Justice (French band)

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Justice

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Img_capt = Gaspard Augé (left) and Xavier de Rosnay
Landscape = yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Paris, France
Genre = Electro house [http://www.juno.co.uk/artists/Justice/]
Years_active = 2003–present
Label = Ed Banger
URL = MySpace|etjusticepourtous|Justice
Current_members = Gaspard Augé
Xavier de Rosnay
Past_members =

Justice is a Grammy-nominated French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Augé (b. 21 May 1979 in Besançon) and Xavier de Rosnay (b. 22 July 1982). [Eric Dahan: Que justice soit fête. In: Libération, 7 June 2007, [http://www.liberation.fr/transversales/grandsangles/259524.FR.php online] ] They are the most successful group on Ed Banger Records, and are managed by the label's head, Pedro Winter. Their debut album "†" was released in June 2007 to critical acclaim. [cite web |url = http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/breaking/2007/06/-who-french-electronica-duo.php |title =Breaking Artist: French DJ Duo Justice Crosses the Atlantic With Body-Rocking Debut Album |accessdate = 2008-06-23 |publisher = RollingStone.com ] [cite web |url = http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/justice/cross |title = Justice: Cross (2007): Reviews |accessdate = 2008-05-13 |publisher = Metacritic ] The album was later nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Electronic/Dance Album" and came in at number 15 on Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2007 [cite web|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/47446-staff-list-top-50-albums-of-2007/page_4|title=Pitchfork Feature: Top 50 Albums of 2007 ] and number 18 on Blender's "25 Best Albums of 2007" list. [cite web|url=http://www.blender.com/articles/default.aspx?key=10512&pg=1|title=The 25 Best Albums of 2007 :: Blender.com ] It was nominated for the 2007 Shortlist Prize, losing out to "The Reminder" by Feist. Justice is known for incorporating a strong rock influence into their music and image.cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/arts/music/01herm.html?pagewanted=print|title=French Electronic Dance Music - New York Times ] cite web|url=http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature-read.aspx?id=821|title=RA: Ed Banger: Teaching the rock kids to dance again - Feature / Interview ]

History

Justice first produced tracks together for Musclorvision's Hits Up To You, a concept compilation where tracks were meant to sound like they were meant for the Eurovision song contest. [http://www.discogs.com/release/680532] , t.] The compilation included two of their songs, and a track by Gaspard's alter-ego Microloisir. [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Microloisir] , t.] Justice first came to prominence through their 2003 remix of Simian's track "Never Be Alone," created for a Paris college radio station's remix contest. The remix resulted in the group being signed to Ed Banger (who released it) and became a hit in clubs and on the internet. The song was re-released in 2004 on DJ Hell's International DeeJay Gigolo Recordscite web|url=http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj-profile.aspx?id=865|title=RA: DJ Justice Biography & Discography ] and eventually given a commercial release in the UK in the summer of 2006, under the title "We Are Your Friends," on Ten Records, a sub-label of Virgin Records.

After the original release of "Never Be Alone", Justice worked on remixes for a number of French groups (Vicarious Bliss, Scenario Rock, Gambit) as well as for larger mainstream acts such as Britney Spears, N*E*R*D, Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk. Justice's first solo single, "Waters of Nazareth", was released on Ed Banger Records in September 2005 and was championed by DJs such as Erol Alkan, Tiga, 2 Many DJ's and Ivan Smagghe. The track was re-released in 2006 with additional remixes. The duo's prolific remix work continued, as they turned in mixes for Franz Ferdinand, Mystery Jets, Soulwax and Mr. Oizo.Justice won the award for Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006, for Justice vs. Simian - "We Are Your Friends". Augé and de Rosnay were not present at the ceremony, and the award was accepted by label art director "So Me" and video director Jérémie Rozan. So Me was famously interrupted mid-speech by rapper Kanye West, who went onto the stage arguing that he should have won the award instead. [cite web|url=http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtvuk/news/02112006/emas_shocker_kanye_stage_invasion|title=EMAs Shocker: Kanye Stage Invasion! | MTV UK ]

Their debut album, titled "†", was released on Ed Banger Records on 11 June 2007. The album was released in the United States on Downtown/Ed Banger. The album was preceded by the "D.A.N.C.E. EP", released on 28 May 2007, which featured the tracks "Phantom" and their own remix of "D.A.N.C.E." titled "B.E.A.T". "D.A.N.C.E." was nominated for "Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. On the first of November Justice received the "Video Star" award at the European Music Awards in Munich and also picked up the best French act of the year. Justice was chosen to do a mix for the Fabriclive series in 2008, but Fabric rejected it. Xavier de Rosnay said that, " [t] hey weren't ready for something like this." Now titled "Justice Xmas Mix," the mix is available on the web. [ Pitchfork article http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/47956-update-rejected-justice-fabric-mix-turned-xmas-gift]

