Blue Foundation

Blue Foundation is a Danish band. Their cinematic dream pop, shoegaze and electronics inspired compositions are known for being featured in films such as ''Twilight'', ''Miami Vice'' and on TV shows including '' CSI: Miami'' and ''The Vampire Diaries''.

Danish singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Tobias Wilner founded the group in 2000, inspired by Mark E. Smith's approach to forming a band ( the Fall), recruiting a rotating cast of traditional musicians throughout the band's history to inspire creativity.
Since 2010 the core of the band has been Tobias Wilner and Bo Rande, based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Blue Foundation released their fifth album ''Blood Moon'' worldwide on 2 September 2016. The album featured appearances from Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon / Red House Painters), Erika Spring (Au Revoir Simone / Nice As Fuck), Jonas Bjerre ( Mew), Sonya Kitchell, Sara Savery (aka Drop the Gun) and Findlay Brown.

Tobias Wilner is active recording and touring with his side project New York United, an experimental band featuring Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi, and Djibril Toure. The dream pop electronic project Tachys, with the lead singer of Mew, Jonas Bjerre, is also noteworthy.
He has released music under the alias Bichi and with his shoegaze band Ghost Society. Additionally, he composes music for films and TV, both under his own name and as Blue Foundation.
Bo Rande is active with the Choir of Young Believers.

History

Blue Foundation was founded in 2000 in Copenhagen and grew out of the musical collaboration between Tobias Wilner, aka Bichi, his brother Anders Mannov Bertram, and Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg. Tobias Wilner, the band's primary driving force and captain, came up with the name Blue Foundation in 1999.

Blue Foundation released their first 7" via Moshi Moshi Records, and their first, self-titled, album was released shortly thereafter. Three years later, in 2003, the band signed with EMI/Warner Music releasing two albums, released in the US through Astralwerks Records.

In 2007, Blue Foundation released their third studio album, Life of a Ghost. The album was recorded in Copenhagen, with Tobias Wilner as producer and engineer, and Bo Rande as co-producer. The album was released in 2007 on EMI Records in Denmark and on Astralwerks in the USA in 2009.

Life of a Ghost features "Eyes on Fire," written by Tobias Wilner and Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg.

In 2008, Blue Foundation established their own imprint, Dead Peoples Choice, that so far has released two albums and one remix album. Today they release under the imprint KON Records. Blue Foundation gained major recognition with a remix by Zeds Dead of their song "Eyes On Fire", reaching a no. 3 ranking on iTunes Electronic Music Chart (2014). Today "Eyes On Fire" has more than 35 million YouTube plays, while the "Zeds Dead"-remix has exceeded 170 million YouTube plays. During the years Blue Foundation have expanded their audience, embracing today both the underground and the alternative mainstream.

Blue Foundation has been featured in major films such as ''Twilight'', ''Miami Vice'' and on TV shows including ''CSI: Miami'' and ''The Vampire Diaries''. Their music is sampled by ex Lil Durk feat. French Montana on "Fly High", Young Thug on "She Noticed" and on Curren$y's "Hustler".

Bo Rande is
In October 2005, Tobias Wilner released an album with his side project, Bichi. The title of the album is ''Notwithstanding,'' and is released by Thomas Knak on his label, Hobby Industries. Some of the Bichi work would later turn into Blue Foundation songs. The Blue Foundation song, ''This is Goodbye,'' from the movie ''Manslaughter,'' was originally the instrumental song ''Revolve In The Sun/My Footfalls Are Superfluous,'' from the album ''Notwithstanding''. Also, the Bichi song ''It Begins'', featured in the movie ''Waking Madison,'' by Katherine Brooks, was re-recorded and later released as a Blue Foundation version.

On 1 February 2009 Tobias Wilner established DPC Records, mainly to release Blue Foundation, Bichi and his band Ghost Society. Later that year Blue Foundation went double platinum in USA for the Twilight Soundtrack. The album was certified double platinum on 16 April 2009.
The Blue Foundation song ''Watch you Sleeping,'' with singer songwriter Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon), and former member Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg was released as a single on DPC.

Blue Foundation contributed with two songs for the soundtrack of the award-winning documentary film ''Tankograd,'' by director Boris Benjamin Bertram. One of the songs signals a change in female vocalists. The lead vocals are done by Sara Savery (Ghost Society and People Press Play).
Blue Foundation also did the soundtrack for the short film ''Go All Day,'' featuring professional skateboarder Chaz Ortiz, Colin Kennedy. The score was later released as the Blue Foundation single ''Red Hook''.

