Premiere: Baron Von Luxxury’s ‘Rosebud Was the Name of His Sled’
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Baron Von Luxxury is named Baron Von Luxxury. This is his fake name, and may warrant you to stop, consider it, and maybe even say it out loud. BVL sounds like the brand of a designer handbag company in Belgium with a bent for Feudalism, not the sobriquet of a local electro-disco producer. Presumably, the extra ‘X’ is in there for a double dose of luxury.
Signed to Manimal Vinyl, the S.F.-raised musician has carefully cultivated an image of dapperness, dandiness and decadence. He’s prone to suits, a red afro and accompanying mustache, the combination of which makes him look like a fast-talking Shelbyville Casino pit boss on a lost episode of ‘The Simpsons.’ His stated goal is to straddle pop and the underground, and that ‘fine line dividing what is cool from what is deeply embarrassing.’ It is excess instantiated, nu-disco funk, and eminently danceable. Even the $10,000-a-plate elite could boogie to this.
By day, he works under contract as a commercial songwriter/producer and he’s written songs alongside iLittle Boots and Dr. Luke protege (and ‘California Gurls’ co-writer) Bonnie McKee. When he’s not cobbling together absurdly catchy tunes, he’s maintaining his own blog (Disco Workout) or remixing the likes of Glass Candy and HEALTH.
Luxxury’s album ‘The Last Seduction’ drops next month on Manimal. The publicity text that accompanies it name-checks Twin Shadow, the Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Sparks, Empire of the Sun, and Giorgio Moroder, which sounds about right. Premiering Wednesday on Pop & Hiss, Luxxury’s new video ‘Rosebud Was the Name of His Sled’ lands somewhere in that white synthetic wonderland. It also references Orson Welles.
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-- Jeff Weiss