Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Monolith Music Festival Artist Spotlight: Passion Pit

One of the most anticipated bands at this years Monolith Music Festival is Passion Pit, these guys seemed to fly under the radar last year playing a rather late set many missed, I do not expect the same this year

Passion Pit
Passion Pit is an electronic band that formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States in 2007. They consist of Michael Angelakos (vocals, keyboards), Ian Hultquist (keyboards, guitar), Ayad Al Adhamy (synth, samples), Jeff Apruzzese (bass, keyboard) and Nate Donmoyer (drums). Passion Pit was a vocab word used in a class Mike took in school. It’s a slang word for a drive-in movie theatre where kids used to go to make out.

Michael played his first show alone sitting with his laptop and a microphone. Later, Ian approached Mike and asked him if he wanted to start a band. After a few line-up changes, Passion Pit was born.

The band’s debut Chunk Of Change EP originally had four songs and was recorded by Angelakos on his laptop. It was intended as a belated Valentine’s Day gift to his girlfriend. This set of songs was passed around Emerson College, where Angelakos was attending and caught the attention of many blogs. It was then released on September 16th, 2008 on
Frenchkiss Records with two extra songs. The band’s debut album, entitled Manners, was released on May 19, 2009.

The song Sleepyhead contains samples of the song “Oro Mo Bhaidin” by Irish harpist Mary O’Hara. This song has been used in a Canadian PSP advertisement, MTVs ‘What the Flip?’ campaign and the television shows, Skins and Gossip Girl.

Passion Pit made their television debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday July 29, 2009 performing their song “The Reeling” from the album Manners.


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