Blue Foundation
Blue Foundation is a Danish band. Their cinematic dream pop, shoegaze and electronics inspired compositions are known for being featured in films such as Twilight, Miami Vice and on TV shows including and The Vampire Diaries.
Danish Tobias Wilner founded the group in 2000 recruiting a rotating cast of traditional musicians throughout the band's history to inspire creativity. Since 2003 the core of the band has been Tobias Wilner and Bo Rande, based in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn and Copenhagen, Denmark.
Blue Foundation released their fifth album Blood Moon worldwide on September 2, 2016. The album featured appearances from Mark Kozelek, Erika Spring, Jonas Bjerre, Sonya Kitchell, Sara Savery and Findlay Brown.
History
Blue Foundation released their first 7" via Moshi Moshi Records, and their first, self-titled, album was released shortly thereafter. Three years later, in 2003, the band signed with EMI/Warner Music releasing 2 critically acclaimed albums, released in the US through Astralwerks Records.In 2008, Blue Foundation established their own imprint, Dead Peoples Choice, that so far has released two albums and one remix album. Blue Foundation gained major recognition with a remix by Zeds Dead of their song "Eyes On Fire", reaching a no. 3 ranking on iTunes Electronic Music Chart. Today "Eyes On Fire" has more than 35 million YouTube plays, while the "Zeds Dead"-remix has exceeded 110 million YouTube plays. During the years Blue Foundation have expanded their audience, embracing today both the underground and the alternative mainstream.
Blue Foundation has been featured in major films such as Twilight, Miami Vice and on TV shows including CSI: Miami and The Vampire Diaries. Their music is sampled by ex Lil Durk feat. French Montana on "Fly High", Young Thug on "She Noticed" and on Curren$y’s "Hustler".
Today's live line-up includes Italian Federico Ughi on drums and American Sonya Kitchell. Despite her only 28-years, US Grammy-winner Sonya Kitchell already released three solo albums plus appearances on Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell albums to her name. Blue Foundation have toured extensively around Europe, Asia and the US through the years, performing alongside bands like Faithless, Mew, The Killers and DJ Krush.
Bo Rande is an accomplished musician, songwriter and producer, as well as a trumpet-player known for his tone and style. His style encompasses jazz, world music, pop music and ambient. He is also a member of the Danish band The William Blakes and the sought after klezmer orchestra Mames Babegenush. He has toured the world with Mames Babegenush, playing both Carnegie Hall, Argentina and around Europe. Besides that he has been a sought after musician, playing with Mew, Apparatjik, Efterklang and many many others, both live and on recording.
On October 2005, Tobias Wilner released an album with his side project, Bichi. The title of the album is Notwithstanding, and is released by Thomas Knak on his label, Hobby Industries. Some of the Bichi work would later turn into Blue Foundation songs. The Blue Foundation song, This is Goodbye, from the movie Manslaughter, was originally the instrumental song Revolve In The Sun/My Footfalls Are Superfluous, from the album Notwithstanding. Also, the Bichi song It Begins, featured in the movie Waking Madison, by Katherine Brooks, was re-recorded and later released as a Blue Foundation version.
On February 1, 2009, Tobias Wilner establish DPC Records, mainly to release Blue Foundation, Bichi and his band Ghost Society. Later that year Blue Foundation went double platinum in USA for the Twilight Soundtrack. The album was certified double platinum on April 16, 2009.
The Blue Foundation song Watch you Sleeping, with singer songwriter Mark Kozelek, and former member Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg was released as a single on DPC.
Blue Foundation contributed with two songs for the soundtrack of the award-winning documentary film Tankograd, by director Boris Benjamin Bertram. One of the songs signals a change in female vocalists. The lead vocals are done by Sara Savery.
Blue Foundation also did the soundtrack for the short film Go All Day, featuring professional skateboarder Chaz Ortiz, Directed by Steve Berra and Colin Kennedy, and Produced by Gatorade and The Berrics. The score was later released as the Blue Foundation single Red Hook, in a cooperation between The Berrics and DPC Records.
DPC Records announced that the band is working on a new album in their Brooklyn studio. It is meant to be released in 2016.
