Is Tropical are a band from

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, with members as of 2014 including Simon Milner, Gary Barber, Dominic Apa, and Kirstie Fleck. Formed in 2009 as a trio, in June 2011 they released their debut album ''Native To'', preceded by the single "The Greeks", which had a music video win awards at the

UK Music Video Awards The UK Music Video Awards is an annual celebration of creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced fo ...

. Their first EP, ''Flags'', was released in 2013, while their second album ''I'm Leaving'' was released that year on the label Kitsuné. They have toured with bands such as

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, and are signed to

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in New York. The band's third album, ''Black Anything,'' was released in March 2016.

History

2009-13: ''Native To''

Formed in

in 2009, the band released their debut single "When O’ When" on Hit Club Records in January 2010, produced by Al Al Al. They were soon signed to French music and fashion label Kitsuné. The band entered the studio in the autumn of 2010 with Jimmy Robertson to record their debut album, and released the single "South Pacific" in Jan 2011. This second release and first for their new label Kitsuné / Cooperative Music, was mixed by LEXXX. Around this time they toured the UK and Europe as special guests of

Klaxons Klaxons were an English rock band, based in London. Following the release of several 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles " Magick" and "Golden Skans", the band released their debut ...

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and also co-headlined a tour with

. In June 2011 they released their debut album ''Native to'', preceded by the single "The Greeks". "The Greeks" was accompanied by a video directed by French directors

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, which quickly went viral (almost 3,500,000 plays to date on YouTube, and over 10,000,000 on Chinese YouTube). The video was critically praised and has won several awards such as The Antville Music Video Awards 2011,

2011,

D&AD Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. I ...

Yellow Pencil Award 2012, and an

Artrocker Artrocker is a UK-based collective involved in music promotion and publishing. It was started by Paul Cox and Tom Fawcett who had been co-promoters of a London night called The Sausage Machine. Having started life with an online newsletter and eve ...

Award. After the release of ''Native to'' and of single "Lies", the band spent rest of 2011 and part of 2012 touring Europe, USA (with

Crystal Fighters Crystal Fighters are an English-Spanish electronic music band, formed in 2007, in London, England, and in Navarre, Spain. Their debut album, ''Star of Love'', was released in October 2010 in the UK and was released in the US through Atlantic Re ...

), Japan, South America and the Far East.

2013-14: ''Flags'' and ''I'm Leaving''

In January 2013, Is Tropical released an EP, titled ''Flags'', featuring artists Get People, Visions, Drugzndreamz, Goodbye Leopold and Owen Pratt. The band released their second album ''I’m Leaving'' on 20 May 2013 on

Kitsune In Japanese folklore, , are foxes that possess paranormal abilities that increase as they get older and wiser. According to ''yōkai'' folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of employing t ...

/ Pias. The album was produced by Luke Smith. The first single taken from the album is "Dancing Anymore", accompanied by a video by previous collaborators

, which gained notoriety and was removed from YouTube within hours of its release due to its graphic depiction of imagined sexual acts between a young man and naked CG characters. The second single, 'Lover's Cave' was released on 26 August 2013. The video was directed by cult New York photographer

Richard Kern Richard Kern (born 1954) is an American underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to prominence as part of the cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films like ' ...

. In April 2013, Is Tropical became one of the first Western bands to play in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

. Their trip was filmed by

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media ...

with a 2 parts documentary and in an article by

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Awards and nominations

Antville Music Video Awards , - , rowspan="4" , 2011 , rowspan="4" , "The Greeks" , Video of the Year , , - , Most Fun , , - , Best Editing , , - , rowspan="2" , Best Visual Effects , , - , rowspan="2" , 2013 , rowspan="2" , "Dancing Anymore" , , - , Most Fun , D&AD Awards , - , 2012 , "The Greeks" , rowspan=2, Music Video , style="background:#FFBF00", Yellow Pencil , - , 2014 , "Dancing Anymore" , style="background:#FFBF00", Yellow Pencil UK Music Video Awards , - , rowspan="2" , 2011 , rowspan="2" , "The Greeks" , Best Animation , , - , rowspan="2" , Best Rock/Indie Video - UK , , - , rowspan="2" , 2013 , rowspan="2" , "Dancing Anymore" , , - , Best Animation ,

Discography

LPs

''Native To''

''I'm Leaving''

''Black Anything''

EPs

''Flags EP''

Singles

*2010: "When O' When" *2010: "South Pacific" *2011: "The Greeks" *2011: "Lies" *2013: "Dancing Anymore" *2013: "Lover's Cave"

References

External links

{{Authority control English electronic music groups Kitsuné artists