Hyperbubble is an international

visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight ...

and performing arts

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a r ...

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

duo from

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, formed by Jeff DeCuir and Jess Barnett DeCuir. The music of this American group is variously described as "early Eurythmics meets Josie and the Pussycats," referencing "markers such as New Musik,

the Normal The Normal is the recording artist name used by English music producer Daniel Miller, a film editor at the time, who is best known as the founder of the record label Mute Records. Background In 1977, Miller had split up with his girlfriend. ...

and

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including " She Blinded M ...

." Their songs are "catchy synth pop that mixes

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

retrofuturism Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...

and pop art in a chrome blender and sets the contents jiggling to a hypnotic robo-rhythm" with "lyrics that offer quirky takes on SF tropes from

cyborgs A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

and clones to ray guns and erotic surveillance." Retrieved February 25, 2011.

History

Spleen, Pink Filth and Crevice

Jeff DeCuir starred separately in numerous bands leading up to Hyperbubble. An example is Spleen, a Jem and the Holograms tribute band, Jeff co-founded in 1989 and in which he played

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

under the name Stormer. Jeff first performed together with Jess Barnett DeCuir in the experimental dark ambient group Crevice and later, the "bouncy AM retro-pop" Pink Filth, both recording primarily with Uncle Buzz Records. In the latter band, the duo played under the stage names, Nick Velvet and Baby Jessica, working

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

and keyboards. The two married in 2000. Both bands mixed art with music, foreshadowing the pair's efforts with Hyperbubble. Crevice collaborated with American visual artist and composer Christian Marclay on the premier of Marclay's now-annual touring exhibit, ''The Sounds of Christmas'', in 1999. Pink Filth created music that was part of an installation by Jess as well as producing the CDs included with the comic books '' Warrior Nun Areala Special Edition'' No. 3 and '' Shotgun Mary CD Edition'' No. 1 by

Antarctic Press Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "Amerimanga" style comic books. The company also produces "how-to" and "you can" comics, instructing on areas of comic book creation and craft. Beginning in ...

Hyperbubble

The band started as a creation of Jeff. Hyperbubble first appeared as the attributed author of a track on the 1997 album ''Acid Ranch 2000''. Several years later, Jess joined him after the dissolution of Pink Filth to re-launch the concept band. In 2004, Hyperbubble debuted their first album, ''Sol!d Pop''. Described as "peppy synth pop par excellence," the album showcased their ability to apply "the breakneck pace of punk… to straight-up synthpop." Their music contained a wry sci-fi element, the duo labeling it "bionic bubblepunk." Hyperbubble was described as a band "in the proud tradition... of musicians pretending to be robots," but "taking the

android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

artifice to intentionally over-the-top extremes, then undercutting all the sci-fi hokum with flashes of genuine humanity." ''Sol!d Pop'' also displayed their persistent use of sampling; the band's most popular downloaded song, "Leon", even featured sounds from their cat. With their penchant for mixing, a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

version of the album soon followed. This tradition continued for future albums as well. Hyperbubble realized regional success with a showcase band slot at the

South by Southwest Music Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

and their 2007 album, ''Airbrushed Alibis'', named a best local album. The band was later voted Best Electronica Band in 2008 and runner-up Best Electronic Band in 2009 and Best Electronic Act in 2010 in the '' San Antonio Current''. They gained international recognition with recordings released by UK label Filthy Little Angels, which included ''Airbrushed Alibis''. The "retro-techno-bubblegum pop" album continued their "cartoonish,

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer t ...

view of the future, informed by 1960s visions of the 21st century as an era of flying cars and robotic romance." A 2008 dub version of the album heavily remixed and slowed down the pace of the original tracks. Huw Stephens featured the Hyperbubble song "Supermarket Casanova" on his nationally syndicated

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

program in 2007. Their tour of the UK the next year led to them being signed by

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

-based Bubblegum Records. Their first EP with the label, ''

Better Set Your Phasers to Stun ''Better Set Your Phasers to Stun'' is a 2009 EP by the American synthpop/electropop group Hyperbubble. The recording was in collaboration with the Welsh band Helen Love. Retrieved April 12, 2017 The title tracks cover Love's 2000 song with the ...

'', featured a collaboration with

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is considered disposable, contrived, or marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States ...

punk rocker Helen Love in which they covered her song from the title, with an added vocal track provided by her from her 1995 tune, " We Love You". The release completed their transition to a truly international group. Later in 2018, Love promoted the band in their music video for "Double Denim". Their next full-length CD, ''Candy Apple Daydreams'', was described as a "cartoon automaton symphony" and a "pop opera… utilizing an amazing overture theme that weaves in and out of the entire album." The music "sounds something like Madonna would sound...if her music were geared more towards school kids." The effort hit several best-of lists, including popular Scot

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

blogger the Pansentient League's top five synthpop albums, Electro and Pop's Top Albums of 2010 (France) and Favorite Albums Of 2010 by the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'', which also dubbed it "the best electronic album to come out of Texas since

Asmodeus X Asmodeus X is an American electro-industrial band whose music is frequently characterized as a mixture of EBM and darkwave and typically includes the use of environmental sampling.Dj Cybergoth''Asmodeus X Mourningstar (Electrogeneration album of ...