Justice appeared as a Live PA at the 2007 Coachella festival, the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata, Japan, the Hultsfred Festival in Hultsfred, Sweden, the Oxegen festival in Kildare, Ireland, the Vieilles Charrues Festival in Carhaix, France, the Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark, Pukkelpop in Belgium, at the "I LOVE TECHNO" festival in Ghent - Belgium.
Dour Festival in Belgium and the Lowlands festival in The Netherlands, also at Tennents Vital in the Radio One TentBelfast and at the Phoenix Park Marquee in Dublin. Justice's performance at Coachella in 2007 was their first ever live music performance per se. The band's performances before Coachella had seen them DJ using either turntables or CD mixers. Justice was nominated for Best Dance Recording (for "D.A.N.C.E.") and Best Electronic/Dance Album (for "†") at the 50th Grammy Awards. [50th Annual Grammy Awards Nominations List http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/50th_Show/list.aspx]

The video clip for "Stress" was boycotted by several TV-stations, so the band dumped the video on YouTube where it was seen by 14,000 people within 24 hours after having been posted on 1 May 2008. The music video features a group of youths committing acts of vandalism and wearing jackets bearing the Justice cross on the back. On their MySpace in late 2005 they describedthemselves as “electro-Christian-club” and used a crucifix as a logo. Xavier said, “Eighty percent of France is Christian. My Dad was a bit uncertain and thought it was bad taste, but I was like, This is what I want to do Dad. It’s odd because in America we have received support from Christian groups thanking us for spreading the word. We do not invert the cross and I suppose they think we look like nice guys so there has not been a problem.” In an interview for Dummy in 2005, Justice said that they wanted a strong concept for each record they put out and with this one they wanted to keep people guessing. [http://dummymag.blogspot.com/2008/01/from-dummy-magazine-archive-justice.html]

On 1 June 2008, the Sun announced that Justice was chosen by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers to produce the band's follow up to Stadium Arcadium, [cite web |url = http://www.nme.com/news/tabloid-hell/37771 |title =Justice to produce Red Hot Chili Peppers album – Tabloid Hell |accessdate = 2008-07-1 |publisher = NME.com ] but this was quickly corrected by Ed Banger manager Pedro Winter as Anthony Kiedis had only stated he was a fan of Justice, not preparing for a collaboration. [cite web |url = http://www.mixmag.net/content/justice-not-producing-red-hot-chili-peppers-album |title =Justice not producing Red Hot Chili Peppers album |accessdate = 01/07/2008 |publisher = Mixmag.net ]

In July 2008, Justice was revealed to have done a mix for the Dior Homme Summer 2009 Fashion Show, much like Daft Punk did for Louis Vuitton in 2007. [cite web |url=http://asianmandan.blogspot.com/2008/07/jusice-x-dior-homme.html |title=Asian Dan: Justice x Dior Homme: Spring-Summer 09 Mix |accessdate = 8/16/2008 |publisher = asianmandan.blogspot.com ] The track, now known as Planisphere, was released in four parts on the band's MySpace page, with an extra final cut that did not make it into the Fashion show mix (known as "Planisphere IV", or "Planisphere Final").

On August 25 2008, the band announced via Myspace that their next major release would be a DVD documentary/concert film titled "A Cross the Universe". The announcement was also tied in with an invitation for fans to email photos, images and artwork to an address so that the received photos could be compiled for use as the artwork for the release.

Musical style

Their style has been thought of as having some heavy metal influence [ New York Times review [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/arts/music/22just.html] ] and combines cut up bass lines with a compressed and distorted synth sound. Their music often includes bass slapping which results in an electro house style similar to the French label Roulé. Additionally, Justice uses samples of other songs to add to the effect, as with their song "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy", featuring Uffie.

Equipment used by Justice in their productions include an Apogee Ensemble Recording Interface, the Power Mac G5, GarageBand software, and Cubase SX.cite web |url = http://remixmag.com/artists/electronic/remix_justice/ |title = Cross Examinations |accessdate = 2008-05-13 |author = Sterling, Scott T. |date = 2007-08-01 |publisher = "Remix" ] Their Live setup includes a JazzMutant Lemur Input Device as their main instrument, plugged to Ableton Live. They have also been seen using Pioneer's CDJ-1000MK2 turntable and Korg's microKONTROL midi controller live.cite web |url = http://digitaldj.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/justice-electro-music-with-punk-attitude/ |title = Justice - Electro Music With Punk Attitude]

Discography

*"†"
*"A Cross the Universe"

Filmography

*"A Cross the Universe"

ee also

*List of Justice awards
*Ed Banger Records

References

External links

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* [http://www.myspace.com/loveisconcrete Unofficial MySpace]