Did you know that there’s a new album from Hercules and Love Affair out now? Neither did I. Hype surrounding Danseur has been scant, which is both a shame because it is a fantastic album. It’s also an album that can’t be described with whatever marketing buzzwords are trending this week, so I suppose the lack of buzz is to be expected.
For the uninitiated, Hercules and Love Affair is the project of DJ, musician and producer Andy Butler. Back in 2008, he unleashed a monster club hit, “Blind,” with Anohni on vocals. I’m hesitant to refer to the song as a banger because it’s pretty melancholy, but “Blind” still packs the floor nearly 20 years later. (In fact, I played it the night before writing this, and the night before that, in DJ sets.) In the years that have passed since then, Hercules and Love Affair has become synonymous with smart dance music over the course of five albums. Butler’s productions, which sit at the crossroads of disco, house and synthpop, are steeped in nightlife and LGBTQ+ culture For his sixth album, Danseur, Butler explicitly pays tribute to the queer club history.
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