May 68 and (One eskimO + Don Diablo)

The history of popular dance music acts from Manchester is not a long one. The Bee Gees kicked things off in the disco era with all the jams from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Truthfully however, as much as we all enjoyed "Stayin' Alive" between the ages of 4 and 7, it and the rest of the SNF stuff is not representative of their sound; the rest of their catalog ranges from rock to folk and very little of it was created using synths. Since, the Chemical Brothers are the only group to make it big while making music that didn't fit nicely into the Joy Division/Smiths/Verve subsect of "Manchester" rock.

Thanks to the powers of the internet and the emails of their drummer/backup vocalist, (Killa) Cam, I've stumbled across May68, a new five piece band making fantastic danceable electro-rock (just making up genres here, don't worry about it) out of Manchester. The band takes its name from the French student protests (of May 1968) in which de Gaulle fled the country and the protests caused mayhem throughout France. The members of today's May 68 might not be looking to overturn the status quo, but they certainly make fun music, and at some point, will definitely achieve their goal of "just wanting to make people dance." Jude, who sings lead, reminds a bit of Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and (Killa) Cam's backing vocals lend themselves nicely to their synth heavy tracks. Think the love child of DFA, Chromeo and a dash of It's Blitz-era Karen O.

I don't know if they have representation, I'm pretty sure they don't have a deal, but I hope for the best for May 68. I'm a big fan of their sound and I look forward to hearing their stuff in the future.

May68 - My Ways
May68 - White Lies

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This One eskimO Don Diablo Remix has nothing to do with May68, but I love this jam. Rather than make a new post just for this track, here you go:

One eskimO- Givin Up (Don Diablo remix)