Breaking Artist: Apes & Androids

Who: Aptly named New York quintet Apes & Androids, who merge primal classic-rock influences with futuristic song structures.

Sounds Like: A dance floor-ready cocktail of Queen's bombast (complete with Freddie Mercury's falsetto), 1980s Prince, *Ziggy Stardust*-era Bowie and Beck's Midnight Vultures. On their debut album Blood Moon, A&A pump out sing-alongs like "Hot Kathy," party starters like "We Don't Understand You" and simmering burners like "Riverside." "We tried to build the record into something that would be a journey when listening to the whole thing," says A&A's Brian Jacobs, who shares vocal and guitar duties with bandmate David Tobias.

Vital Stats:

• Jacobs and Tobias met as third graders in New Jersey and started writing music in their pre-teens. "After high school, we went to different colleges so we had a long distance band relationship. We'd work in our dorm rooms, then get together during breaks and build songs together," says Jacobs.

• The band's live performances are becoming as well-known as the songs themselves, with cheerleaders, giant silver skulls, face paint and even a Korean drum circle all making appearances for a unique live experience. But the live shows aren't the only medium that has helped spread the band's name. "MySpace has been huge. We released two songs on there when we first started, and suddenly people all over the place knew it," says Tobias.

• The band's musical division between the past and future dates back to elementary school. "I remember when I met David, he was listening to Digital Underground, stuff with a lot of samples," says Jacobs, who was already deep into Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana.

Hear It Now: Check out the band's MySpace page for a few tracks, or get their album either through their official site or iTunes. If you can't make it to their Hiro Ballroom show tomorrow night in NYC, check out the above video (shot at a Halloween performance), for a taste of the band live.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »

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