When you see Bicep‘s name on a line-up, you inevitably think of the peace of “Glue”, the beauty of “Rain” or the intensity of “Metro”. They are only 3 of the 12 tracks that make up their homonymous album, an album that in late 2017 broke all the schemes of the house scene. It was the consolidation of Bicep, the definitive step that made them the most acclaimed duo of alternative electronic dance sound worldwide. That’s why they are #2 in the Xceed DJs of the Year 2018. But Bicep’s story began outside the production studio.
Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar started to be well-known on the scene through their own blog, Feel My Bicep. In it, they taught everything they discovered every day about house music, trance, rave and IDM from the late 90s and early 2000s. They achieved fame as selectors and researchers, a fact that allowed them to act as DJs in many of the best festivals in the world.
At the same time, their first games in the studio started to be released. “Dahlia”, “Lyk Lyk”… and “Just”, a track which, in 2015, confirmed all the suspicions. Bicep was no longer a duo of selectors and DJs, but a duo of top producers. Feel My Bicep was no longer a blog, but a fully-fledged record label. Soon came the remixes of “Higher Level” or “In Yer Face” and more original productions that ended up in an album that, in just one year, has become a cult reference.
Bicep launched this LP and premiered their live project at the same time, a live performance in which each of their tracks acquires an even greater intensity and power (if possible). This show began to set privileged positions in practically all the leading festivals of the scene from the end of 2017. Bicep’s sounds became easily recognizable. Now it’s a reality: they provoke collective madness as soon as they sound.
How did Andy and Matt manage to give birth to such sounds? Listening to their music, the influence of the 90’s trance sound, dance, the most rave-toned house and sophisticated electronica, close to IDM, becomes evident. Those were the sounds that convinced them in their beginnings. Those were also the sounds that made up the tracklists of their DJ sets.
After more than a year touring the five continents and showing their live show to the world, Bicep decided to re-launch their selector side resuming their performances as deejays. Artworks by people like Brassica, T & P or Hammer, all of them, regulars of the Feel My Bicep label, round off a stylistic equation that turns Bicep’s DJ sets into a window overlooking last century’s house scene.
Thanks to Razzmatazz‘s Sala 1, Barcelona will have this Saturday, April 20th the opportunity to witness live the music that influenced Bicep, the music that made Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson become two of the most important actors in electronic music in this century. In addition, the ticket includes access to the rest of Razzmatazz Clubs or, which is the same, access to The Loft, where Angel Molina, one of the most introspective techno legends of the Spanish scene, will offer an All Night Long session.
(Cover Image: © Feel My Bicep)