Made up of 36 year old Theo Keating and the former Simian frontman and bloke behind that Justice mash-up, Simon Lord, THE BLACK GHOSTS hope to infuse a new style of dance music in the U.S.  Although they have dubbed their music as ‘goth disco’, Keating assures us that “we are not closest Goths.  For us, gothic is to do with architecture and that kind of dark aesthetic from Victorian times, which we love.”  They also love modern electronic music from Daft Punk to Serge Gainsbourg and early BBC Radiophonic Workshop stuff, which is all apparent in their debut album “Mixtape”.

The production process combines Theo’s hip-hop sensibilities and deep grained love for acidy beats and bleeps with Simon’s musical prowess - he plays guitar and double bass…HOT!  Simon also sings whilst the pair DJ.  He claims that it provides focus, especially in America where the whole DJ culture is slighty different.  “When we perform”, he says, “it almost works in the same way a hip-hop act with an MC works.  It’s like they get it.”

The result is an album that is accessible to dance fans and indie heads alike, by combining dance music principles with indie/pop ethics and bittersweet lyrics in a slightly eerie but addictive offbeat manner.  They are very popular with other DJs too, with remixes by Switch, Diplo, Sinden, and ours truly, Laidback Luke.

I’m a fan.  Are you?

Daft Punk were voted MixMag’s best Dance Act of the last 25 years!!

Who else could it have gone to really??

They made crossover dance music a global proposition and fell into every record box. When the pair emerged in the mid-1990s they put the credibility back into French music with their disco/techno/acid/electro-infused house tracks that eventually grew in LP “Homework”. That album remains one of dance music’s finest.

Well done boys!