Boy Crisis was an American

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

that was influenced by the post-disco–

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

sound of the early 1980s. Based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, Boy Crisis consisted of members Tal Rozen, Alex Kestner, Victor Vazquez, Lee Pender, and Owen Roberts. Victor Vazquez is now an MC and was formerly part of the rap group

Das Racist Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconven ...

History

Boy Crisis formed initially as a project between Victor Vazquez, Tal Rozen and Alex Kestner at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in 2005, but they did not start playing shows until Lee Pender joined in 2007. Owen Roberts joined later that year. At Wesleyan, they met MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden, and they later played shows supporting MGMT live and remixed one of their singles. In November, 2008, Boy Crisis signed a record deal with B-Unique Records. Their first album was scheduled to be released in October, 2009, with the name ''Tulipomania''; however, due to legal issues with a band by the same name, the album name had to be changed. Due to problems with the record label, the album was never released. Nevertheless, three official music videos were produced: "Dressed to Digress" (directed by Ray Tintori), "The Fountain of Youth" (directed by Jordan Fish), and "L'Homme" (directed by Jovan Todorovic).

Critical reception

While Boy Crisis were the subject of much hype and praise, they also faced strong criticism, including from

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television and ...

who declared, "Boy Crisis fucking suck." Amy Phillips of

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

also had harsh words for Boy Crisis, calling them "the absolute worst band in the world right now. Seriously." Similarly, Camille Dodero of

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

referred to Boy Crisis as "everything that's wrong about the Lower East Side." However, Sophie Eggleton of ''Disappear Here Magazine'' asserted, "I personally find them a welcome antidote to the dark, bleak realism of some of my current favourite bands." Similarly, Paul Lester of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

wrote that Boy Crisis was "the hottest electronic pop group to emerge from America since, ooh, MGMT at least." Their album was praised as "spastically seductive" with "all of the tracks eingbangers" and described as "flawless" with hooks that are "subtle yet stay for a long time" and "plenty of melody."

References

External links

Boy Crisis
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Boy Crisis Wesleyan University alumni Musical groups established in 2005 Musical groups from New York (state)