André Allen Anjos, better known by his stage name RAC, is a

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

-based Portuguese-American musician and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. RAC has created more than 200

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 ...

es in the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

, and dance music genres for various musical artists, with his work featured in ads from

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

and

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...

, among others. The live, five-piece touring act has been featured at the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

Firefly Music Festival Firefly Music Festival is a music festival produced by AEG Presents that was first held on July 20–22, 2012, in Dover, Delaware. Firefly takes place in The Woodlands of Dover Motor Speedway, a festival ground, over the span of three days. M ...

Bumbershoot Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend (leading up to and including the first Monday of September) at th ...

, Corona Capital music festival and

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Mus ...

music festival.

Early life

André Anjos was born in 1985 in

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, to a US-American mother and a Portuguese father. Anjos's family moved frequently and he has stated that he attended “ten different schools” until his parents settled in

Santa Maria da Feira Santa Maria da Feira () is a city and a municipality in Aveiro District in Portugal, 23 km from central Porto. The population in 2011 was 139,309,Greenville College Greenville University is a private university in Greenville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church. Established as Greenville College in 1892, the institution was renamed Greenville University in 2017. History In 1855, Stephe ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. At college he met his wife Liz, who was a piano major. They moved to Portland after graduating and have been based there since. As a musician, Liz Anjos performs under the name ''Pink Feathers''. Anjos' parents and brother also live in the US. In 2021,it is believed that Liz and André divorced.

Music career

Founding Remix Artist Collective

The Remix Artist Collective was created in January 2007 by André Allen Anjos, after recruiting fellow online remixers Aaron Jasinski and Chris Angelovski. Originally from

Porto, Portugal Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Anjos founded RAC in

Greenville, Illinois : Greenville is a city in Bond County, Illinois, United States, east of St. Louis. The population as of the 2020 census was 7,083, up from 7,000 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bond County. Greenville is part of the St. Louis M ...

, U.S. while he was a student at

Greenville College Greenville University is a private university in Greenville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church. Established as Greenville College in 1892, the institution was renamed Greenville University in 2017. History In 1855, Stephe ...

, and became coordinator of the Remix Artist Collective. Later, Andrew Maury (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

) and Karl Kling (

) joined RAC. RAC's first release was "Sleeping Lessons (RAC Mix)" for

The Shins The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's c ...

, earning the remix a spot as a B-Side on the single release for " ''Australia''." The mix, along with several other projects garnered interest among bands like

Tokyo Police Club Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. The band found early success with the ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Louise Bartle (d ...

, and

Ra Ra Riot Ra Ra Riot is an American indie rock band consisting of vocalist Wes Miles, bassist Mathieu Santos, guitarist Milo Bonacci, violinist Rebecca Zeller and drummer Kenny Bernard. History Ra Ra Riot formed in January 2006, playing at houses and venu ...

. RAC's 2008 ''Sega Vs. Nintendo'' EP spurred interest by bloggers and earned a headline from the gaming site

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

. In addition to the mention and posting of remixes by online publications such as

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 ...

and

Brooklyn Vegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...

, RAC has received more formal recognition in a full-length feature cover article for the St. Louis ''

Riverfront Times The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') is a free progressive weekly newspaper in St. Louis, in the U.S. state of Missouri, that consists of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to blogs and photo galle ...

'', an online interview with Stereo Subversion, and an exclusive free mp3 debut through

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awa ...

Recent years with solo project

RAC has remixed artists such as

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and ...

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, Glamour (presentation), glamour, and melan ...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are comp ...

, Edward Sharpe,

Death Cab For Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyb ...

, Phoenix,

Foster The People Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. Its members are singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis. Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and dr ...

Two Door Cinema Club Two Door Cinema Club are a band from Bangor, Northern Ireland. The band formed in 2007 and is composed of three members: Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, beats, synths), Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Kevin Baird (bass, syn ...

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

, U2,

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, i ...

, New Order,

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

Odesza Odesza (; stylized as ODESZA) is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly bef ...

, and

Washed Out Ernest Weatherly Greene Jr. (born October 3, 1982), known professionally as Washed Out, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Commonly associated with the chillwave genre in the 2010s, Pitchfork dubbed him "the godfather of chi ...

