New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ The Syndicate Music & Entertainment Marketing) It was certainly an unexpected start to the day for the seasoned Irish indie producer
Martin Clancy.
"I was preparing to record a dubstep version of medieval hymns when I got a call from my agent in Montreal..."
"You've just entered the Billboard Top 50!"
"Dance music?? I haven't been in a club in 20 years!"
So how did an indie artist/Producer ( Clancy), who is currently Artist in Residence in New York at one of the country's coolest music festivals (The Seaport Music Festival), end up being played in clubs across the country jostling for chart position with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Magnetic Man and Rihanna.
"I guess Yoko Ono's to blame."
When Craig Roseberry heard one of Martin's tracks on a summer compilation last year along with Best Coast, Avi Buffalo, Zola Jesus etc he liked what he was hearing.
Roseberry, who A&R's Yoko Ono's own series of No1's in the Billboard Dance Charts, decided to check out what else Clancy was up to.
"I'm an indie kid at heart, though I earn my living from the dance scene and when I first heard Martin Clancy & The Witness Protection Programme, I was thinking - you know, this isn't unlike Yoko's avant garde work.
When I saw Martin supporting Yacht in New York last summer with Black Devil Disco Club, I was intrigued. I started playing the tracks to some cats in the dance scene and it just took off from there."
Armed with remixes from Chris Cox, Stonebridge, Richard Morel (20 remixes in all), the new release "You Can't Stop The Rain" from Martin Clancy & The Witness Protection Programme took the recent Miami Winter Conference by storm.
Following his appearance at Filter Magazine's Culture Collide Festival in L.A. last October (playing with The White Lies, Klaxons etc) Martin was signed to Montreal's Touring Dept - home to many Warp/Moshi Moshi artists.
MC&TWPP also announced they will once again be appearing at this year's Culture Collide Festival. Put on by Filter Magazine, Culture Collide gathers the best in international music for a four day festival, October 6-9th in Los Angeles' East Side. www.culturecollide.com
