Music
Press
“the base of it all is popmusic, just a bit of fun and tongue in cheek. We don’t care about the music is a perfect introduction to the world of STRFCKR” – - Parool (Dutch Newspaper_
“pointy Britpop with satiric lyrics and electro beats” - Volkskrant (dutch newspaper)
Discography
1st album "an al bum" 2005. with many guest features from worlds finest! as a give away/digital/blogs galore.
more than 35 remixes on 100's of blogs (more than 100.000 downloads!)
First official single (EP) out 30th november 2009 "we don't care about the music"
as 6 track "UK EP" with 2 non album tracks and remixes by Chew Fu (lady gaga's dj) and Edu K (brazilian techno dj, worked with ed banger)
Second single and 6 track download "Holiday" 8th march worldwide release.
Single:"Scratch my back" out in Holland 17th May.
Single:"France" out UK 17th June.
Album "Aeroplane" out Holland 28th of May
UK, Germany and rest of the world: 6th September 2010
Photos
Bio
“Great beats and catchy as hell”
Fearne Cotton, BBC Radio 1
Behind (Never mind the) Stars is Aka Simon Little. This British musician, writer, producer and multi instrumentalist lives and works in Amsterdam, and wanted to put out an album that breathes non-pretentious musical fun. An album that is just as commercial as it is 'left-of-centre'. Or to put it in his own words:”A celebration of music I grew up with and new music I am discovering every day!”
First singles:
NmtS (for short) first single in the UK, 'Holiday', did remarkably well in the UK: it was picked up by more than a 100 stations, with 60 of them playing the track nearly every hour!
The introduction single in the Netherlands, 'We don't care about the music' was pronounced us 3FM Serious Talent, and was on air nearly every day for a period of 4 months on National Radio.
Also, this single has been chosen for the new Ben&Jerry (ice cream) cinema advertising campaign.
About the (Never mind the) Stars
NmtS gets their roots from the underground electro/disco/punk/pop project STRFCKR, that started in 2003 making and spreading tracks and not long after that as a dj-collective.
STRFCKR is the brain-child of Aka Simon Little, who set up this project in the Studio's of Bas Bron, with Bron's longtime engineer and mixer Gaspard de la Nuit. They made a 13 track album but the world was not ready for them; it was a pretty unbalanced whole, but the base was layed.
When De La Nuit follows love over the borders to Belgrade, Little takes over the project alone.
The first few activities include remixing, for amongst others Das Pop, Marvin Gaye and Edu K. In this period Little develops a new style. Taking exiting contemporary electronic music as a base and combining it with more 'classic' funk, folk and rock from his youth. This resulted in a suprising pop-ish version of eletronic underground. The lyrics and, in line with his British heritage, a tidbit sarcastic and 'tongue in cheek'.
When, in 2009, he has around 50 'strfckr' tracks laying around, he decides to make a selection for the album.
In spite of interest of record labels he choses to stay independent: not wanting to make concessions towards the music, singles, art and remixes. The result is “Aeroplane” by (Never mind the) Stars.
The album is released on his own STRFCKR RCRDS label, where such diverse artists as punk rock electro chick Wannabeastar is also signed to.
Live-Band
Besides guitarist and singer Aka Simon little, the live band of NmtS is formed by a mixture of established musicians like Dimitri Veltkamp, ex bass player with Candy Dulfer, Lois Lane, the Scene, and Simon Gistels (aka Barry Nice) ex-keyboard player with Solo, Mathilde Santing and Van Velzen. But their is new talent headhunted, like the young Jimmy van den Nieuwenhuizen on drums and Clemens Blacquire on guitars.
For larger gigs and festivals they will even take backing singers and a 3 piece horn section along!
Availability:
The album “Aeroplane” is available in Holland from May the 28th in the better cd shops and on all portals like I-Tunes. Also the album is available on their own site, www.nevermindthestars.com as download (mp3 and wavs), including exclusive tracks, or as physical cd.
Rest of the world: 6th of May
Websites www.nevermindthestars.com and www.strfckrrcrds.com will be online half May.
The album release party will take place in Amsterdam's no.1 pop venue Paradiso on the 14th of june.
Tickets available from the 1st of May.
Reviews:
The single “Holiday” got these great reviews in the UK:
Sophie Stewart, of NSR CD Reviews Blog writes:
“This tune is an upbeat, catchy, feelgood track. It fits perfectly into the electro indie pop bracket, and I honestly love this tune. It really fits in well between other indie music like Alphabeat and the Hoosiers.”
The Burning Ear.com
“The sickest bass-line of the year is a dude going “BAHW BAHW BAHW!” in a really low voice! Yes!”
Tasty Fanzine.com
“As long as this track gets on the right play lists I can see it going far, it’s a catchy ‘gets under your skin’ track but in a good way. I can see it being big as a summer track with the get up and dance beat that any good pop song has. So for me it's 8.5/10”
FabtasticMusic. blogspot
“Never Mind The Stars have been busy putting together a cracker of a track! Titled "Holiday", the track is a brilliant electronic piece with some fantastic sounds and moments, and it's their first release outside of the Netherlands.”
Links
