Artist: Beast, Album: Beast, Song: Satan

"Satan your kingdom must come down."  Beast were an electronic duo from Quebec.  They were Jean-Phi Goncalves and Betty Bonifassi.  Both artists were actually born in France but have made their names musically, in Canada.  Bonifassi has an arresting vocal style similar to Shirley Bassey.  She has sung on numerous recordings by DJ Champion (see blog 8/18/11).  Jean-Phi Goncalves was the electronics whiz and had another successful independent band called, Plaster, prior to forming Beast that is worth checking out.  Sometime in 2006, the artists began collaborating with one another and following two years of recording, their self titled debut was finally complete.  Their sound could best be described as electronic with an edge.  There are elements of hip hop, blues, rock and r&b within their songs.  If you are a fan of bands like The Low Fidelity All Stars ("Battle Flag", "Feel What I Feel") or The Propellerheads ("Take California", "History Repeating"), this should appeal to you.  Considering Bonifassi wasn't bilingual at the time, she co-wrote many of the songs on the album which were all in English.  She had some help from singer songwriter, Simon Wilcox (see blog 1/17/12), who helped her translate her thoughts and set them to music.  Satan is the song that closes out the album and it was written by Bonifassi, Wilcox and Goncalves.  You can check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgmo9elqHeg.  The album was well received and actually achieved gold status sales in Canada.  The band was nominated for two Junos as a result.  New Group Of The Year which they lost to The Stills (see blog 3/1/12) as well as Video Of The Year for their song, Mr. Hurricane, which they lost to Serena Ryder's Little Bit Of Red.  Sadly though, this album seems to be a one shot deal for the band as the two artists have yet to confirm whether or not they will record again.  Jean-Phi Goncalves and his band, Plaster, released a new album last month and you can follow them at http://soundcloud.com/plaster-band.  You can follow Bonifassi at http://www.bettybonifassi.com/.  Lastly, you can read about Beast at http://www.beastsound.net/.  You can purchase the self titled debut on Itunes.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!