Where to start with Bloghouse and Indie Sleaze

Bloghouse and Indie Sleaze is a music scene from Paris, New York, London, 2003–2012. Its principal artists include Justice, Crystal Castles and Uffie. This issue covers 8 essential albums and 12 dated events.

Start here

1
Cross
Justice · 2007
It's the defining bloghouse album, turning French house and rock distortion into anthems that worked in clubs and festivals alike.
2
Oi Oi Oi
Boys Noize · 2007
Original release: Boysnoize Records · Digital Media · Worldwide 2007
It shows the movement had outgrown Paris, establishing the harsher German strand of bloghouse the same year as Cross.
3
Audio, Video, Disco
Justice · 2011
It marks bloghouse's drift away from the dancefloor toward stadium ambition, showing where the scene ended up.

Go deeper

4
Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles · 2008
Original release: Different Recordings · Digital Media · 2008
Lo-fi electronic chaos built from circuit-bent hardware and buried vocals: Atari samples, hacked Game Boys, drum machines pushed until they clipped.
5
Attack Decay Sustain Release
Simian Mobile Disco · 2007
Original release: V2 Records Japan · V2CP 335 · CD · Japan 2007
The British duo's debut bridged indie rock and dance music and became essential listening for both bloghouse and nu rave.
6
Fist of God
MSTRKRFT · 2009
Original release: Last Gang Records · Q2 00866 · CD · Canada 2009
The Toronto duo's second album carried punk intensity into bloghouse's transatlantic expansion, with Jesse F. Keeler applying the aggressive physicality of his old band Death From Above 1979 to electronic production.

For the obsessed

7
Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans
Uffie · 2010
Original release: Because Music · CD · Europe 2010
The long-delayed debut from Ed Banger's bratty rapper, arriving in 2010, five years after "Pop the Glock" made her famous overnight.
8
Total
SebastiAn · 2011
Original release: Because Music · BEC5772848 · CD · France 2011
The aggressive high point of Ed Banger's harsh electro house sound: all sawtooth synths and pounding kicks, pushing the label's production into darker, heavier territory than anything that had come before it.

The stories behind every record are in Bloghouse and Indie Sleaze, a members' issue.