the four piece parisian outfit phoenix mixes eclectic rock-synth '80s sound with disco tapping 70’s grooves and have created a very devoted international pop following.

 in the mid-90’s, thomas mars (vocals), deck d'arcy (bass), and christian mazzalai (guitars) originally formed in thomas’ garage in the paris suburbs.  in 1995, christian’s older brother branco (guitars) joined after his band, darlin’ disbanded.  incidentally, the members of the previous band were rounded out by thomas bangalter and guy-manuel de homem-christo, the duo who eventually became the band daft punk. 

in 1996, the band adopted the name phoenix and started out playing hank williams and prince covers to drunkards.  soon after they became the backing band to the french electronica band, air.  over the next couple of years phoenix released studio albums in 2000, ’05, ’06 a live album in ’04 and on may 26, 2009 released their latest, wolfgang amadeus phoenix.

the album was described as “a career-defining album filled with the band's signature melding of synthetics and organics, sharp, danceable rhythms, infectious choruses with a considerable dose of aural panache and candy-colored pop sensibilities”.

the band spent 2006-09 on hiatus as thomas became a father with his partner, lost in translation director sofia coppola.

click here to watch a september 21, 2006 in-studio set and interview recorded by kcrw for morning becomes eclectic.  click here to listen to an august 04, 2006 interview and performance recorded for xpn live fridays by wxpn's world café.  click here to listen to an npr all things considered story originally airing april 03, 2005.  click here to listen to a set recorded by the current by mpr from april11, 2005.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if phoenix have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.