Punks Jump Up - what is that???
Punks Jump Up came together in London as a mere accident a few years back. Joe, a born & bred Londoner & David, a Swede just off the boat, had bumped into each other on several occasions,
mainly occasions that had to do with music, style & anything visual that looked cool. They both come from a background of punk & dance music, street art, fashion & style all wrapped up in DIY ethos.
Both eager to get their share of the creative chaos that is east London they were putting on their own parties for the freaks, proto hipsters, fashion victims & loonies in general who was loitering the area. This led to beautiful friendships with a lot of music & art eccentrics in the vicinity so they set up their own Cassette Records label as a vent for all the creativity that needed an outlet. The first Punks Jump Up EP - Be You (Beep Beep) on the Cassette label created a minor storm on the DIY dance scene in London and beyond and was played by the now lords of dance James Murphy & Erol Alkan. It got represented on BBC1 as Annie Mac & Chris Coco played the track to death. All this with no promotion - no pr. The Cassette Label released a handful of EPs by artists & remixers like Simian Mobile Disco & Zongamin.
Another aspect of DIY is the fashion side and PJU soon started their own t shirt label called Stiff Couture, they took on Kate Moross (the now well established self made illustrator & designer) who was the first one to make a t shirt for the label. Her t shirt for Stiff Couture soon got heavily bootlegged in South East Asia & Russia alike (!!).
The second PJU track to be released was Dance To Our Disco on the Kitsune label in Paris, this turned into an instant underground hit, played by countless DJ's worldwide. The track features the mysterious guest vocalist Chalk Jaxon from Sweden (who according to some people is Howling Pelle from The Hives, this is a rumor yet to be confirmed). For some reason the DIY ethos spread with the record and everywhere they went to play after the release fans seemed to have made their homemade Punks Jump Up t shirts!
Punks Jump Up have always been into making music with a rough edge but with a good hook. PJU love the underground, cutting edge DIY scene but has never shied away from a good melody. They have proven this by remixing acts like Miike Snow (The PJU remix of their song Animal has now got more than one million plays on Youtube), Gossip, Crystal Castles, Lykke Li, Kele, Robyn, Tiga, Yelle, Peter Bjorn & John & now latest Ladytron and all turning their songs into very distinctive dance floor gems.
In between the constant touring to pretty much every country in Europe, Australia, Mexico & Singapore they have been relentlessly working on new music. This has led to the new single Blockhead, a heavily percussive dance music number. Blockhead has got a story of it's own (see above) and was played all through the summer -10 by 2ManyDJ's as a part of their Under The Covers tour, with the distinctive animations that accompanied each track.
Punks Jump Up's constant traveling and gigging has made them a lot of friends and this shows well on the production of the forthcoming PJU album, it will feature guest appearances by artists like Chromeo, DVNO (of Justice DVNO fame), Black Kids, We Have Band & Men (ex Le Tigre). 2011 looks like to be a very promising year for PJU, first up the release of Blockhead EP at the end of january followed by a string of single releases, an album and then a live show.
Hi, this is Punks Jump Up, one of them is called Joe and the other one's David.
They are making music and also playing records really loud in public places like clubs. They started out arranging amazing parties in east London in 2004 (Peter Bjorn & John's very first UK gig took place at one of these parties) and began making music shortly after that, mainly because they thought there weren't enough tunes around that sounded like what they wanted to hear at the time.
The first 12" came out in 2004 and is called Be You (Beep Beep) on their own label Cassette Records. It was a total DIY release with hand screen printed sleeves. James Murphy, Erol Alkan, Annie Mac, Rob Da Bank all supported it . After hearing the song Britney spears people got in touch and wanted tunes.
Cassette Records built up a great reputation & released a handful of 12"s by Simian Mobile Disco, Meatboys (now Jackpot), Elektrofant & Zongamin. All releases amazingly packaged with hand screen printed sleeves.
In 2007 PJU released their second 12" called Dance To Our Disco on the Kitsune label in Paris. It turned into an immediate underground hit and was played on national radio in the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Sweden and more. Rumor has it the mysterious guest vocalist is a famous rock singer from Sweden, and goes by the name of Howlin' Pelle, The Hives. No one knows if this is true or not.
