Tanlines

Tanlines are an experimental pop duo based in Brooklyn and comprised of Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm. Jesse used to play in Professor Murder and Eric was in production duo the Brothers.

Blurring the line between production team and band, Tanlines are equally influenced by the overproduced studio pop music of the 1980s and 90s and underground dance music from cultures around the world. Tanlines blend these styles against a backdrop of frantically pulsating rhythms, hypnotic guitar lines, and melodies to form what sounds like pop music from a country that doesn’t actually exist. Tears for Fears as snake charmers. Stock, Aitken, Waterman at Monster Island Basement. The Caribbean’s answer to KLF. Awesome found footage soundtracks from the outer reaches of the internet.

Tanlines first emerged in 2008, getting some attention for their first track, a playful, synth-led remix of Telepathe’s ‘Chrome’s On It’. Since then, they have also done remixes for El Guincho, The Tough Alliance, Glasser, Au Revoir Simone, and Angel Deradoorian of the Dirty Projectors. Their remix style often consists of completely rewriting all of the music around an unaltered vocal take. These remixes are a platform to complement their production style and original recordings.

Their first proper release came in December 2008 with the ‘New Flowers’ 12” on Young Turks/XL. The title track has a Balearic house-meets-Larry Levan’s NYC disco groove with a relentless and euphoric charm that makes pasty British university students burst into flames. They followed this release in early 2009 with ‘Bejan’, a low-key-but-epic bongo-heavy jam that appears on the Kitsuné Maison 7 compilation from the Paris-based record label/fashion house Kitsuné. In 2009, Tanlines also appeared with their first track based around an original vocal melody, “s.a.w.”, on a 7” split single with Salem released by the FADER magazine.

Tanlines spent much of 2009 establishing their live presence, with appearances opening for Yeasayer, Os Mutantes, DJ/ rupture, Zizek, HEALTH, and many others, equally comfortable playing at spiffy Manhattan dance clubs, DIY Brooklyn venues, 100-year-old music halls, and venerable art museums, all of which have invited them to play.

On Settings, their debut EP, out in March 2010 on True Panther Sounds, Tanlines have produced a collection of songs that expand their repertoire while still sticking to their distinct palette of sounds and influences. There are the texture-rich experimental campfire jams like “Reinfo” and “Z”, with their R&B synths and wistful wordless vocals. Then there are the bouncing faux-sega rave-offs with polyrhythic drum beats and carrot cake hooks like “Three Trees” and “Bees”. Finally, you have the pop anthems “Real Life” and “Policy of Trust”- with hooks stickier than the sap of an Acacia tree that are sure to inspire infinite listens. This is dance music, yes, but with a lower case d. It’s music that you can dance to.