Temposhark

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Temposhark

Background information
Origin Brighton & London, England
Genre(s) Electronica
Alternative
Pop/Rock
Label(s) Paper & Glue, Defend Music
Website Temposhark.com

Temposhark is an English electronic rock band, formed in London and Brighton by singer and songwriter Robert Diament. Temposhark are best known for their songs Joy, It's Better To Have Loved and Not That Big, a duet with singer Imogen Heap, which will feature on their 2008 debut album The Invisible Line. Other notable artist collaborations include Guy Sigsworth, Sean McGhee, Youth from Killing Joke, Kate Havnevik, Camille Dalmais and the virtuoso violinist Sophie Solomon.

Contents

[edit] Early EPs and Collaborations (2004-2007)

The initial idea for Temposhark started in London whilst Diament was recording and writing with producer Youth from Killing Joke. At this time, Diament also began staying in Brighton where his old school friend Luke Busby was studying visual art and music at the time. Diament has spoken about that era of initial experimentation,

“ Crime was one of the first songs that Luke and I ever wrote, when Luke was studying in Brighton. Listening to the clip just now brought back so many hilarious memories of us running riot around Brighton with our friend Tasha (who went on to become the very wonderful Bat For Lashes). Around the time of writing Crime, Tasha and I performed in a musical Luke had written. We put it on in a tiny Brighton theatre and had such a laugh doing it. Great memories - but I just hope the video footage never turns up![1] ”

Diament set up his own UK record label in December 2004 called Paper and Glue releasing a series of limited edition Temposhark singles, the first of which was their critically acclaimed EP Neon Question Mark.

Temposhark quickly collaborated with singer Imogen Heap (Frou Frou), received club remixes from electro pioneers including Cursor Miner, Mark Moore (S'Express), Melnyk, Metronomy, Avril (FCommunications), Carmen Rizzo and Crispin J Glover as well as hip-hop crew Border Crossing, Masashi Naka (Escalator Records, Japan), Akira the Don and electropunk duo Noblesse Oblige. The band have also written two short film soundtracks for fine artist Justine Pearsall. Diament and Pearsall went on to collaborate on an art music video for the Temposhark song It's Better To Have Loved in 2005. This art video was first screened in public at the De La Warr Pavilion in February 2006 when Temposhark performed live at the respected British arts venue.[2]

A second EP 'Invisible Ink/Little White Lie' came out in May 2005 which attracted many new admirers including acclaimed producer Guy Sigsworth, best known for his work with Madonna, Björk and Britney Spears. Sigsworth went on to produce Temposhark's first nationwide released UK single It's Better To Have Loved, which came out as a limited edition CD on December 12th 2005. All of these early Temposhark limited edition EPs came in deluxe packaging helping to create a buzz around the band in creative circles and with their fanbase. The band themselves were never pictured on the sleeves instead choosing striking original art images and stylish die-cut record sleeves.

In 2005, Diament said that his band name was thought up when he "woke up in the midst of a dream one night, at like 4am, and just said the word Temposhark. So it came from my subconscious I guess. Honestly it was that simple. I wanted a name that sounded strong. I liked the idea that music could be a weapon. Something powerful.."[3]

In May 2006 Temposhark released their second nationwide single Joy on limited edition CD and 7” vinyl and the band set out on a UK tour visiting towns all over the UK. These dates included a very high profile London show at Tate Britain on Fri May 5th and Carling Academy Islington on Sat May 20th. Temposhark gained many new fans when Joy was featured on the front homepage of iTunes UK and in iTunes’ weekly newsletter.

In 2007, Temposhark toured the USA with their full band as well as completing their debut album, to be released in March 2008 in USA and Europe.

In 2008, their collaboration with rapper Akira The Don was released in US magazine XLR8R called Bang.

[edit] The Invisible Line (2008 debut album)

Main article: The Invisible Line

Temposhark's debut album The Invisible Line will be released in Spring 2008 in both UK and USA/Canada.[4]. It was produced and recorded in London by rising producer Sean McGhee with two tracks produced by Guy Sigsworth. The album includes the song Blame, which was co-written with legendary producer Youth aka Martin Glover from Killing Joke as well as a duet with Imogen Heap called Not That Big.

On March 15th 2007 at the South by Southwest 2007 festival, Temposhark announced on stage that their debut album was to be called The Invisible Line. Singer Robert Diament has said that the album title was inspired by controversial British artist Tracey Emin from passages in her books Exploration Of The Soul (1994) and Strangeland (2005)[5].