Lots & lots of remixes followed, some of them were Gossip – Listen Up, Digitalism – Pogo, Peter Bjorn & John – Young Folks. Yelle – A Cause Des Garcons, Lykke Li – Breaking It Up and then there was also Robyn's number one UK single With Every Heartbeat. The latest two PJU remixes, Tiga – Beep Beep Beep & Miike Snow – Animal have caused a bit of a storm. Tiga's Beep Beep beep remix stayed more than 10 weeks on Beatport's Nudisco/Indie top ten chart, and was No1 for 4 weeks. Miike Snow – Animal PJU remix has had massive response on the blogs & among countless DJ's all over the world. The latest remixes are for Kele - Everything You Wanted & Crystal Castles - Baptism.
Punks Jump Up have been DJ'ing all over Europe the last couple of years and visited places like Germany, Mexico, Turkey, France, Spain, Lithuania, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway.
Last year PJU also did a two week Australian tour.
PJU are currently in their studio in London, W10, working most of the time when they're not touring. Now they're finishing off new material which will become their first album. PJU has got a new track called Blockhead coming out on the new Kitsune Maison vol 10, the Fireworks Issue, released mid november -10.
It will come out as a single with remixes beginning of 2011.
Oh they got their own t shirt label too! It's called Stiff Couture. They've relased three t shirts so far, each designed by Kate Moross, European Animal & Jiro Bevis. The designs are so distinctive they have been heavily bootlegged.There will be more t's, because t shirts are fun!
Wyatt Donnelly
Management: kkonstantinidis@metrobass.com
For DJ bookings please contact Roman at Coda Agency on: roman@CodaAgency.com
Kitsune Maison compilation vol 10, the Fireworks Issue featuring the NEW PUNKS JUMP UP TRACK "BLOCKHEAD":
Punks Jump Up on Soundcloud:
Latest tracks by Punks Jump Up
More PJU remixes, listen on the player below:
PJU remix of Tiga - Beep Beep Beep at number 1 in the Beatport NuDisco chart for four weeks straight. Get it here:
Punks Jump Up remixes:
Springmine Disaster - Immaturity (Cassette)
Yukari Fresh - Say When! (Escalator)
Simian Mobile Disco - Piggy In The Middle (Cassette)
Ignition - Airtight (Kingsize)
Lady Fuzz - Oh Marie (Transgressive)
Meatboys - Fireworks (Cassette)
Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks (Wichita)
David Gilmour Girls - Crimson As Murder (Relish)
Robyn - Every Heartbeat (EMI)
Lo Fi Fnk - City (Moshi Moshi)
Don Cash - Disco Wreck (Relish)
Gossip - Listen Up (Back Yard)
Digitalism - Pogo (Kitsune/Virgin)
Remi Nicole - Go Mr Sunshine (Island)
Yelle - A Cause Des Garcons (Source/Virgin)
Tronik Youth - We Are.(Back Yard)
Get Shakes - Day Like Today
Peter Bjorn & John - Up Against The Wall (Wichita)
Kent - Vy Från Ett Luftslott (Warner)
Lykke Li - Breaking It Up (Atlantic)
Man Like Me - Carny (Prestel)
Those Dancing Days - S/T (Wichita)
Peter Bjorn & John - Lay It Down (Wichita)
Miike Snow - Animal (Sony)
Tiga - Beep Beep Beep (Wall Of Sound/Pias)
Zongamin - Azzazza (XL)
Kent - Tontarna (Sony)
TB STHLM - Rocket Scientist (Sony)
Miami Horror - Moon Theory (EMI)
Shout Out Louds - Show Me Something New (Warner)
Kele - Everything You Wanted (Wichita)
Crystal Castles - Baptism
PJU TV! 2ManyDJ's playing PJU remix of Zongamin - Azzazza at Coachella festival:
PJU TV 2! Watch the video of Dance To Our Disco:
Directed by Bjorn Liljequist.
Illustrations by Simeon Merivale.
PJU TV 3! PJU in Frankfurt 04/04/08:
PJU TV 4! PJU at Dour Festival, Belgium 19/07/08:
