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Alex Kemp is a man with a vision. Make that visions. The native of NYC attended the indie rock incubator known as the Rhode Island School of Design, and did tours of duty with both Small Factory and Assassins. Following the demise of Assassins, Kemp began tossing around the story of an expatriate ne’er do well named Rat, making the scene in Paris of the 1920s. Enter Rat D’Hotel, a series of EPs chronicling Rat’s personal moveable feast; sort of a musical version of The Moderns. Rat D’Hotel Part I-Rat Walks Into A Bar was released earlier this year, and Part II- Rat Hears Love Through Thin Walls dropped in early October. Both are available directly from Kemp as either digital downloads or hand screened limited-edition CDs.
Word is that Kemp intends to release two additional EPs in this very cool series, and since it might be 2011 before we get the next installment of the Rat saga, MOKB was happy as a bed of clams to lay our hands on this Capital Cities remix of Heart Goes Boom, from Part II- Rat Hears Love Through Thin Walls. - MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG
Discography
May 2010 Rat d'Hotel PART I - rat walks into a bar CD EP limited edition of 250
September 2010 Rat d'Hotel PART II - rat hears love through thin walls CD EP limited edition of 250.
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Bio
Growing up in New York City, Alex Kemp was exposed to great music at an early age: Bowie, The Thompson Twins, the Cure, Jim Carroll, Echo and the Bunnymen... He witnessed the Smiths' Johnny Marr kick some seething stage- crasher in the face with his New Wave boots. There was blood. It was cool.
Kemp headed north to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he started lending his joyful melodies to the seminal indie-pop bands Small
Factory and The Godrays. Trusting in the T-shirt slogan ”Fuck art, let's dance!” Kemp ditched the gallery scene for an Econoline Van and started touring the country.
After moving to Chicago, Kemp and a posse of talented friends started Assassins, a post-New-Wave electro band. After just ten shows, Assassins had signed to Arista and were the sole opening act at one of only four shows New Order played in the US. Then L.A. Reid was fired and the label shut down. The universe was beseeching Kemp to return to his indie roots.
Now located in LA, Kemp has joined forces with a group of R&B session musicians with enough cred and soul to fill a Southern church. His new material combines raw, unadorned grooves
combined with dry, laid-back vocals. The sound can be described as a cross between Whitest Boy Alive and Pavement, or Marvin
Gaye meets Hot Chip at a Jonathan Richman show.
The heart-on-both-sleeves openness is still Kemp's trademark. Yet, there's now sophistication and depth, an undercurrent of darkness ("let's go down to Alphabet City, gonna cut my hands on your silky hair") that leads one to think that maybe some hard-edged life has happened along the way. Overall, Kemp remains an unwavering optimist. Infectiously easy dance beats and smooth grooves will draw you in. Feel- good hooks ("your heart goes boom but your head goes bip") and razor-sharp honesty ("you call this a life? watching my dad die from the alcohol?") will keep you listening.
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