This Danish duo (consisting of Mats Damsgaard Kristiansen and Esban Valloe) was formed in 2009, first operating under the monicker Reptile & Retard. They soon changed their name because they preferred to be seen as a “movement” which would allow them to work in a frame within which many stylistic changes could happen, rather than be pigeonholed at any time!
While already doin' noted gigs (including an appearance at 2011's Roskilde Festival) as a duo (one of 'm behind the drums, the other mainly singing...meaning concerts were done with a computer playing all music except for the percussion), the duo started working on their self-tiled debut album with The Cure producer David M. Allen in 2011, which resulted in the album being released (eventually) on Hamburg based German label hfn music during Summer 2012. The duo then started an extensive touring schedule which would see 'em playing over 150 gigs in more than 10 European countries, making extra fans with each show. And such is their popularity, that when after a show at Holland's 2013 Welcome To The Village the guys suggested a dip into the sea, a large portion of the crowd actually followed the duo...leaving the non-swimmers to photograph the scene. Somehow, the debut album also made the band super-popular in China.
The new album was produced by Brian Thorn (known from working with Interpol, Arcade Fire, and David Bowie) and Joe Lambert (whom worked with Animal Collective and The National to name but a few). The end result is a 10-track album with music which is perhaps best described generally as “Guitar-driven, keyboard-supported Indie Pop”, with occasional influences from Punk, Hard Rock, Electro, and Psychedellic '60s Soul, and even '90s Psychedelic Rock. There's more undercurrents, but you'll simply have to discover those for ourselves. Personally, I like to look at the band's music as an exciting modern 3-way hybridisation of Neon Judgement in its more experimental mood, the more guitar-driven Depeche Mode and My Bloody Valentine, its love children displaying different preferences as to their own diverse offerings. And that's not an idle statement, because the band has posted the complete album on Soundcloud ...a link for which is available at the home page of the band's own (www.) reptileyouth.com (where further links will bring you to the band's facebook page, and to the album's first video for the track “JJ” and its single-companion remix by Trentemöller).
People into well-succeeded mixing of guitar riffs and electronics should by all means check out what this duo brings and, when the posted material is to their liking, perhaps take in a show by the band: this Summer the duo is out on the European stages again, playing at Belgium's Beursschouwburg in Brussels on June 21. For more dates, check the band's facebook page! AS for my own appreciation of what this duo brings, let my rating and subsequent nomination of the album for my “Best Albums of 2014”-lists be your guide!