Heartbreaker

Song: Heartbreaker (w/John Legend)
Artist: MSTRKRFT
Album: Fist of God

MSTRKRFT (pronounced "Master-craft") is an electronic music group from Toronto (The Beaches), Ontario, Canada who are signed to Last Gang Records. The group was started in 2005 by Jesse F. Keeler formerly of Death from Above 1979 and Al-P (Alex Puodziukas) formerly of the Mississauga electropop group Girlsareshort.^[1][2][3] Al-P was also the producer for Death from Above 1979s album You're a Woman, I'm a Machine as well as several of (Jesse's former band) Black Cat#13's records. The duo has been close friends, as well as work partners, for a long time. MSTRKRFT also produced Die Mannequin's first EP, How to Kill, and Magneta Lane's second LP, Dancing With Daggers.

MSTRKRFT have been commissioned to remix songs by such artists as Justice, Bloc Party, Metric, Wolfmother, Annie and The Kills.

History

JFK and Al-P w/ dsrnr @ The Social, Toronto, ON

Their first single was "Easy Love", released in 2006. They released their second single, "Work On You", on July 6. In contrast to the "Easy Love" music video, "Work On You" featured animated robots similar to those found in classic cartoons (see: Voltron, Transformers ). Although The Looks is MSTRKRFT's first album featuring original content, the band has created remixes from a variety of other artists ranging from Buck 65 to The Kills to Jesse F. Keeler's own band, Death from Above 1979.

MSTRKRFT released their first LP, The Looks, on July 18, 2006 in the United States and February 2, 2007 in Britain. Keeler and Al-P told Eye Weekly weeks before the release of The Looks, that as the album was being finished, the planning stages for a follow-up record had already begun. Describing the upcoming album's new direction, Al-P said that the album would be "darker, underground disco and house with elements of American rock music."

The "2007" version of their song "Street Justice" was also released as a single. On the band's website message board, Keeler mentioned they were also working on a compilation album composed of their remixed tracks. Street Justice was also featured on the THQ action game, Saints Row 2. Neon Knights was also featured on Need For Speed: Pro Street, and their remix for Justices' D.A.N.C.E. was featured on the movie "Meet The Spartans".

Their song "Paris" was featured in a 2006 commercial for the online music store URGE. In 2007 MSTRKRFT appeared at the WEMF World Electronic Music Festival.

In September 2007 MSTRKRFT performed at an Australian spring music festival "Parklife" in Brisbane. They performed their remix of the song "Woman" from Modular label mates Wolfmother. Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother appeared on stage and sang live while MSTRKRFT performed the remix.

In 2008 through Obeygiant.com released a mix cd with Z-Trip. In conjunction with this CD, Obey offered the Art work print, entitled Soundclash of the Titans. On May 24, 2008 MSTRKRFT were featured on the famous BBC Radio 1 show, The Essential Mix. MSTRKRFT later performed at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, which included a diverse group of artists ranging from Metallica to Jack Johnson.

On March 17, 2009, MSTRKRFT released their second LP, titled Fist of God. All songs were written by Jesse F. Keeler and Al-P. Initial critical response has been average at best, with major periodicals Spin, Rolling Stone, and Blender giving the album less-than-stellar reviews. The album features guest appearances by John Legend, E-40, N.O.R.E., and Lil' Mo, among others.

Fist Of God is the second album by MSTRKRFT, released on March 17, 2009. All songs were written by Jesse F. Keeler and Al-P.

Reception

Initial critical response to Fist of God was very average. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 57, based on 18 reviews. Jesse F. Keeler told ClashMusic.com that he expected the mixed reception.

I expect a lot of people to not like the record, but I expect a lot more people to like the record now that we’ve reached a way bigger audience making it. It might sound like a calculated business move, but it was mainly a musical thing. We kinda knew what the reaction’d be, and we even told a lot of the kids on the message boards: ‘Well, a lot of you are gonna hate it’. It’s difficult, too, you know, because a lot of people have just discovered us, and they’re going to go on this record initially; but we didn’t want to make a record that was too ‘now’. We could have got a lot of the rappers - like The Cool Kids, Spank Rock and Kid Sister - but we tried to choose things and people that were more timeless. And, anyway, I love bad reviews, they’re my favourite things.

Track listing

1. "It Ain't Love" (featuring Lil' Mo) – 3:42
2. "1,000 Cigarettes" – 3:27
3. "Bounce" (featuring N.O.R.E. & Isis) – 2:52
4. "Vuvuvu" – 3:40
5. "Heartbreaker" (featuring John Legend) – 3:14
6. "Fist of God" – 4:05
7. "So Deep" (featuring Jahmal from The Carps) – 3:28
8. "Click Click" (featuring E-40) – 3:29
9. "Word Up" (featuring Ghostface Killah) – 3:52
10. "Breakaway" (featuring Jahmal from The Carps) – 6:39
11. "1,000 Cigarettes" (featuring Freeway) (bonus track) – 3:11

Enjoy.

Bounce