Headphone Highlights

Hercules and Love Affair

Moshi Moshi, DFA, New York

Hercules is the Roman name of the strongest man in Greek mysticism. The son of Zeus and mortal Alcmena, was a champion and a superb warrior, supposedly making the "world safe for mankind" and due to his outward appearance quite a flirt for men and women. Andy Butler's project Hercules and Love Affair plays with that image and the salacious rumors of Athens and Rome. Choosing old school house and true school disco as his soundtrack, Butler, alongside a rotating cast of vocalists and musicians, has produced a rich and varied oeuvre. First off was one of the freshest debuts around, recorded with vocalists Nomi Ruiz, Kim Ann Foxman and Antony and The Johnsons' front man Antony Hegarty, which got happily accepted by NYC's hipster smithy DFA and everyone else on this planet afterwards (see 'Blind' = mega hit). While that record reflected the spirit of NYC, Butler went on to move back to Denver, from where he connected with other lovers and collectors of synths - from Mark Pistel of Consolidated fame to Vienna's own Patrick Pulsinger - to get even deeper into his love of classic house music. Here we have Butler, who left a Denver leather bar once to move to metropolis, explaining the roots of his fruits.