Influences
When Blue Foundation started out they were influenced by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, Broadcast, Faust, DJ Krush, Friction and Can.Discography
Studio albums
- Blue Foundation
- Sweep of Days
- Solid Origami collected, reworked and remixed
- Life of a Ghost
- In My Mind I Am Free
- In My Mind I Am Free / Reconstructed
- Blood Moon
EP
- Dead People's Choice
- It Begins
- Live In Zhangbei
Singles
- "Hollywood & Hide" 7"
- "Hollywood & Wiseguy" 12"
- "As I Moved On" 12"
- "End of the Day"
- "This is Goodbye"
- "Embers" 7"
- "Crosshair"
- "Enemy"
- "Eyes on Fire"
- "Watch you Sleeping" feat. Mark Kozelek / "Dream "
- "Heads on Fire"
- "Broken Life"
- "Red Hook"
- "Lost"
- "Live From Brooklyn"
Remix work
- Klart Der! Jorden Kalder Blue Foundation & Mixologists Remix
- Fauna Flash Mother Nature Blue Foundation Remix
- Mew Symmetry Blue Foundation Remix
- Zeds Dead "Eyes On Fire" Blue Foundation Remix
- Jonas Bjerre Window Pane Blue Foundation Remix
- Ghost Society Under The Sun Blue Foundation Remix
- Apparatjik Datascroller Blue Foundation Remix
- Allies For Everyone Supernatural Blue Foundation Remix
- Ninety's Remix "Bonfires" Blue Foundation Remix
Compilations
- Confusion
- Benetton's Colors: A Nordic Compilation
- Warp Factor
- Who Shot Jacques Laverne?
- We Got Monkeys: Five Years Of Moshi Moshi Records
- Paris mixed by Nick Warren
- Sequential vol 2. mixed by Hernan Cattaneo
- Director's Cut: Music from the Films of Michael Mann
- Sirenes
- Michael Moshi's Moshi Mixtape
- Compost Downbeat Selection, Vol. 1
- Sound of Dubstep 3
- Together We Are Not Alone
Selected soundtracks
- Manslaughter August 26, 2005
- Nordkraft 2005
- Miami Vice July 18, 2006
- Twilight November 4, 2008
- Normal March 26, 2009
- Tankograd May 16, 2011
Selected TV shows
- The O.C. - Season 2, Episode 7: The Family Ties, feat. Save This Town by Blue Foundation January 6, 2005
- - feat. End of the Day by Blue Foundation 2008
- Anna Pihl - feat. Crosshair by Blue Foundation 2008
- So You Think You Can Dance - 1 episode, Top 14 Perform feat. Eyes On Fire by Blue Foundation July 1, 2009
- The Cleveland Show - feat. Eyes On Fire by Blue Foundation October 30, 2011
- The Vampire Diaries - Season 4, Episode 8: Eyes On Fire by Blue Foundation December 6, 2012
Music for contemporary dance
- Overloadlady by Sara Gebran. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner. Premiered August 1999
- Hurtdetail by Tim Feldmann. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner. Premiered at "Plovdiv Center of Contemporary Art" in Bulgaria, on May 13, 2000.
- Hendrix House by Tim Feldmann. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner and David Linton. Premiered at Pakhus 11 April 22nd 2003
- eXPLORnography by Tim Feldmann. Musical scores by Tobias Wilner. May 2005
Members
- Tobias Wilner – vocals, bass guitar, guitar, programming, synthesizer, percussion, production, engineering
- Bo Rande – trumpet, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion, production
- Daisuke Kiyasu – vj
- Anders Bertram – guitar
- Tatsuki Oshima – vinyl manipulation
- Scott Martingell – spoken words
- Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg – vocals
- Frederik Hantho – spoken words
- Hans Landgreen – guitar, bass
- Mathias Hantho – violin, banjo
- Christoffer Ohlsson – cello
- Sune Martin – bass
- Anders Wallin – bass
- Nikolaj Bundvig – drums
- Emil Bernild Ferslev – drums
- Lasse Herbst – drums
Side projects
- Ghost Society
- Bichi
- The William Blakes
- Mames Babegenush