News

Punks Jump Up Reveal Interactive EP Trailer

24th Jan 2011

London duo, Punks Jump Up have gone live with their interactive EP trailer for their new EP, Blockhead, which comes out Jan 31st on Kitsune.

The London duo Punks Jump Up will set the winter alight with their brand new single Blockhead, out on Kitsune end of Jan-2011.

This percussive, rhythmically hypnotic dance song, accompanied with a quirky & driven bass line is a tribute to the terrifying looking but yet emotionally soft & musically talented monster on the sleeve of the record. The track came about when Punks Jump Up tried to imagine what it would sound like if this creature, made out of rubble & metal, would be let lose in a recording studio armed with drumsticks and lots of percussive instruments, as if Punks Jump Up were wearing white coats recording a sonic experiment in which Blockhead & the percussive instruments were the guinea pigs. The track Blockhead is what they came up with and they have allegedly said “this is the true definition & sound of our friend Blockhead”. Every time Punks Jump Up has played this song in clubs the crowd totally changes dance style & starts making jerky, spastic dance moves along with the music, as if the dancers get somewhat possessed while hearing it. Play it and you will see!

An edited version of Blockhead was featured on the latest Kitsune Maison 10 compilation but it is now being released in it's full length glory along with remixes by Zombie Nation, Hey Today!, In Flagranti, Stopmakingme & SymbolOne. The tracks have already been played to death by 2ManyDJ's (who used it as a staple track in their Under The Covers tour, in full effect with the trade mark 2ManyDJ's animations in background), Zombie Nation, Mixhell, Kissy Sellout (BBC1), Andy George (BBC1), Eddy Temple Morris (XFM).

Blockhead is a much needed vitamin injection, jam packed with energy to shake off the winter gloom and a great kick-off for 2011!

Punks Jump Up came together in London as a mere accident a few years back. Joe, a born & bred Londoner & David, a Swede just off the boat, had bumped into each other on several occasions, mainly occasions that had to do with music, style & anything visual that looked cool. They both come from a background of punk & dance music, street art, fashion & style all wrapped up in DIY ethos.

Both eager to get their share of the creative chaos that is east London they were putting on their own parties for the freaks, proto hipsters, fashion victims & loonies in general who was loitering the area. This led to beautiful friendships with a lot of music & art eccentrics in the vicinity so they set up their own Cassette Records label as a vent for all the creativity that needed an outlet. The first Punks Jump Up EP – Be You (Beep Beep) on the Cassette label created a minor storm on the DIY dance scene in London and beyond and was played by the now lords of dance James Murphy & Erol Alkan. It got represented on BBC1 as Annie Mac & Chris Coco played the track to death. All this with no promotion – no pr. The Cassette Label released a handful of EPs by artists & remixers like Simian Mobile Disco & Zongamin.

Another aspect of DIY is the fashion side and PJU soon started their own t shirt label called Stiff Couture, they took on Kate Moross (the now well established self made illustrator & designer) who was the first one to make a t shirt for the label. Her t shirt for Stiff Couture soon got heavily bootlegged in South East Asia & Russia alike (!!).

The second PJU track to be released was Dance To Our Disco on the Kitsune label in Paris, this turned into an instant underground hit, played by countless DJ's worldwide. The track features the mysterious guest vocalist Chalk Jaxon from Sweden (who according to some people is Howling Pelle from The Hives, this is a rumor yet to be confirmed). For some reason the DIY ethos spread with the record and everywhere they went to play after the release fans seemed to have made their homemade Punks Jump Up t shirts!

Punks Jump Up have always been into making music with a rough edge but with a good hook. PJU love the underground, cutting edge DIY scene but has never shied away from a good melody. They have proven this by remixing acts like Miike Snow (The PJU remix of their song Animal has now got more than one million plays on Youtube), Gossip, Crystal Castles, Lykke Li, Kele, Robyn, Tiga, Yelle, Peter Bjorn & John & now latest Ladytron and all turning their songs into very distinctive dance floor gems.

In between the constant touring to pretty much every country in Europe, Australia, Mexico & Singapore they have been relentlessly working on new music. This has led to the new single Blockhead, a heavily percussive dance music number. Blockhead has got a story of it's own (see above) and was played all through the summer -10 by 2ManyDJ's as a part of their Under The Covers tour, with the distinctive animations that accompanied each track.

Punks Jump Up's constant traveling and gigging has made them a lot of friends and this shows well on the production of the forthcoming PJU album, it will feature guest appearances by artists like Chromeo, DVNO (of Justice DVNO fame), Black Kids, We Have Band & Men (ex Le Tigre). 2011 looks like to be a very promising year for PJU, first up the release of Blockhead EP along with a video by Mustashrik for Partizan at the end of January, followed by a string of single releases, an album and then a live show.

With radio support from Jaymo & Andy George (BBC Radio 1), Kissy Sell Out (BBC Radio 1), Eddy Temple Morris (XFM).