Spinner RPM: Neon Neon

Posted on Mar 20th 2008 2:00PM by Mike Spinella
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Bryan Hollon, aka Boom Bip, has taken on a new adventure in sound called Neon Neon, along with partner in crime Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals. The duo's debut album, 'Stainless Style,' is an eclectic mix of nu-wave beats, Euro-disco, tweaked-out techno rhythms and smooth downtempo inspired by the story of failed maverick auto executive John DeLorean. Guests on the record range from Baltimore bad-boy rapper Spank Rock to Pharcyde exile Fat Lip.

"John Z. DeLorean's story is an amazing tale of the American dream gone wrong," Hollon tells Spinner. "Gruff and I developed an audio film to tell the story." About bringing the story to life in a long-play format, Hollon explains, "I have had the urge to do a full album with a vocalist for quite sometime. I had been working on these synth-pop demos and ran them by Gruff. The one condition I set in stone was that it could not sound anything like what people would expect of us." The duo seemingly achieved just that, pulling a page out of Thomas Dolby's book and modernizing it.

Although Hollon first got his start as a DJ and is well known for this production work in Boom Bip, this project will make for quite the live extravaganza -- "with lights, lots of lights" Hollon says. "The Neon Neon live experience will be a spectacle. Our plan is to have as many guests onstage with us as possible when possible." In an electronic climate where many artists struggle endlessly to re-create their productions live, Neon Neon worked that out on the front end. The album represents a healthy blend of live instruments and software. "I try to be careful with too much soft synth-based music because it makes it impossible to perform live."

Pulling from a pool of strong musical connections, Hollon lets us in on some key guest appearances. "Naeem of Spank Rock and Fabrizio [Moretti of the Strokes] are friends of mine. I have a great deal of respect and love for what they do artistically and more importantly who they are as people. When the time came for guests to fill in the holes on the album, we just talked to friends."

Neon Neon has put together an exclusive DJ mix ranging from buzzin' post-disco sounds of Hercules and Love Affair to Diplo's Baltimore grit.

Neon Neon, 'Spinner RPM Exclusive Mix'

Alan Braxe, 'Addicted'
Jona, 'Manta'
Unit 4, 'Bodydub' (Tiefswarz Remix)
Sebastian Leger and Chris Lake, 'Ghost'
Hercules and Love Affair, 'Blind' (Hercules Club Mix)
Guy J, 'Skin'
Alter Ego, 'Baby Kraut'
Alter Ego, 'Why Not?' (Tim Deluxe Remix)
Hot Chip, 'Shake a Fist'
Duke Dumont, 'When I Hear Music'
Diplo, 'Diplo Your Head'

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