A behind-the-scenes video of Temposhark recording at London's RAK Studios was released on YouTube.com on May 26th 2007. The video was synced up to the full album version of the Temposhark song Blame.[6] This is thought to be the first preview of the newly recorded album version of the song.

In October 2007, Temposhark's song Blame, taken from their forthcoming album, was nominated in the Best International category at the Ontario Independent Music Awards which take place in Toronto, Canada on November 15th 2007.[7] Due to the album being leaked ahead of its official Spring 2008 release, its now been made available on iTunes in Europe, Australia and Japan.

In February 2008, Temposhark and their song Blame was announced as a finalist in the Pop/Top 40 category of the International Songwriting Competition (ISC).[8] Blame was chosen by a board of respected judges included Nelly Furtado, Macy Gray, DJ Tiesto, Robert Smith of The Cure and Julian Casablancas of The Strokes.[9] In April 2008, the song went on to win second place in the Pop/Top 40 category.[10]

In the same month, The Invisible Line was highlighted in The Guardian as a new band to watch article, described as "What if Kate Bush had shagged Marc Almond and spawned a monster that grew up listening to Violator? That's Temposhark, musically at any rate."[11]

In March 2008, the NME praised Temposhark's debut album with a positive review, "What if Trent Reznor was raised on the Pet Shop Boys rather than Einsturzende Neubauten? Think these dudes... they could be your new favourite band. 7 out of 10"[12]

Temposhark filmed four songs live for Fox TV's music show Fearless Music in the USA during April 2008.[13]

Temposhark's animated music video to their single Blame was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008. Directed by New York based artist Motomichi Nakamura, the video will be screened on 22nd June as part of the Mirrorball event focused on music video and music documentaries.[14]

[edit] Touring

Temposhark's first live appearances took place in fashionable London club nights such as Electrogogo, Nag Nag Nag, Kashpoint, Computer Blue and Drama. In August 2005, British style icon Princess Julia joined Temposhark on stage at the TDK Cross Central music festival where Temposhark were supporting Grace Jones and Goldfrapp. Her duet on the song 'Paris' has since been made into a popular electro club remix and they performed the track live a further time at Nag Nag Nag for Fischerspooner's after show party in September.

Temposhark toured the UK in 2006 visiting all major cities, culminating in a performance at London's Tate Britain art gallery and soon afterwards at the Mean Fiddler Latitude Festival on 16th July 2006. Temposhark first visited New York on a UK music industry trade mission in June 2006 and started performing live in Europe soon after including a sold out headline gig in Paris in July 2006.

In November 2006, Temposhark began performing with their new live band, French drummer Mathis Richet and bassist Mark Ferguson. This led to the band being invited by legendary music festival/conference South by Southwest 2007 (SXSW), which became the band's first ever live shows in the USA. They performed live twice to pack out audiences at the event in Austin, Texas on the 15th and 16th March 2007. Temposhark were awarded funding from the 'British Music Abroad' scheme run by the PRS Foundation, Arts Council England and UK Trade and Investment to support their SXSW 2007 trip to the USA.

On 11th May 2007, Temposhark announced their first theatre and club tour of the USA.[15] Temposhark's US tour supporting Darren Hayes from Savage Garden took place between 11th-26th June 2007. They visited cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and San Francisco, with dates in all cities completely sold out. Temposhark played a live solo concert as part of New York fashion week in September 2007, it was their longest US show so far, at just under one hour.[16]

In April 2008, Temposhark returned to the live circuit performing headline live shows in London as well as a short USA tour of the East Coast including New York, Hartford, Philadelphia and Buffalo[17]. Temposhark also announced a new live member, the keyboard player Luke Juby who is best known for being in popstar Mika's band.[18] In June 2008, Temposhark headline London club night Popstarz to coincide with the launch of their single Blame and the UK release of their debut album. The show at Popstarz sees the band return to the London clubs where they first began.[19]

[edit] Remixes

Having successfully remixed the track Pull Up The People for M.I.A., Temposhark have started to remix other artists.

Recent remix commissions include French music star Camille (Virgin/EMI Records) for her single Ta Douleur, Hellogoodbye (Sanctuary/Drive Thru Records) for their global hit song Here In Your Arms and Kate Havnevik (Universal/Continentica Records) for You Again taken from her cult hit debut album Melankton.

