NightWaves

The musical landscape of 2007 provided the perfect storm of circumstances for a
new sound to emerge out of LA. With the explosion of Justice and the resurgence of
Daft Punk, electronic music soon appealed to a much larger group of people than it had
traditionally in the past. The indie music scene was also a hotbed of creativity that was
expanding its reach and connecting with more people, and often there was crossover
between the two genres as indie fans could easily appreciate the musicality of Daft
Punkʼs work, leading them to discover a new musical world thanks to the legendary
producers. Couple all this with easier production software that created an entire new
generation of bedroom producers and the bloghouse era began. Electronic music
became more acceptable to the mainstream and had more eclectic influences.
Starting in early 2008, LA transplants Josh Legg and Kyle Petersen founded
Binary Entertainment with the intention of establishing a full service music management
company with agility and a new business model in the changing music industry
landscape. Coming from an indie rock background, Legg and Petersen found
themselves drawn in to the electro scene in LA as they scouted for up and coming
producers and artists. It soon became apparent that there was an emerging backlash to
the heavy, distorted electro sounds of bloghouse. In one beautiful stroke of timing, the
vision for Binary was realized.
It wasnʼt long after that Binary had a roster of seven LA-based artists that were
producing their own original ideas. The roster includes Keenhouse, The Kids Are
Radioactive, LexiconDon, Fabian, Short Circuit, Alfa, and NightWaves. Whereas the
bloghouse scene is primarily focused on heavy remixes of other tracks, Binary sought
artists that had proven they could write a good song while providing a unique and
melodic atmosphere for the listener. Harkening back to their indie roots, Legg and
Petersen recognized the importance of a great song and a live performance experience.
One of the artists on the Binary roster is NightWaves, Josh and Kyleʼs own project, and
it was at this point that they released a mixtape titled “The Dreamwave Hour” - and the
word dreamwave was born.
It soon became apparent that many of the emerging dreamwave artists from
around the globe had begun to embrace Los Angeles as the symbol for this new
movement. The reasons are ideological ones. Dreamwave is often described as “80ʼs”
music, but the true reason for the description is that the music is all about nostalgia. LA
has come to represent dreamwave so well because of the peaceful, sun-filled, idealistic
vision of the city that many people have due to watching Hollywood movies and TV
shows in their childhood. Since both Petersen and Legg are transplants to LA, they
recognized the dreams that the city represents to the rest of the world and firmly
established themselves as the leading purveyors of this new sound.
After throwing a stretch of shows in late 2008/early 2009 featuring the likes of
The Twelves, Anoraak and College from Franceʼs Valerie collective, Miami Horror,
Futurecop, Bag Raiders, and Thieves Like Us, many for their first show in LA, Binary
gained an active and loyal following throughout the city. Starting as a two-piece live duo
opening for The Twelves, NightWaves embraced their indie roots and the dreamwave
essence of live performance and expanded to a four-piece, adding drums and guitar to
Legg and Petersenʼs leading keyboards and vocals. After an explosive show at the
Echoplex opening for Thieves Like Us the band gained a lot of attention and was
featured on Kevin Bronsonʼs Buzz Bands. Releasing their first single “Sheʼs Electric” on
the Friendly Fires-breaking label People In the Sky, NightWaves reached the top 25
most selling albums list on Amazon.comʼs disco charts.
Following that up with consistent performances by the Binary artists at venues
like the Echoplex, Spaceland, The Standard downtown, the Avalon and more, as well as
album releases by Keenhouse and Alfa on Sunlinxx/Thistime Records and System
Recordings, respectively, Binary is leading into itʼs biggest moment with the release of
itʼs first record, “Binary Presents: LA Lights”. The compilation record features two tracks
from each of Binaryʼs seven artists and announces the labelʼs arrival as a leader in fresh
and innovative music. With the help of remixes by Junkie XL for NightWavesʼ
“Fascination” and Grumʼs remix of Keenhouseʼs “Ari-es”, there is already anticipation
building for the record which will be released October 13th.
Meanwhile, dreamwave music is regularly recognized by leading blogs and
online music publications such as Discodust and Pitchfork, as well as having been
featured on an ABC News segment covering SXSW, and along with the “glo-fi” sounds
of Washed Out and