NYLON - February 2009 - (Page 121) dance duo telepathe brings a smart, abstract aesthetic to the party. by stephanie trong. photographed by chris shonting “WE GOT PEOPLE moving—we’ve never succeeded at that before,” says Melissa Livaudais, one half of minimal, electronic duo Telepathe. “We were like, ‘Whoa, they’re actually dancing!’” She’s sitting at the kitchen table in bandmate Busy Gangnes’ quaint Brooklyn apartment. Water is boiling on the stove for tea, and they look happy to be home. For the last month, Telepathe have been on the “Mad Decent” tour, organized by party-rocking DJproducer Diplo (who also performed, along with pop punkers Abe Vigoda and electro-house impresario Boy 8 Bit). “I feel like they were some of the best shows we’ve ever played—the audiences were just psyched kids.” Such reactions to Telepathe’s sets were refreshing, considering some of the feedback they had gotten in the past. “People scoff at the idea of seeing a computer on stage,” Gangnes says. “I’ve had conversations with people where they’re like, ‘Argh, I just want to go up there and unplug it. There! See what you can do now.’” Actually, they could do a lot. Livaudais has been playing guitar since high school and Gangnes is a classically trained pianist; both have studied music theory. But that’s beside the point. Telepathe’s computerized brand of layered drum loops, glittering guitars, and ethereal vocals is, in fact, a thoughtful soundscape that purposely challenges their audience. The project started after their previous group, the math-rock outfit Wikked, broke up. “In that band, Busy played drums and I played guitar. We really wanted to just break out and start doing something different,” Livaudais says. So they formed Telepathe and went on to release a few 12” and 7” singles on small labels like The Social Registry (that also released their EP), Merok, and IAmSound, which put them on a lot of radars. This sparked interest from TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, the studio God (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foals) who produced Telepathe’s debut full-length, Dance Mother, out in February. “I never even thought that was a possibility,” says Livaudais. “A friend of a friend played him some songs from our MySpace page. When I met him, he was like, ‘I really like your music. If you ever want to do some recording, let me know,’ and I was like, ‘OK!’” They immediately clicked, hashing out ideas during a pizza party at Sitek’s place. “He has the most amazing stereo and turned it way up and, like, danced around,” Livaudais continues. Adds Gangnes: “We were singing along to R. Kelly songs. It was just cool.” mind control radar: The three spent a month in Sitek’s Stay Gold studio, fiddling with the computer audio files that Livaudais and Gangnes had already laid down for the album in Gangnes’s bedroom using the program Logic. “Dave’s a workaholic,” says Gangnes affectionately. “He would force us to be there from 4 in the afternoon until 4 in the morning.” The product of those long hours is an album rife with vintage synths, abstract beats, and layered vocals (all duties are shared by the duo). “We’d be like, ‘We want to do it this way,’ and Dave would say, ‘All right, let’s do it 10 times crazier,’” Livaudais says of the process. But make no mistake, Sitek is not a Svengali responsible for the group’s sound. “One thing I hate is people who don’t believe we actually make our own music—like we didn’t think of any of this,” Livaudais says. “We compose, write, and arrange our own stuff.” It’s a sore subject because a critic once compared Telepathe—and their relation to Sitek—to early oughties electro-sensation W.I.T., a female twosome whose material was penned and masterminded by producer–club promoter Larry Tee. “It’s made me angry in a good way—it’s like motivation,” says Livaudais. As far as she’s concerned, it’s game on. “I’m, like, ‘Fuck all of these haters.’ I want them to know that we’re the ones behind our music.” MELISSA LIVAUDAIS and BUSY GANGNES
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