's ''Morningstar''.Jef With One F (February 16, 2010)
''Post-Valentine's Day Blues? San Antonio's Hyperbubble Will Cheer You Up''
Houston Press. The title track further made the English Electricity Club's top 30 songs of the year. Releases in 2011 included their LP, '' Drastic Cinematic'' with the German label, Pure Pop For Now People. Characterized as a soundtrack to an imaginary

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...

film, the album possesses a darker and more atmospheric mood than their previous efforts.

Manda Rin Manda Rin (real name Amanda MacKinnon, born 22 March 1977) is a Scottish singer, artist and songwriter. She is the singer and keyboard player of the Scottish indie rock band Bis, later fronted the Kitchen and also released a solo album. She als ...

of the Scottish band Bis contributed guest vocals along with sampled sounds from her cat, Akiko. An extended CD/

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...

version from Bubblegum notably adds a remix of their song "Welcome to Infinity" by Mark Towns, who previously worked on '' Hits! The Very Best of Erasure''. The collaboration with Manda Rin continued in a 2013 release, '' Hyperbubble + Manda Rin''.

2015–present

In 2015, the band released its first live album, '' Live in London'', drawn from a performance a year earlier at The Lexington in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. Retrieved April 12, 2017. The concert was part of a larger bill featuring Helen Love. The release primarily featured live versions of songs from their first three albums. On their 2017 album ''

Western Ware ''Western Ware'' is an album by the American synth-pop/electropop band Hyperbubble from Fellowshipwreck released on February 26, 2017. An aim of the collection was to follow through on the promise of band member Jess DeCuir to "plan to produce, mix ...

'', they teamed with Scott Simon of

Our Daughter's Wedding Our Daughter's Wedding was an American synthpop trio, consisting of Layne Rico on Synare synthesizer, Keith Silva on vocals and keyboards, and Scott Simon on bass-synth and saxophone. Though the group was based in New York, Silva and Rico were f ...

to record the missing title track of their 1981 ''Digital Cowboy'' EP. They also collaborated with Rikki & Daz on their cover of the duo's " Rhinestone Cowboy". In 2018, ''Electronic Sound Magazine'' bundled with their print issue a compilation CD ''Man & Machine'' commemorating

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize t ...

that included Hyperbubble's "Bionic Girl" from their ''Sol!d Pop'' album alongside tracks by

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau ...

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the new wave band Ultravox, before leaving to embark on a ...

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolv ...

's Chris Carter and

Meat Beat Manifesto Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the on ...

. Co-founder of the NY Theremin Society

Dorit Chrysler Dorit Chrysler, born as Dorit Kreisler, is a renowned Austrian born composer, thereminist and sound artist. She has written music for films, TV and video art featured in museum collections such as the Guggenheim and MoMA. Dorit co-founded the Ne ...

included Hyperbubble's "(I'm Your) Satellite" in the Society's 2020 album marking the centenary of the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

. The song appeared in both 12-track vinyl and 21-track CD versions of the compilation "THEREMIN100", along with pieces by noted thereminists Chrysler,

Carolina Eyck Carolina Eyck (born 26 December 1987) is a German- Sorb musician specialising in playing the Theremin, an electronic instrument. Her performances around the world have helped to promote the unusual musical instrument. Biography German-born musi ...

, The Radio Science Orchestra and Lydia Kavina. They also collaborated with '' Jem and the Holograms'' lead

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

artist

Samantha Newark Samantha Newark (born 27 June 1967) is an English-born American musician, singer and actress. She is best known for her voice-over work as the speaking voice of Jem and Jerrica in the animated cartoon series '' Jem''. As a teenager, Newark became ...

on a remix of her "Hologram" for her 2021 album ''Hologram 2.0''.

Hyperbubble as visual art

An intrinsic component of Hyperbubble is the integration of pop culture and the performing and visual arts into its performances, music videos and packaging. This is informed by the duo's art background. Jess received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...

from the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a public research university in San Antonio, Texas. With over 34,000 students across its four campuses spanning 758 acres, UTSA is the largest university in San Antonio and the eighth-largest by ...

and is an art department faculty member at

San Antonio College San Antonio College (SAC) is a public community college in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the Alamo Colleges District and the oldest public two-year college in Texas. The college has an average semester enrollment of 22,028 credit students an ...

and the Southwest School of Art.Faculty & Adjuncts
Southwest School of Art. Retrieved March 4, 2020. Jeff who has a B.F.A. from the University of Texas San Antonio served as an instructor at the

International Academy of Design and Technology San Antonio International Academy of Design and Technology - San Antonio was one location of the International Academy of Design and Technology. It was a for-profit college offering specialized associate degrees in various types of design. The IADT – Sa ...

