Kavinsky

Kavinsky

Kavinsky at The Academy Gallery in Montreal, 2007
Background information
Birth name Vincent Pierre Claude Belorgey
Born (1975-07-31) July 31, 1975
Seine-Saint-Denis, France
Genres
Years active 2006–2015
Labels Record Makers
Associated acts
Website facebook.com/KavinskyOfficial

Vincent Pierre Claude Belorgey[1] (born July 31, 1975), known as Kavinsky (sometimes stylized as KΔVINϟKY), is a French house artist whose production style is very reminiscent of the electropop film soundtracks of the 1980s.[2] Kavinsky claimed that his music is inspired by thousands of movies he watched as a young boy and that he has cherry-picked the best parts from them, consolidating them into one concept.[3] Kavinsky has been compared to many similar French house artists including Daft Punk and Danger. He achieved greater mainstream recognition after his track "Nightcall" was featured in the 2011 film Drive.

Biography

After many years as an actor, Kavinsky's musical career started in 2005 after being inspired by his close friends Jackson Fourgeaud and Quentin Dupieux, the latter director also included Kavinsky's music in his film Steak. During this period Kavinsky produced his first single "Testarossa Autodrive" which was inspired by the Testarossa model of Ferrari (one of which Vincent drives in real life).[3] Kavinsky presented the single to Quentin, who in turn presented it to a record label he had access to because of his filming career, and Kavinsky signed with Record Makers.[4][5]

Subsequently Kavinsky went on to release three EPs on the Record Makers label: Teddy Boy in 2006, 1986 a year later, and Nightcall with Lovefoxxx of CSS in 2010.[5] During this period, Kavinsky's fellow producer Surkin jokingly claimed in an interview that Kavinsky was his father and has since toured alongside Daft Punk, The Rapture, Justice, and SebastiAn in 2007.[6] He has also been remixed by SebastiAn and other notable electro artists.[7]

The SebastiAn remix of "Testarossa Autodrive" off the 1986 EP is featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Kavinsky's single "Nightcall" was featured in the opening credits of the film Drive, and became a major hit soon after.[6]

In December 2012 he released "ProtoVision" and on 25 February 2013 released the studio album OutRun.[8][9] After a brief hiatus lasting for 9 months, Kavinsky reappeared with the single "Sovereign", released in November 2014; and has since as of 2016 released no new singles to date.

Character history

Kavinsky is a character made by Vincent Belorgey that has a striking resemblance to Vincent himself but the backstory does not follow anything in Belorgey's history. Kavinsky's story is that after crashing his Testarossa in 1986, he reappeared as a zombie in 2006 to make his own electronic music.[4] Kavinsky's songs help tell his story; Vincent claims in an interview, "'Night Call' is just about the zombie guy [who] goes to his girlfriend's house and says okay I'm not the same, we need to talk", referring to Kavinsky going back to find his girlfriend after the crash who has already moved on with her life.[5]

Equipment

In interview, Kavinsky stated that the entirety of Teddy Boy was written and recorded on a Yamaha DX7, which was famous and notable for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.[10] Kavinsky originally started making music on an old Apple computer given to him by his friend Mr. Oizo.[5]

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album and details Peak positions
FRA
[11]		 BEL
(Fl)
[12]		 BEL
(Wa)
[13]		 SWI
2013 OutRun
  • Released: February 22, 2013
  • Label: Record Makers
  • Formats: Digital download, vinyl, CD
 2 37 28 38

Extended plays

Year Title Release date Label
2006 Teddy Boy January 16, 2006 Record Makers
2007 1986 February 20, 2007
2008 Blazer July 1, 2008 Fool's Gold Records
2010 Nightcall March 26, 2010 Record Makers
2011 Nightcall {{small|(Anniversary Edition)}} November 11, 2011
2013 ProtoVision February 11, 2013
Odd Look February 22, 2013

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
FRA
[11]		 BEL
(Fl)
[12]		 BEL
(Wa)
[13]		 SWI
2010 "Nightcall" (featuring Lovefoxxx) 10 28 16 — OutRun
2012 "Roadgame" 12 — —* 74
"ProtoVision" 52 — — —
2013 "Odd Look" (featuring SebastiAn) 46 — — —
"Blizzard" 167 — — —
"Odd Look" (featuring The Weeknd) — 18 10 — Odd Look and Kiss Land

! scope="row"|"sovereign" * Did not appear in the official Belgian Wallonia Ultratop 50 chart, but peaked at number 32 on the Ultratip chart.

Remixes

Year Artist Title
2007 Klaxons "Gravity's Rainbow"
M.I.A. "Roder" (A-Trak Re-work)
2008 Sébastien Tellier "Roche"
2011 SebastiAn "Embody"

Music videos

Year Title Director Release date Label
2006 "Testarossa Autodrive" Jonas & François June 23, 2006 Record Makers
2009 "Dead Cruiser" — February, 2009
2012 "ProtoVision"[14] Marcus Herring December 12, 2012
2013 "Odd Look" August 6, 2013

Soundtracks

Year Title Director Song
2011 The Lincoln Lawyer Brad Furman "Nightcall"
2011 Drive Nicolas Winding Refn "Nightcall"

Video games

Year Title Platform Song
2007 Gran Turismo 5 Prologue PlayStation 3 "Testarossa Autodrive (SebastiAn Remix)"
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows "Testarossa Autodrive (SebastiAn Remix)"
2013 Kavinsky Downloadable app, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows OutRun album

Filmography

Year Title Director Role
2001 Nonfilm Quentin Dupieux Pattt
2003 Aaltra Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine Agent SNCF
2004 Atomik Circus, le retour de James Bataille Didier Poiraud and Thierry Poiraud Boon / Ricardo Bello-Radio Skotlett
2005 Ultranova Bouli Lanners Verbrugghe
2007 Steak Quentin Dupieux Dan

References

  1. ↑ As credited in the film Drive.
  2. ↑ "Portishead's Geoff Barrow to release 'Drive' soundtrack on vinyl | News". Nme.Com. 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  3. 1 2 "Kavinsky on BIGSTEREO". This.bigstereo.net. 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  4. 1 2 Rhoads, Celeste. "Kavinsky - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Belorgey, V. (2011, October 5). Kavinsky (Interview by A. Mendoza & R. Oh) [Blog post]. Retrieved from BIGSTEREO website: http://this.bigstereo.net/2011/10/05/kavinsky/
  6. 1 2 Linkedin, & Slideshare. (2012, January 28). Kavinsky [Speech transcript]. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from Slideshare website: http://www.slideshare.net/Skywalker2011/kavinsky-11785946
  7. ↑ "Kavinsky biography". Artistwiki.com. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  8. ↑ Staff. (2012, December 10). Kavinsky: "ProtoVision" (Steam/Official Video) [Editorial]. Retrieved December 14, 2012, from Prefixmag website: http://www.prefixmag.com/media/kavinsky/protovision-streamofficial-video/72418
  9. ↑ "Timeline Photos". Facebook. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  10. ↑ "Kavinsky Interview". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  11. 1 2 LesCharts.com: Kavinsky discography
  12. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Kavinsky page". Ultratop.be/nl/. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  13. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Kavinsky page". Ultratop.be/fr/. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  14. ↑ "Kavinsky - Protovision". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-02-27.

External links

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