Almamy

Hailing from Dakar, Senegal, Almamy started out as a dancer and actor in his early teens, performing locally until he won a scholarship to study and dance in Paris.

After relocating to New York a few short years later, to study at the famed Broadway Dance Center, Almamy found himself immersed in the club scene and writing songs. "Ballet couldn't contain me anymore," he recalls. "I was becoming a songwriter, I was singing and going out a lot to dance clubs, to listen to some cool electronic music."

Collaborations with producers Peter McLean and Mike Degen followed but it was not until Almamy teamed up with guitarist and programmer Nick Holmes that he could produce, by layering his androgynous squeal of a voice and insistent melodies over skeletal instrumentation, a sound of his own.

Embodying the DIY aesthetic that is prevalent in dance music, Almamy then set up his own label, ModyWorks, to issue a series of recordings, the first of which was a twin EPs project, "The Sexy Boy EP /... B.M.D." and "The Sexy Boy EP /... L.Y.D." It was followed by a remixes 12" and some big releases by a growing number of artists on the roster.

Almamy is currently working on "Unf**kyou," a concept project that comprises a 5-track EP, a short film and a photonovel-style comic book. The lead single, a cover of Daft Punk's "Digital Love," will precede the EP in the fall of 2012, while the film and the book are set for an early 2013 release.