Breakbot AKA Thibaut Berland - Ed Banger's newest and brightest star announces his debut album 'By Your Side''
Having delighted dancefloors around the world with his infectious discoid funk of 'Baby I'm Yours' and 'Fantasy', and killer re-rubs for Justice and Metronomy amongst others, 'One Out Of Two' is the first single to be taken from this multi-instrumentalist's highly anticipated debut album 'By Your Side'. Crammed with soulful, robo-disco and emotive ballads, 'By Your Side' conjures up the ghosts of the Doobie Brothers, Todd Rundgren and Hall and Oates, as well as the nostalgic TV themes to 'Silver Spoons' or 'Punky Brewster'.
Berland explains : "My elder brothers had a huge influence on me when was I a kid. David the oldest introduced me to soul, funk and pop, making me tapes of michael jackson, prince, stevie wonder, madonna, phil collins and many other things. I remember spending lots of time in his bedroom listening to his records"
An art school friend of Justice's Xavier De Rosnay, in later years, the likes of Air, Alex Gopher, Mr Oizo and of course Daft Punk were on heavy rotation for Thibaut, this heady melange of all of the above helping to create the Breakbot sound.
Just like one of his biggest inspirations, in the form of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" it was Berland's intention to make an album that rewards you for listening to as a whole: "I guess you could say my album is more a pop songs album than a Berlin techno record with water drops sounds in it - I wanted to make a pop journey that would have all my influences, without being a reference catalog"
From the opening perfect slice of retro/future summer funk 'Break Of Dawn', it's clear that this has to be one of 2012's funkiest albums... 'Fantasy features the vocals of L.A. based vocalist Ruckazoid - an astonishing discovery whose honied pipes are a dead ringer for the late, lamented King Of Pop..‘One Out of Two’ features Irfane’s irresistible vocals, in addition to four other tracks (‘Baby I’m Yours’, ‘A Mile Away’, ‘Another Dawn’ and ‘Mayfly and the Light’). Björn from Pacific sings on the glorious ‘By Your Side (Pt 1 & 2)”.
“I do everything myself except the vocals. I just fiddle about, I couldn’t play a classical part, I do what I can. There are pieces of guitar samples, friends drop-in and play over my instrumentals. I love pop and funk, so I try to take that direction. That’s where that hybrid sound comes from. Breakbot is a dude in a basement looking for melodies”, says the ever modest Thibaut.