Tobias Wilner started the project Tachys with Mew's lead singer, Jonas Bjerre, in 2019. They released their debut album in 2023.

In 2018, Bo Rande and Tobias Wilner recorded and produced the album "Silent Dream (Instrumentals and Beats)", which was released in 2019. The album features guest appearances by Sun Glitters, Federico Ughi, and Sara Savery, also known as Drop The Gun. "Silent Dream" was produced by Tobias Wilner and Bo Rande, mixed and recorded by Tobias Wilner, and mastered by Mark Bihler at Calyx in Berlin. Blue Foundation premiered "Silent Dream" at the Radar festival in Aarhus.

In 2022, Danish singer Helena Gao performed with Blue Foundation for the first time.

Tobias Wilner announced in an interview with the danish music magazine Gaffa, that the band is working on a new album in their Brooklyn studio. It was meant for release in 2024.

Influences

When Blue Foundation started out they were influenced by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, Broadcast, Faust, DJ Krush, Friction and Can.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Blue Foundation'' (April Records 2001)
* ''Sweep of Days'' (Virgin 2004)
* ''Solid Origami'' collected, reworked and remixed (Pop Group 2006)
* ''Life of a Ghost'' (EMI/Astralwerks 2007)
* ''In My Mind I Am Free'' (Dead People's Choice 2012)
* ''In My Mind I Am Free / Reconstructed'' (Dead People's Choice 2013)
* ''Blood Moon'' (2016)
* ''Silent Dream'' (2019)
* ''Close To The Knife'' (2025)

EP

* ''Dead People's Choice'' (Dead People's Choice 2007)
* ''Live In Zhangbei'' (Dead People's Choice 2015)
* ''It Begins'' (Dead People's Choice 2016)
* ''Live From Brooklyn'' (Dead People's Choice 2016)
* ''Eyes On Fire (Re-Work, Remix & Instrumentals)'' (Dead People's Choice 2016)
* ''Brother & Sister'' (Dead People's Choice 2018)

Singles

* ''Hollywood & Hide'' 7" (Moshi Moshi Records 2000)
* ''Hollywood & Wiseguy'' 12" (April Records 2000)
* ''As I Moved On'' 12" (Virgin 2003)
* ''End of the Day'' (Virgin 2004)
* ''This is Goodbye'' (Virgin 2005)
* ''Embers'' 7" (Jack To Phono Records 2005)
* ''Crosshair'' (Virgin 2006)
* ''Enemy'' (EMI 2007)
* ''Eyes on Fire'' (EMI 2009)
* ''Watch you Sleeping feat. Mark Kozelek / Dream (3:11PM)'' (DPC Records 2009)
* ''Heads on Fire'' (DPC Records 2011)
* ''Red Hook'' (DPC Records 2011)
* ''Lost'' (DPC Records 2012)
* ''Eyes On Fire'' Re-Recorded (DPC Records 2015)
* ''Så Længe Jeg Lever'' (DPC Records 2016)
* ''Dreams On Fire'' (DPC Records 2016)
* ''Lost Girl'' feat. Jonas Bjerre (DPC Records 2016)
* ''Watch You Sleeping'' feat. Mark Kozelek (DPC Records 2016)
* ''Stay For Christmas'' (DPC Records 2018)
* ''Where The End Begins'' (KØN 2019)
* ''Shadow'' (KØN 2019)
* ''Shadow'' Sheild Remix (KØN 2019)

Remix work

* Klart Der! ''Jorden Kalder'' Blue Foundation & Mixologists Remix (2000)
* Fauna Flash ''Mother Nature'' Blue Foundation Remix (Compost 2001)
* Mew ''Symmetry'' Blue Foundation Remix (Evil Office 2001)
* Zeds Dead "Eyes On Fire" Blue Foundation Remix (2007)
* Jonas Bjerre ''Window Pane'' Blue Foundation Remix (PLUK 2011)
* Ghost Society ''Under The Sun'' Blue Foundation Remix (DPC 2012)
* Apparatjik ''Datascroller'' Blue Foundation Remix (DPC 2012)
* Allies For Everyone ''Supernatural'' Blue Foundation Remix (KID Recordings 2013)
* Ninety's Remix "Bonfires" Blue Foundation Remix (Trap City 2013)
* Easy Easy ''Katana'' Blue Foundation Remix (Future Archive Recordins 2020)

