Futurisk (stylized as FUTURISK) was an American electronic

electropunk Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

group based out of Lighthouse Point, Florida, United States that recorded and performed live in the late 1970s and early 1980s in

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

, and are believed to be the first

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

/electropunk band in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

. They initially had two 7" vinyl releases on Clark Humphrey Records: ''The Sound of Futurism 1980/Army Now'' (1980) and ''Player Piano EP'' (1982), the latter of which was rediscovered in 2002 by

LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem is an American Dance-punk#Contemporary dance-punk, dance-punk revival band from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals ...

frontman and

DFA Records DFA Records is an American independent record label based in New York City. The label was originally founded in 2001 by Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. Goldsworthy and Mur ...

co-founder/producer James Murphy when he happened across it in a NYC record store. Murphy subsequently released a Futurisk track, ''Push Me Pull You, Part 2'' on a DFA mix CD through the Paris fashion-house Colette in 2003, titled ''Colette No. 5'', sparking a renewed interest in Futurisk's music. In 2010, the New York City-based label

Minimal Wave Minimal wave is a broad classification of music that comprises obscure, atypical examples of genres such as new wave, stripped-down electronic or synthesizer music, synth-pop, post-punk, and coldwave. Most of the music tends to focus on elect ...

released a 30th anniversary retrospective full length vinyl of Futurisk's works titled ''Player Piano LP'' and received positive reviews in the press. On May 17, 2011, Minimal Wave/Cititrax Records released the ''Lonely Streets Remixes'' 12" EP which includes remixes by artists such as Chris Carter (a founding member of the bands

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...

and

Chris & Cosey Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (voice, electronics, guitar, cornet), both previously (and as of 2020 the sole surviving) ...

), Tom Furse (a founding member of the band

The Horrors The Horrors are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005 by lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse, bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spurg ...

), Complexxion, and Prince Language (DFA Records). Futurisk was founded by British expatriate

Jeremy Kolosine Jeremy Kolosine, born Emin Jeremy Kolosine on November 12, 1960 in London Borough of Hackney, Hackney, England, and currently residing in Roanoke, Virginia , is an electronic music performer, recording artist, composer and producer. He is noted as ...

who in 2007 executive produced the album '' 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk'' on

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

's US homelabel

Astralwerks Astralwerks (or Astralwerks Records) is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music that is now owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in ...

and

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Records worldwide, for which Kraftwerk founding member

Ralf Hütter Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1970, and became the only consistent member of the band (although he brief ...

personally selected the tracks.

Band members

*Jeremy Kolosine - vocals, synthesizer, sequencer, vocoder, guitar-synth, drum-machine, bass guitar, electric mandolin (1979–1984). *Richard Hess - synthesizer, drum-machine, sequencer, vocoder (1981–1984). *Jack Howard - drums, syndrums (1980–1984). *Vinny Scrimenti - drums (1981-1982). *Jeff Marcus - bass (1980-1982). *Frank Lardino - synthesizer (1980–1981).

References

{{Authority control American synth-pop groups Musical groups established in 1979 Electronic music groups from Florida Punk rock groups from Florida People from Lighthouse Point, Florida