New York's electro-rock outfit Heloise & The Savoir Faire released "Trash, Rats and Microphones" on April 26, 2008 via Simian Records (Elijah Wood's new label and joint-venture with Yep Roc Records). With a live show described by Disorder Magazine as a "great big flying disco ball swerving through a relentless shower of pink glitter and synth-lasers," Heloise & The Savoir Faire have gained popularity in the UK after making their TV debut on The Graham Norton Show and Channel 4's Friday Night Project. An electrified collision of late-70's disco-infused dance punk and 80's synth-pop, the group is fronted by the charismatic Heloise Williams and backed by two dancers (Joe Shepard and Sara Sweet Rabidoux) and a full band (James Bellizia on guitar, Luke Hughett on drums and Jason Diamond on bass). Produced with and engineered by Andrew Schneider at Translator Audio in Brooklyn, "Trash, Rats and Microphones" captures the energy, sexuality and humor of the live show. The album also features guest vocals by Debbie Harry who recently called Heloise & The Savoir Faire one of her favorite underground bands in The New York Times Style Magazine. Debbie is featured on the songs "Downtown" and "Canadian Changs".

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KOORTWAH, a musical and visual project by Jake Courtois, incorporates the fresh sound of electronic pop with the lyrical depth and narrative qualities of more thoughtful songwriting. Reminiscent of and inspired by the likes of Depeche Mode, Leonard Cohen, Roger Waters, Philip Glass, James, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins and more, KOORTWAH manages to pay homage to the glory of the past while exploring the fervour of the future. By integrating the songs into a carefully curated collection of video projections, KOORTWAH creates an immersive multimedia environment that is at once urgent and poignant, bombastic and mysterious.

Jake was born somewhere far to the North, under the soft guidance of Aurora Borealis, and swiftly blanketed in snow. Many moons later, after a daring escape from his fundamentalist overseers, this young, misplaced tropical fish swam instinctively south towards warmer, rat-infested waters. Rats, being largely misunderstood, felt like family, and Jake has been paying too much rent ever since. After years of hearing people mispronounce his last name, Jake finally decided to provide a more phonetically user-friendly moniker: KOORTWAH.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.