Torpedo Boyz at Monarch / Saturday, 07.11.2015

In 2015, four years after their last album release, the Torpedo Boyz are about to break free again! Berlin’s Torpedo Boyz — winners of the 2009 Independent Music Award for best dance/electronica album for Cum On Feel the Boyz – came into existence as a spark of an idea and, as their new album, Return of the Ausländers, shows, they continue to constantly evolve.

All began back in 2004. That’s when Kentastic — a pop DJ who also fronted an indie band — and former house DJ Rollin Hand began screwing around with some beats during a recording session and came up with the rowdy, rambunctious “Gimme a Bassline!” Initially released as a one-off 12-inch, the track immediately struck a chord, quickly climbing into the Top Five of the German club charts. Soon after, New York’s Ursula 1000 included the track on his Ursadelica compilation, released by Thievery Corporation’s ESL label, and Puma snapped up the tune for a major TV campaign.

Their musicianship, infectious energy, and zany outfits helped take what was already becoming a global phenomenon to the next level. In rejecting the rules of electronic-production-duo-by-the-numbers, the Boyz won over audiences everywhere they played, from Los Angeles to Canada’s Whistler to Moscow and back home in Berlin. Word of their incredible live show spread along with their tunes, and in 2009 the band was invited to tour Asia and Spain. Alongside these full-band gigs, Kentastic continued to spread the funk Torpedo style with DJ appearances, jetting around the world to spin in the UK and US, France, Israel, Portugal, Korea, China, Holland, Russia, Spain, Hungary, Japan, Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Canada, and all across Germany. Which finally brings us up to the present, and the Torpedo Boyz’ third LP, Return of the Ausländers. The title is a rye comment on the Boyz’ all-encompassing philosophy, with their lyrics in Japanese, English and German, and their musical miscegeny blurring borders between genres.