January 2006 saw Temposhark remix Sophie Solomon's song Holy Devil taken from the virtuoso violinist's critically acclaimed solo album Poison Sweet Madeira on Decca Records. Their remix has since been a success in Germany on both radio and at the iTunes German store.

In June 2007, Temposhark's remix of Melnyk's song Me And My Muse was released on Melnyk's album Silence Remixed. Temposhark's interpretation included additional vocals by lead singer Robert Diament. The remix was later added onto Melnyk's 25 compilation of artists from his label. Melnyk has remixed a number of songs for Temposhark including their cult hit Joy.

[edit] Internet Popularity and Podcasts

In March 2006 MySpace featured Temposhark as one of their favourite artists giving the band a new worldwide platform with more than 700,000 unique plays to date.[20] The band also have over 20,000 friends on the networking site.

2006 also saw the launch of Temposhark's official podcast series featuring lengthy interviews with fellow musicians/singers (including Kate Havnevik and Sophie Solomon) as well as short video documentaries and studio diaries. This free series of digital downloads began in May that year and is available from music stores such as iTunes and has attracted a cult following of 15,000 subscribers[21].

In December 2007 and January 2008, Temposhark's singer Robert Diament was invited to be a guest blogger on music blog ArjanWrites.com where he wrote a number of blog entries related to his favourite music.[22]

In January 2008, Temposhark launched their music on the Last.fm internet radio network. In one week they had over 54,600 plays of songs from their debut album.[23]

In February 2008, MySpace featured Temposhark again as one of their featured artists giving them an incredible boost to their listening figures of over 70,000 listens in a few days. [24]

In March 2008, global fashion brand Fred Perry chose Temposhark as one of their new favourite rising bands. Temposhark were featured for the whole month of March at the Fred Perry website and a selection of Temposhark's songs, taken from their debut album, were streamed on the Fred Perry website radio player.[25]

In March 2008, the band's debut album reached number 20 in the top 100 iTunes USA chart for electronic music.[26]

In May 2008, Temposhark won funding of £15,000 from SliceThePie.com, winning the top prize out of over 1,000 selected bands. The money will aid the release of their second album.[27]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Full Length Albums

  • The Invisible Line (March 2008 · USA/Canada release date · Paper and Glue/Defend Music (via Ryko) · CD & Digital Download)
  • The Invisible Line (July 2008 (hard release)/ March 2008 (soft release)· UK release date · Paper and Glue/Defend Music (via Pinnacle) · CD & Digital Download)
  • The Invisible Line (March 2008) · Europe release date (including Germany, France and many more) · Paper and Glue/Defend Music · CD & Digital Download)

[edit] CD Singles/EPs/Digital Downloads

  • Blame (June 2008) · Paper and Glue) (Single out last week of June 2008 in UK)
  • Blame (April 2008 · Paper and Glue) (Digital download to coincide with USA tour - with new remixes and animated music video directed by Motomichi Nakamura)
  • Joy (May 2006 · Paper and Glue) (A bonus remix of Joy by Melnyk was released as a digital download in January 2007 on iTunes)
  • It's Better To Have Loved (December 2005 · Paper and Glue)
  • Battleships (August 2005 17 track promo sampler featuring rare early home-studio demos and remixes · Paper and Glue)
  • Invisible Ink/Little White Lie (May 2005 · Paper and Glue)
  • Neon ? (December 2004 · Paper and Glue)
  • Temposhark Sampler (May 2004 11 track promo sampler featuring rare early demos and remixes)

[edit] Vinyl Singles

  • Blame (June 2008 · Paper and Glue · 7" vinyl)
  • Joy (May 2006 · Paper and Glue · 7" vinyl)
  • Little White Lie (May 2005 · Paper and Glue · 12" vinyl) (The three Little White Lie remixes were re-released as a Digital EP in January 2007 on iTunes)
  • Neon ? (December 2004 · Paper and Glue]· pink 10" vinyl)
  • Play With The Minute (June 2004 · Paper and Glue · white label 12" vinyl)

[edit] Videography

[edit] Music videos

  • Blame (Radio Edit) directed by Japanese animator Motomichi Nakamura (2008)[1]
  • Blame (Album Version) behind the scenes studio video directed by Doyle Hooper (2007)[2]
  • It's Better To Have Loved (Guy Sigsworth Mix) directed by British artist Justine Pearsall (2005)[3]

