Justice for all

Finally... the nearly 4 year wait is almost over. My favorite French electronic duo, Justice, has announced that they will be releasing the first single from their new album on April 4th. The single, called Civilization, made it's world premier in a brand new Adidas spot directed by the legendary Romain Gavras.



The track sounds pretty spectacular even with the added sound effects and noises from the commercial. I love the breakdowns and the vocals at about 50 seconds in and am very excited to hear it in full. It's impressive that the song and album were kept under wraps so well. Anticipation for a follow up to Justice's 2007 debut album "✝" has been killing me and many fans for quite some time with little-to-no news/hints about this comeback. With the combination of Romain Gavras' directing abilities and Justice's musical talent, this commercial becomes quite successful. However, will it succeed in the intended Adidas sales or will it alternately drive Justice album sales? Expect more updates about the album in the future.

Believable yet fake Justice track dominates Internet

As I'm sure many of you know, one of my favorite bands, if not most favorite, is the French duo known as Justice.  A few days ago I was browsing my favorite music blogs and stumbled on a track that was supposedly released by Justice.  The track titled, "The Beginning Of The End", turned out to be a hoax created and sent by a hacker who fabricated a fake email account (promo@edbangerrecords.com) and sent it to numerous blogs.  What has ensued is endless commentary and debate about the issues of validity with the Internet as well as misinformed opinions regarding the return of Justice and their quality of work.

Granted, this hoax does have a sound similar to Justice productions but it shows no progression if it were really their work.  To be honest, it sounds like something they would make on a lazy Sunday in 2006, twenty minutes after deciding to make music for a living. Even the work on their first album surpasses the quality of "The Beginning Of The End", and their most recent real work, "Planisphere," is far more complex and stunning than this fake.  It's unfortunate to read blog comments and see people who actually think this was a true Justice release just because the Internet said so (before Ed Banger and Justice made a statement to correct this).  Just because there are certain elements reminiscent of a Justice track does not mean it was made by them, more importantly it certainly does not mean Justice is easy to replicate.  This hoax was a good attempt but would have required a lot more work to truly compare.

On the plus side, all this talk has moved Justice into the number one spot as the most blogged about band according to the aggregator, Hype Machine.  This has kicked Phoenix out of the number one position, something I'm sure causes added chaos and debate with different fans and groups of web surfers.  I think it really says something about Justice when a fake track can be released and it can stir up the Internet community to such an extreme. Cannot wait for the next album.

†

To hear the fake track and get a dose of satire on this topic, check out my favorite blog for culturally relevant sarcasm here.

Graphic design gold

Justice has an amazing video for "DVNO" which shouldn't be new news to you but I stumbled on a really interesting article about it today. If you notice, the video is comprised of numerous graphics and logos, many looking similar to actual TV channel logos or company logos from the 80's. This article at The FontFeed dissects nearly every scene/logo of the DVNO music video offering explanations of font styles and references to real logos. There is a lot of graphic design and typography jargon in this article so if you're not into graphic design technicalities just ignore it. What's really cool is seeing each logo from the video and the comparison that follows. They even offer Youtube links to some of the comparisons including some of my favorite references to the old HBO ident and Stephan J. Canell Productions. I highly recommend watching the video first below and then reading the link, not only is the video amazingly crafted but it's more fun to read the analysis when you have seen the video rather than relying on still shots in the article.

Justice - DVNO from Freedom Record on Vimeo.

Check out an interview with Justice in this link as well if you're curious about the concept behind DVNO.

Justice remix U2

This news is a few weeks old but I feel like I should fulfill my die hard Justice fan status by blogging about it anyway. U2 released a new album in early march and the single "Get On Your Boots" has been officially remixed by Justice at the request of Bono and company. I have never been a follower of U2 but I love this remix. It honestly took me a bit of getting used to and I still don't care much for the U2 lyrics throughout but this is definitely an interesting track. It switches to multiple angles angles more then once and does the job of making a U2 song danceable for once. There's no word on the official release yet but thanks to the blogosphere you can snag the mp3. Take your pick from these music blogs offering the track courtesy of Elbo.ws

This remix alleviated some of my F.E.D.S. and Justice withdrawals. Merci

Surprise guest at Forma.T party

This event sold out without a name on the bill and the surprise guest was Xavier from Justice. I would have lost it. More Forma.T party info here.

Justice Withdrawals

It has been just shy of three months since I saw Justice for the first time in my life on New Year's Eve. They wrapped up their lengthy world tour in 2008 and have since been laying relatively low. Aside from continuing to perform DJ sets here and there (mainly throughout Europe at events not publicized in the states), they seem to be under the radar. I fully understand that this is a common cycle for many performers: release an album, tour the world, go back to the studio/in hiding, etc. etc. Regardless, I need my Justice fix! I continue to keep A Cross the Universe on repeat as well as many other classics from my extensive Justice library including Planisphere and a handful of their DJ sets but I'm ready for more.

There is no telling when the new album will be released, as Justice often admit in interviews, they are very slow in the area of production and usually go through extensive stages of planning or no planning at all before coming to a conclusion on a final product. I went through similar withdrawals with Daft Punk after their epic Alive 2007 tour wrapped up and Justice was my cure for that episode. What am I to do now? There are so many different rumors regarding the release of the new Daft Punk studio album that I have no idea where to begin. On top of that, the Daft duo has just been contracted to compose the score for Tron 2.0 (I approve) so there is no telling when I will be relieved of my French electronic deficiency syndrome (let's call that F.E.D.S.) via the sounds of Daft Punk or Justice.

Until then I will just have to keep listening to the hits and spending valuable time on my fave music blogs in search of new noise.

-R