Julien-K

A band from Long Beach, California that started out as a side project of Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck from Orgy. Genre-wise, they're definitely something electronic: they started out closer to Industrial Metal, but their most recent album is more Synth Pop/dance oriented.

Sonic fans might recognize these guys as the band behind the songs "This Machine" and "Waking Up". They also did "Technical Difficulties" for Transformers.

Related Acts:

• Dead by Sunrise (Derakh, Shuck)
• Orgy (Derakh, Shuck)
• Street Drum Corps (Zummo)

Current Lineup

• Ryan Shuck - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Amir Derakh - lead guitar, synthesizer
• Anthony 'Fu' Valcic - keyboard, programming, samples, bass guitar
• Frank Zummo - drums

Discography

• Death to Analog (2009)
• We're Here With You (2012)

Julien-K provides examples of the following tropes:

• Album Title Drop: "We're Here With You," also the Title Track.
• Break Up Song: "Close Continuance".
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Why else would the woman in "Systeme de Sexe" be speaking French?
• Intercourse with You: "Systeme de Sexe". With background moans for added NSFW-ness!
• Listing Cities: "Breakfast in Berlin".
• Lyrical Dissonance: "Close Continuance", an 80s-ish, bouncy, Ear Worm-tastic number about a failing relationship.
• New Sound Album: We're Here With You is significantly different from Death to Analog (and their Sonic songs,) with a much more dance/synthpop-oriented sound. The band's former bassist, Brandon Belsky, left due to his dissatisfaction with the new direction.
• Non-Appearing Title: They're doing this more often with We're Here With You: "Close Continuance", "Colorcast", "I'll Try Not To Destroy You", and "Palm Springs Reset". Prior to that album, most songs have a Title Drop somewhere other than "Dystopian Girl" and "Death to Analog".
• Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Most of the lyrics to "Technical Difficulties" are lost in heavy electronic distortion.
• Title Track: Both Death to Analog and We're Here With You, though only the latter contains an Album Title Drop.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: "Technical Difficulties".
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: "Cruel Daze of Summer". (Unless it's a pun?)