[edit] Concert film/Interview

  • Map The Music documentary film including Temposhark, directed by Samantha Hale (TBC 2008)

[edit] Compilations

  • XLR8R Magazine CD - "Bang (Akira The Don Remix)" (April 2008/XLR8R Magazine USA covermount CD)
  • Rockumentaries CD with Ray-Ban - "Joy (album version)" (April 2008/BlackBook Magazine USA covermount CD)
  • Robopop 'The Return' - CD1: "Paris" CD2: "Paris" 'The Most Remix' (December 2006/Lucy Pierre/Planet Clique Records)
  • TSHDT - "Not That Big (Metronomy Remix)" (October 2006/Australian magazine covermount CD)
  • Vice CD - "Joy" (May 2006/Vice Magazine covermount CD)
  • Viva Paris - "Invisible Ink" 'Avril Remix' (May 2006/Viva fashion agency promotional CD)
  • Ministry of Sound Chill Out Sessions - "It's Better To Have Loved" (January 2006/Ministry of Sound)
  • London Now 2005 - "Hard, Medium, Soft" (November 2005/VirginDigital.com online compilation)
  • Ministry of Sound Angel Beach - "Invisible Ink" (July 2005/Ministry of Sound)
  • Vice CD - "Little White Lie" (April 2005/Vice Magazine covermount CD)
  • Tank Magazine - "Crime" (February 2005/Tank Magazine covermount CD)

[edit] Temposhark Remixes

  • Akira The Don - "Bang" (Akira The Don Vs. Temposhark) (2008/Paper & Glue)
  • Kate Havnevik - "You Again" (2006/Continentica Records)
  • Camille - "Ta Douleur" (2006/EMI Virgin Records)
  • Hellogoodbye - "Here In Your Arms" (2006/Sanctuary Records)
  • Melnyk - "Me And My Muse" (2006/Gay Monkey Records)
  • Sophie Solomon - "Holy Devil" (2006/Decca Records)
  • M.I.A. - "Pull Up The People" (2005/XL Records)

[edit] References

  1. ^ :: arjanwrites music blog ::: Free Download: Temposhark "Crime"
  2. ^ Temposhark-Video Screening and Live Gig: Noise Of Art- 03 Feb '06
  3. ^ Temposhark-Forums
  4. ^ Temposhark - Releases
  5. ^ http://zxlcreative.blogs.com/electroqueer/2008/01/eq-chat-with-te.html As mentioned by Diament in an interview dated 16th January 2008 "An artist I love called Tracey Emin wrote about her birth and invisible lines that connect the past, present and future in her book 'Exploration Of The Soul' and it really resonated with me, that idea."
  6. ^ YouTube - temposhark's Channel
  7. ^ Temposhark - Releases: Temposhark nomintated in Ontario Independent Music Awards
  8. ^ International Songwriting Competition - Contact
  9. ^ International Songwriting Competition - Judges and Prizes
  10. ^ International Songwriting Competition - Winners
  11. ^ No 267: Temposhark | Music | Guardian Unlimited Music
  12. ^ Temposhark - Releases: NME gives Temposhark's debut album the thumbs up!
  13. ^ Temposhark - Blog
  14. ^ Temposhark - Releases: 'Blame' video screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008
  15. ^ :: arjanwrites music blog ::: Temposhark Joins Darren Hayes on U.S. Tour in June
  16. ^ :: arjanwrites music blog ::: Temposhark at New York Fashion Week
  17. ^ Temposhark-Events
  18. ^ Home / Artists / International Artists: Music Production / Luke Juby
  19. ^ Temposhark-Live at Popstarz- 20 Jun '08
  20. ^ As of February 22nd 2008 http://www.myspace.com/temposhark
  21. ^ Temposhark's Podcast
  22. ^ :: arjanwrites music blog ::: Introducing Rob Diament, Guest Blogger
  23. ^ Temposhark – Music at Last.fm
  24. ^ As of February 22nd 2008 http://www.myspace.com/temposhark
  25. ^ Fred Perry Subculture / the best in new music / temposhark
  26. ^ http://deadlymelody.com/upcoming-events/temposhark’s-tour-kick-off-show-crash-mansion/
  27. ^ www.slicethepie.com

[edit] External links