Compilations

* ''Confusion'' (Compost Records 2003)
* ''Benetton's Colors: A Nordic Compilation'' (Irma Records 2003)
* ''Warp Factor'' (King Kladze Records/Time Warp 2003)
* ''Who Shot Jacques Laverne?'' (Jack To Phono Records 2004)
* ''We Got Monkeys: Five Years Of Moshi Moshi Records'' (Moshi Moshi Records 2005)
* ''Paris'' mixed by Nick Warren (Global Underground 2007)
* ''Sequential'' vol 2. mixed by Hernan Cattaneo (Renainnance 2007)
* ''Director's Cut: Music from the Films of Michael Mann'' (Rhino 2007)
* ''Sirenes'' (Spectacle Entertainment 2008)
* ''Michael Moshi's Moshi Mixtape'' (Moshi Moshi Records 2010)
* ''Compost Downbeat Selection, Vol. 1'' (Compost 2010)
* ''Sound of Dubstep 3'' (Ministry of Sound 2011)
* ''Together We Are Not Alone'' (THISTIME 2011)

Selected soundtracks

* ''Manslaughter'' (Zentropa/EMI) 26 August 2005
* ''Nordkraft'' (Nimbus Film) 2005
* ''Miami Vice'' (Atlantic Recording) 18 July 2006
* ''Twilight'' (Chop Shop Records/Atlantic Recording) 4 November 2008
* '' Normal'' (Bontonfilm) 26 March 2009
* ''Tankograd'' (DPC Records) 16 May 2011

Selected TV shows

* ''The O.C.'' - Season 2, Episode 7: ''The Family Ties'', feat. ''Save This Town'' by Blue Foundation (Warner Bros. Television/Fox Network) 6 January 2005
* '' CSI: Miami'' - feat. ''End of the Day'' by Blue Foundation (CBS) 2008
* '' Anna Pihl'' - feat. ''Crosshair'' by Blue Foundation (Cosmo Film/Danish National TV) 2008
* ''So You Think You Can Dance'' - 1 episode, Top 14 Perform feat. ''Eyes On Fire'' by Blue Foundation (19 Television/20th Century Fox Television) 1 July 2009
* ''The Cleveland Show'' - feat. ''Eyes On Fire'' by Blue Foundation (20th Century Fox) 30 October 2011
* ''The Vampire Diaries'' - Season 4, Episode 8: ''Eyes On Fire'' by Blue Foundation 6 December 2012

Music for contemporary dance

* ''Overloadlady'' by Sara Gebran. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner (pre-Blue Foundation). Premiered August 1999
* ''Hurtdetail'' by Tim Feldmann. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner (Blue Foundation). Premiered at "Plovdiv Center of Contemporary Art" in Bulgaria, on 13 May 2000.
* ''Hendrix House'' by Tim Feldmann. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner (Blue Foundation) and David Linton. Premiered at Pakhus 11 April 22nd 2003
* ''eXPLORnography'' by Tim Feldmann. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner (Blue Foundation). May 2005

Members

; Members
* Tobias Wilner – vocals, bass guitar, guitar, programming, synthesizer, percussion, production, engineering
* Bo Rande – trumpet, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion, production

;Live
* Helena Gao - vocals and keyboards
* Ida Duelund - bass, double bass, and loops
* Maria Jagd - violin and loops
* Rune Lohse - drums

; Former members
* Daisuke Kiyasu – vj (2003–2006)
* Anders Bertram – guitar (2000–2002)
* Tatsuki Oshima – vinyl manipulation (2003–2007)
* Scott Martingell – spoken words (2003–2008)
* Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg – vocals (2000–2009)
* Frederik Hantho – spoken words (2000–2002)
* Hans Landgreen – guitar, bass (2009–2010)
* Mathias Hantho – violin, banjo (2009–2010)
* Christoffer Ohlsson – cello (2003–2006)
* Sune Martin – bass (2003–2007)
* Anders Wallin – bass (2007–2008)
* Nikolaj Bundvig – drums (2006–2007)
* Emil Bernild Ferslev – drums (2000–2001)
* Lasse Herbst – drums (2007–2008)
* Federico Ughi - drums
* Sonya Kitchell - vocals, guitars
* Sara Savery - vocals
* Helena Gao - vocals

Side projects

* The William Blakes
* Choir of Young Believers

See also

*List of ambient music artists

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

American pop music groups
Musical groups from Brooklyn
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Moshi Moshi Records artists
Virgin Records artists
Danish dream pop musical groups