prior to his current stint at the Southwest School of Art. He also designs show flyer and CD and album cover art. In keeping with their art background, the band debuted at the Cactus Bra Space in San Antonio's Blue Star Arts Complex on November 6, 2003 and continues to perform in art spaces. In 2007, the band played in support of an exhibit opening by new wave musician/artist of

, Mark Mothersbaugh, entitled "Postcard Diaries." The duo views the band as "a complete audio-visual package." The San Antonio Luminaria Festival invited Hyperbubble to perform as a multidisciplinary and visual artist. One year, they played at the festival inside a giant pink TV set dressed as superheroes. The ''San Antonio Current'' observed that the Hyperbubble aesthetic on stage and through their website "is defined by clean lines, lots of open space, primary colors, and a judicious under-use of words." A local online magazine summed up the group as "more than just a band, Hyperbubble is a collection of symbols, including text, graphic art, audio, video, live performance, and photography." Hyperbubble has integrated their music into art and

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...

installations by Jess and collaborated on a 2009 sound art project by regional artists Jen Khoshbin and Paul Lewis. The band itself has produced stand-alone visual art to accompany their music such as for the Sleeveface photo exhibit and ''Covers and Sleevefaces'' release at Lieu Commun in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. In 2016, they performed at the San Antonio Museum of Art in conjunction with their release of ''Music to Color By'' and a companion coloring book, ''Coloring Book Concert'', illustrated by the duo.

Side projects

Hyperbubble contributed music for Gracie DuVin, drum programming for The Gilliam Section's song "Solus" on their 2009 eponymous album (WMT/Habitual Grace Recordings) and backing vocals for Femme Fatality's 2008 ''One's Not Enough'' on

Stickfigure Records Stickfigure Records is an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia. It was created in the winter of 1992 to cater to the underground scene of independent music. Stickfigure Releases *Airoes "my zipper got stuck" CD * Blame Game "anthology" ...

. They also provided vocals for "The Very Nerve Centre Of Art/Video Cliche" on Spray's 2016 ''Enforced Fun''. Hyperbubble also produced music for commercials, a podcast and films, including a stop-motion film.Modsnap TV intro
Retrieved October 2, 2014. In 2006, they supplied theme and incidental music for San Antonio-based ''Modsnap,'' a

public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was cre ...

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

show on fashion. They won Best Musical Score for ''Dee Dee Rocks the Galaxy'' at the 2014 San Antonio 48 Hour Film Project. Both members occasionally recorded for the

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

group Moonrox. Jeff also supplied the theme song for the webseries ''Nightlife the Series'' under the name "Macchio Man." Jessica performed theremin for Wolverton's 2017 album ''Wizard Land''.''Wizard Land'' by Wolverton
Retrieved August 30, 2017.

Members

*Jess DeCuir – Lead vocals, Keyboards, Electronic Drum Pads,

Theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

(2003-) *Jeff DeCuir –

Backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

, Sequencer,

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

Vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

(1997-)

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Sol!d Pop'', 2004 – Uncle Buzz Records (Socket Sounds) * ''Airbrushed Alibis'', 2007 – Filthy Little Angels (UK) * ''Candy Apple Daydreams'', 2010 – Bubblegum Records (UK) * '' Drastic Cinematic'', 2011 – Pure Pop For Now People (Germany) * ''Music to Color By'', 2016 – Pure Pop For Now People * ''

'', 2017 – Fellowshipwreck

Soundtracks

* ''Attack of the Titans'', 2014 – Pure Pop For Now People * ''Dee Dee Rocks the Galaxy'', 2015 – Pure Pop For Now People

Remixes of Hyperbubble

*"Passing Phase (Remix)", Wytebred, 2005 *"Passing Phase (Crazy DJ Mix)", Skyliber, 2005 *"Passing Phase (Remix)", DJ 486, 2005 *"Psychic Connection (Remix)", Psychomantis, 2005 *"Psychic Connection (Remix)", Love in the Space Age, 2005 *"Nervous System (Because of My Dog Mix)", Stolearm, 2007 *"Hyperactive (Stolearm's Nightmare Mix)", Track No. 3 and "Supermarket Casanova (Stolearm's Nightmare Mix)", Track No. 9, ''Remixes + collaborations'', Stolearm, 2010

Footnotes and references

External links

Official sites
Hyperbubble.net
Notable Interviews and Articles * Allen, Sanford
''Made in SA: Hyperbubble''
Missions Unknown. January 29, 2010. * Pomranz, Kristyn
''Silent Night''
Riverfront Times. December 22–28, 2005, page 60. * Vaughn, Paul
''POLYSICS & Hyperbubble Shake Down the White Rabbit.''
Missions Unknown. January 22, 2010. * Vaughn, Paul
''Candy Apple Daydreams - New Video from Hyperbubble''
Missions Unknown. July 5, 2010. * Vaughn, Paul
''Hyperbubble's Latest Video: Chop Shop Cop.''
Missions Unknown. October 1, 2010. {{Authority control Musical groups from San Antonio Musical groups established in 1997 American synth-pop groups American multimedia artists American pop music duos Male–female musical duos Electronic music duos