. RAC released their first original song "Hollywood" featuring

Penguin Prison Penguin Prison is an electropop project composed solely of New York City singer, musician, producer and remixer Chris Glover. Penguin Prison's self-titled debut album was released on 18 October 2011 through Downtown Records to positive reviews. B ...

's Chris Glover via Green Label Sound on May 3, 2012. "Hollywood" was the promotional single to the debut RAC original album. RAC released their second original song "Let Go" featuring Bloc Party's Kele and

MNDR Amanda Lucille Warner (born September 12, 1982), known professionally as MNDR, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. She rose to prominence after being featured on Mark Ronson & The Business Intl's 2010 single " Bang Bang Bang" ...

on August 20, 2013. "Let Go" was the second single from their EP "Don't Talk To", released October 1, 2013. RAC's debut studio album as Anjos' solo project, ''Strangers'', was released on April 1, 2014. Anjos now resides in the USA. The title refers to the fact that the album was primarily made on line, with Anjos never meeting most of the collaborators in real life. Outside of remixing, Anjos has done work creating original music content for HBO's ''Entourage,'' and was a principal member of the indie-electronica band, The Pragmatic until its end in 2010. RAC also composed and performed the soundtrack for the videogame ''Master Spy''. RAC performed at music festivals including the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Firefly Music Festival, Bumbershoot, the Corona Capital music festival, Ultra Music Festival and the Lollapalooza. RAC was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for ''Say My Name'' (

featuring Zyra) in 2016. Its remix of Bob Moses' "Tearing Me Up" won

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in sever ...

at the

59th Annual Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, ...

in 2017. RAC played a major role in the production of

's seventh studio album

One More Light ''One More Light'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on May 19, 2017, through Warner Bros. Records and Machine Shop. It is the last Linkin Park album to feature lead vocalist Chester Bennington befo ...

. RAC frequently collaborates with Pink Feathers, the music project of Anjos' wife, Liz Anjos. They met at college in Illinois and moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

after graduation. Besides being a musician, Liz Anjos is also a sub-3-hour

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

er. As of 2021, André and Liz have split. André is currently dating American model, Ireland Baldwin.

Style and influences

The vision of the Remix Artist Collective was to maintain a style of remixing that strays from the "club mix" archetype, creating new incarnations of

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

s that stem from the original structure, but expand on their

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other ...

and musical

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

. Early RAC mixes typically feature a blend of hip-hop and vintage drum machine samples,

analog synthesizers An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of v ...

melodic A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combina ...

hooks, and original

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

performed by the remix artists themselves.

Annie Zaleski Annie Zaleski is an American music journalist and author. Career Zaleski is a regular writer for mainstream media outlets such as The A.V. Club and NPR Music, and a columnist at ''Salon''. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio where she has won f ...

of the ''Riverfront Times'' wrote of Anjos' style: "Unlike many electronic remixes, which are commonly technical and precise, RAC mixes embody a unique aesthetic built on emotion and nuance, an almost intangible warmth and innate playfulness." Anjos' signature remixing sound is in large part a result of some of his equipment, notably, a 1982

Roland Juno-60 The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally contro ...

and 1973

Univox Univox was a musical instrument brand of Unicord Corporation from the early 1960s, when they purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America of Westbury, New York and began to market a line of guitar amplifiers. Univox also distributed guitars by ...

MiniKorg, though he has also been known to manipulate analog tape machines to achieve effects, and primarily works with

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool ...

to do so.

Members of Remix Artist Collective

;Current members *André Allen Anjos ;Former members * Andrew Maury *Karl Kling *Aaron Jasinski * Chris Angelovski

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Grammy Awards

! , - !scope="row", 2016 , "Say My Name" (RAC Remix) ,

Best Remixed Recording The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in sever ...

, , , - !scope="row",

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, "Tearing Me Up" (RAC Remix) ,

, , , - !scope="row",

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, "Do You Ever" (RAC Mix) ,

, ,

References

External links

RAC.fm

Official SoundCloud page
{{Authority control Counter Records artists American people of Portuguese descent Remixers Musicians from Porto