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Buuuusssy P! One of the electro masters of '07, if not the master. So much good stuff came out of his Ed Banger label, including more than half the people in this Best of the Beards post...
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Kavinsky...nothing seems to say French bad-ass better than some aviators and a little later than 5 o'clock shadow...and his dope track Testarossa.
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Mr. Flash with the long hair, full beard combo...don't let that first slow jam (Eagle Eyez) on his myspace fool ya, he definitely brought it in '07.
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Another bearded (and particularly woolly looking in this pic) Ed Banger...Mr. Oizo. He killed it a few years back with Flat Beat, and came back with assorted dopeness in '07, namely Patrick 122, Transsexual, and a bunch of great remixes. New Yorkers were even lucky enough to see him kill it in person at Studio B.
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A uni-brow is just a moustache that's lost its way. At least that's my justification for including Boys Noize in this post. He's goddamn 24, started dj-ing at 14, has his own label, and released a great album in 2007. He makes me feel like such a slacker...He also was busy killing it all over the world in 2007, including New York a bunch of times.
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Not too familiar with Aoki yet...but had to include that fu-manchu! Plus my sources assure me "his shit bangs as hard as busy p's". Hoping to find out on the 26th of January at Studio B (all the info is on the show list to the right).
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Dave 1 and P-Thugg sporting some stache/beard combos and jams that make you think it's '87 not '07, but in the best way possible. Expect insanity when they hit New York again in January.
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An extra fuzzy and spectacle free Erol Alkan. He keeps kids dancing with the help of the countless remixes that he did this year. Also just found out while doing this post that Erol is one half of upcoming remix duo Beyond the Wizards Sleeve.
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Felix has been around making his own filthy electro tracks since back when electro first came about. He hit New York hard at the beginning of November, and proved he hadn't disappeared with his release Vigo Blaktro and the Movie Disco.
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Tommy Sunshine...quite possibly one of the best hair/beard configurations out there. A great remixer, excellent dj, and reppin New York!
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Justice...according to them (about 4:40 into the clip), the monkey and the dog.The dog is definitely accurate for Gaspard's bulldog-esque stache/beard combo, but the debate rages on if Xavier's rocking love chops or pork chops...I really don't think I need to say anything about these dudes. If you have been following electronic music at all this year you have to know what's up with them. Ý, not †, not cross was one of the best releases of 2007. They were killing it all over the world this year... notably here in New York last week. Do not get me started on their great, all over the place Essential Mix...
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The almost invisible stache(s) of Guns N Bombs. Between their own tracks, the remixes, the mix tapes (1, 2, and 3) '07 was a busy one.
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MSTRKRFT...as if I needed an excuse to like Canada any more than I already do...I was somehow living in a pretty MSTRKRFT-free bubble until I saw them wreck Studio B during CMJ. While their album "Looks" came out at the end of 2006, they still brought it in '07 doing a ton of remixes including one of the best of D.A.N.C.E. out there. Also have JFK doing his solo remix thing. Have you heard Mr. Miyagi - Pick Your Poison?!
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Sebastien Tellier...another Frenchie with a serious beard-(hair)do combo. I'm still waiting for that track Sexual Sportswear to grow on me, but I absolutely loved all that crazy, weird, discoey stuff that he did with Mr. Oizo and Sebastian on the Steak soundtrack. His new album Sexuality should be out in February of next year with production by the non-bearded robot from Daft Punk, Guy Manuel.
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Simian Mobile Disco...if you guessed this one right that's pretty amazing considering those thumbnails weren't beards at all, but James and Jas' hair turned upside down. Come on...if James' hair was a beard it would be pretty awesome...not as good as their excellent album (one of the best of this year if you ask me) Attack Decay Sustain Release, or their amazing live show, or their great dj sets...but it would be up there.
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So Me, taking it back to the Wizard of Oz, rocking the cowardly lion beard in this pic. In all seriousness though...So Me is a renaissance man, or close to it. He had Americans dealing with horrible exchange rates and scrambling to import all the dope t-shirts he designed. Also responsible for all the great Ed Banger album covers, and his own jams. He also kind of made Kanye eat his own (dumb) words at the VMA's, now that he's asked So Me to direct his video for The Good Life.
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Thomas Bangalter along with his non-bearded Robot friend attempted to take over the world in their big pyramid with the Alive 2007 tour. I think most would agree they succeeded. There's always the Alive 2007 album to prove it...or the tons of other live sets all over the internet. Personally I like the versions without the Brooklyn hipster commentary.
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Crookers...pretty sure they are the only Italians on this list. Their remix made me love the Chemical Brothers' Salmon Dance (which I previously hated). I have to give big ups to Ryan at Electric Zoo for raving about them (and fidget house) for months and months before I wised up. I was just about to type "now if only someone could get them to New York"...then I read on their myspace: June, 21 2008 - "Crookers @ Studio B". Yesss!
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The Black Ghosts...I think DJ Touche's handlebars count as enough facial for both he and Simon Lord to be included in this post. One of my favorite bands of this year. Simon's vocals take you back to the old Simian days, but the beats are way more dance floor friendly. They also do remixes.
Supercycle...they get the "most serious about facial hair" award. That's how they got into this post in the first place. They randomly added me on myspace back when this post was changing from a joke into a serious (yeah right) possibility. I very rarely listen to random bands on myspace b/c 9 times out of 10 they are horrible, but Supercycle's default pic was a diagram of different staches, and their tracks happened to be pretty awesome. They are from Canada and they kill it. Don't get me started on Andy's stache...
And that's it for 2007's Best of the Beards. This crazy post could not have happened without Busy Paul who came up with the idea, helped search for beard pics, was part of the intense beard scrutinizing process that went down last Monday, and cropped the photos. Many thanks.
He has an email list of electro events in New York that you should sign up for if that's your cup of tea. If you like the blog, you'll probably like his list since our taste is REALLY similar (music twins in da house!). If you want to sign up just shoot me an email (showtrotta at gmail.com) and I will forward it to him.
Also...for those of you who are challenged in the facial hair department:
moustache bandanas
self adhesive moustaches
bearded caps
Wishing you a hairy and healthy '08 :P
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