008's Independent Pleasure Club (Kanine) took punk dancefloors by storm with its propulsive feline rhythms and sociopolitical lyrical content. Having played with bands like the Gossip (for whom they opened their second show ever), Bonde Do Role, the Rapture and the Kills (and even a surprise show opening for the Black Lips backing the GZA), Holy Hail steadily remind us that dancing and intelligent discourse aren't mutually exclusive activities. 

Live, Holy Hail creates an exuberant dance party via an intentionally minimal setup. Eschewing sequencers and programs, the band just plays everything live, the way they know it feels the best. Living just three blocks away from each another in Brooklyn, Holy Hail's members originally met through their shared work at the feminist-bent music zine Sadie Magazine. 

Last fall, the band released The Dying Party EP to much acclaim on RCRD LBL, capturing the attention of England's sensational Florence & the Machine. This April, Holy Hail heads out with Florence & the Machine as main support on their US tour, and the band will have a brand new EP (The Dying (After) Party, out on PseudoScience Records April 13th) with them. With stops in all of the major cities and a full length scheduled for later this year, 2010 is looking like a year of full-on party starting for Holy Hail! (less)
