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Biography
The main creative force behind Hercules and Love Affair, Andy Butler, began his music career as a DJ at the young age of fifteen, working in a 'leather bar' in Denver, US. In the late 1990s, he moved to New York City, US to study at the Sarah Lawrence College, where he met musician Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), with the two becoming friends. Butler immersed himself in New York City's club culture, promoting parties and creating his own music.
Butler's first release came out on the DFA label, titled "Classique/Roar" (2007), a joint effort with TIm Goldsworthy, featuring vocals from Hegarty that had an early Chicago house sound. Butler then went on to release the single "Blind" in the UK in March 2007, with the song quickly becoming a hit. Having broken into the UK top 40, it would go on to be named 'Best Song of 2008' by Pitchfork and came in sixth place in Resident Advisor's annual poll of the 'Top 30 Tracks of the Year.'
Butler continued his project with a rotating cast of musicians, releasing the self-titled debut album in 2008, released through EMI records. The album featured Hegarty on vocals although he did not perform live with the band. The album was a commercial success, reaching number 191 on the Billboard 200 chart and number 31 in the UK Albums Chart. The band embarked on a European and North American tour after its release.
Butler and his band returned in 2011 with their second album, "Blue Songs," released on British independent, Moshi Moshi. As well as guest vocals from Hegarty, Kele Okereke, of Bloc Party fame, also featured on the song "Step Up." This was followed by their third creation, "The Feast of the Broken Heart" which went for a bleaker, darker sound with more aggressive baselines that had more of a techno influence than previous releases. It also featured the vocal talents of John Grant, Krystie Warren and Rouge Mary. Through their success as recording artists, Hercules and Love Affair have found significant popularity at European festivals, performing at the likes of Meltdown Festival and Lovebox, both in the UK.
Live reviews
As you might surmise from the name, Hercules and the Love Affair is a band that maximizes on decadence, aesthetic pleasure and esoteric niceties. Their music and live performances harbor greek eroticism and the subculture definitive of the disco scene, but unlike much of the music related to this scene their material harnesses emotional depth and very poignant lyrics (much thanks to Antony Hegarty heart wrenching performance).
The line up of the band constantly is changing so you almost never know what you are going to get. Their touring guests are always great and the performances the group gives is utterly riveting. If you go to one of their shows, anticipate on dancing like crazy. They take all the things that were good about disco and chicago house and roll it all up in to a sound exploding with excitement and melody. Their songs feature heavy use of bass pulsing up octaves and polyryhthmic drumming patterns. The ecstatic drumbeats and catchy synth melodies are impossible to resist. The band has the whole audience moving within seconds.
Even despite the groups spontaneous line up changes they are able to play both new and old material flawlessly. The band tours with a minimum of three dancers/singers and two electronic composers who are pumping out the jams behind the scene. Andy Butler the brainchild behind this project is always on these tours. For older classics like "Blind" they have actually gotten Antony on stage to perform the song, but when he is not available Nomi Ruiz does a beautiful job. "My House" is crowd pleaser and is one of the best dance tracks to hear live. During the performance of this song Andy is blasting up Chicago style house music and two singers shout incomprehensible syllables creating exciting vocal rhythms and melodies. The third singer sings in beautiful harmony with the music and refrains precisely during the breakbeats. This band has brought life back to disco and slathered it with new and interesting sounds. There is really no other band like Hercules and the Love Affair and no other show that compares to their live performances.
wjmcc
Hercules and Love Affair is a strange project, in so much that it seems to be both a collaborative collective and the moniker for central figure Andy Butler. The group has always had a revolving lineup, with Butler being the heart and soul; it is Butler who writes and produces the bulk of the music. Live, however, Hercules and Love Affair is all about the singers and dancers. Since the release of their self-titled debut in 2008, together with their smash Anthony Hegarty featuring single ‘Blind’ (one of the greatest dance tracks of the 21st century), the collective have become a common feature of the summer festival season. Initially, they performed with live musicians (something I witnessed at Glasto), but now Butler and a couple of companions play the music from behind a desk of electronic equipment: decks, laptops and synths.
I saw them a couple of weeks ago on the main stage at Secret Garden Party festival. Their brand of funky disco house when down extremely well with the sun-kissed crowd, especially tracks from their debut. The whole show was super camp and the two, soulful vocalists – one male, one female – added glitzy flare to the whole thing, dancing about and interacting with the crowd. There was also one NYC camp dancer in a string vest for part of the set…that guy had moves!
cliverozario
Back when DFA Records, the label co-founded by James Murphy, were making a real charge back in 2008, Hercules and Love Affair were pretty much right out front of it; the project started as a solo affair for DJ Andy Butler, but soon expanded to encompass a full live setup, one that did justice to the disco and house stylings of their self-titled debut album, which met with a terrific critical reception upon release after months of the group generating hype across the blogosphere. That album, in fact, was co-written, in part at least, by Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, featuring his vocals throughout, too. In the years since, Hercules and Love Affair haven’t quite managed to capitalise upon the blindingly good start that they made; 2011 follow-up Blue Songs met with a less rapturous reaction from the critics, and saw the band back to playing the intimate rooms that they’d frequented earlier in their careers. With album number three, The Feast of the Broken Heart, released back in May, though, new UK dates - to follow up last November’s London show at the Coronet - should be announced soon; expect a frenetic live show and eccentric instrumentation, from a band who’s experimental sound hasn’t aged a day since their debut dropped.
Joeg_67
One of the best concerts ever!!! The band really got the crowd cheering, jumping and dancing!! Blind live was an amazing performance!!! The place was so crowded there was not enough dancing room but everybody was dancing regardless. The entrance was caos but we all finally made it in for a concert totally worthwhile. I'm sad they are not coming back soon, but there's hope for next year!!
ammal-de-paul
Sad... it was s very depressing show, they are not DJs, it lasted aprox 1 hr with many minutes of complete silence, i’ve never seen before a couple guys pretending to be DJs and completely stopping the music to play the next song. Want my money back
casiopeamelgar
Amazing show! Stunning voices, great and powerful energy from the band.
Downside: way too short!! 1h20 of show is way too short, we were many to ask for more!! A bit frustrated :(
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