DEDE

Please help us welcome newly-migrated Brooklynites DEDE to our fair city. Fronted by the stunning Dede Reynolds, looking like she just stepped off the set of "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," DEDE evolved out of a shared love of Serge Gainsbourg, Nico, fashion, Warhol, trip hop and the South of France circa 1967.

With her dreamy vocals, and union of vintage pop with '90s trip-hop sounds, DEDE seamlessly fuses their shared appreciation for diverse international flavors, vibrant visuals and the overall marriage of art and sound.

- Ink Tank

DeDe X Waajeed “Phantom” (Remix)
by anto on April 27, 2012 NEWS 0 Comment(s)

Our man Waajeed recently joined forces with Brooklyn-based indie-duo DeDe and created this spacious, atmospheric remix of their joint “Phantom.” Hit the jump to read what Jeedo had to say about how this project came about.

The irony of one of my happiest finds last year just happened to be in the worst place. Rent so high that all the real artists moved out, hipster heaven Williamburg, Brooklyn — The Burg.We were introduced by my homie JT Donaldson that I used to DJ with at the W Hotel in Union Square. I met Tim K there and later met his darling partner in crime, Dede Reynolds. Together they are DeDe.

One late night after several Cadillac margaritas inspired by Dam Funk, we stumbled back to their apartment where I heard their yet to be released project. WHOA! I asked to remix the single on the spot. That was the genesis of a brewing relation that would turn into a group (more about that later). In the meanwhile have a listen…Rejoice. -Jeedo - Okay Player

nouvelle pop from a Brooklyn based band, Deanne Reynolds and Tim Kvasnosky, with an album expected later this year. - Bitzl R

Serge Gainsbourg?Nico?fashion?Warhol?trip hop?the South of
France circa 1967 ??????????90????????????????
60????????????????????????

- Music Islands

DEDE, Deanne Reynolds & Tim Kvasnosky, is a Nouvelle pop band from Brooklyn. I heard about them last summer (Waajeed introduced me to the singer Dede and told me to watch out for their new album.) I just came across their new video 'Secrets' recently and remembered her from last year. I love the hi styling & the cinematic feel (plus she is beautiful), they definitely created a whole experience around the sound. Both the music & visuals have a French avant garde feel, though you can definitely sense New York in there as well. Definite artists to look out for. - Neo Mana

Television advertising has come a long way since pretty ladies wearing flowered dresses held up a pack of smokes on live TV and told you “more doctors smoke Lucky Strikes!” Nowadays commercials are shot in HD with CGI graphics, and jingles have evolved into soundtracks.

That is how we were exposed to Brooklyn duo DEDE, who penned a jingle for a psychedelic cat food commercial, of all things. DEDE blends dreampop with funk bass and trip hop beats, but what makes this band stand out is a distinctly 60’s flavor. It’s unique, it’s cool, and fun to listen to.

DEDE are unsigned but look poised to break into the mainstream. They’ve released a self-titled EP that streams from Soundcloud (nothing for sale yet), but have released one song for download. “Secrets” doesn’t have a beat, it has a groove. Singer Deanne Reynolds’ silky voice is a dream and the bass doesn’t just walk, it dances with the beat. Groovy, man. Doug Mabry - MP3 Hugger

Con ustedes una nueva artista llamada Dede, y su último sencillo “Secrets”. Acá dejo el video, enjoy.

- Mu-Sique

Megveszekedett hatvanas évek orültek, a Farfisa és Vox orgonák, analóg szintik hangját könnybe lábadt szemmel hallgatók, a Broadcast, a Stereolab, a francia csajpop rajongói most ismét összegyulhetnek egy közös zenehallgatásra. A lemezjátszóra egy fehér papírtokból elohalászott ötszámos EP kerül, rajta egy szimpla DEDE felirat, ugyanis ez a brooklyni zenekar énekesnojének a beceneve. Csalódás kizárva. - Music is my Radar

Los Beatles y la chanson francesa terminaron en 69. Dejaron una hija, jadeante. (the Beatles and a French song ended in '69 and left a breathless child) - Revisita 69

Can we go back to Austin? Here is some video reliving the Om x dubFrequency x Nylon x W three day outdoor party. The three day event taking place at the brand new W Austin terrace featured performances and DJ sets by Dirty Vegas (Live), Classixx, J-Boogie, Treasure Fingers, Willy Joy, Database, Miami Horror, Penguin Prison, DEDE, and more. Guest in attendance…we’ll you can see in the video below. - OM Records

The long overdue post about my experience at SXSW in Austin Texas with my friend Rebecca. SXSW is an interactive, film, and music festival held Austin, Texas every year with party's, conferences and concerts where people go to discover new talent in music, film and fashion. The first thing on our list was the Nylon Magazine Rooftop Party at the W Hotel. The entire atmosphere of the party was overall amazing and nothing like I've ever experienced. Guests, musicians and photographers all stood around engaging in their conversations while having drinks and listening to live music. The display and set up for the party was very elegant and sophisticated with modern white ottomans, tables, black couches and white fluffy pillows and a stage for music.We spent about three hours at the Nylon party and first saw a new band called DEDE perform. They have a very timeless classic sound to them. I have no doubt in my mind that they will make it big very soon - The Parallel Universe

Flavors Music Week Interview with DEDE

Awesome acts from around the world have selected Flavors to host and aggregate their online presence, integrating services like SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Tumblr, Facebook Pages and more to connect fans with their music and news.

In honor of upcoming Record Store Day, we’re featuring some of the amazing bands and solo artists who, to our delight, are part of the Flavors community.

Up first is American dream-pop duo DEDE, comprised of singer Deanne Reynolds and Tim Kvasnosky.

Flavors: Your music was described by one blogger as “nouvelle-pop” and indeed seems influenced by French pop of the 60s. What were some of your direct influences?

Deanne: There is definitely heavy French influence, but we were also inspired by other things happening in music from other places in the 60s and 70s. We really dig Serge Gainsbourg’s “Melody Nelson” record, how it’s a mixture of 60s American soul and funk, with a French harmonic sophistication. The aesthetic of that specific record was a huge influence. In addition, we really love Johnny Harris’ production and Brian Wilson’s songwriting and arrangements. I also love the vocal stylings of France Gall, Brigitte Bardot and Francoise Hardy.

Flavors: Where would you suggest someone who hasn’t really delved into that genre begin listening?

Deanne: Serge Gainsbourg, Francoise Hardy, Shirley Bassey’s “Light My Fire,” Johnny Harris, Beach Boys “Pet Sounds,” John Barry.

Flavors: How has your experience as an art director come in handy for your new role as pop musician?

Deanne: I’m an extremely passionate visual artist, and one thing we really wanted to create was a visual experience for our listeners that matched the sound of the music — a world for our audience to live in.

When we finished the record, every time I would listen to it, all these different images and scenarios would pop into my head. I started putting storyboards together and grabbed a crew of my artist friends, and that’s how our first video “Secrets” was born. Since then we’ve created an element to our live show using projections of op-art inspired designs that we’ve created. It’s great because of my past experience, it’s allowed us to keep this whole project extremely DIY.



Flavors: What has been your favorite aspect of the project so far?

Deanne: For me, it’s living in the experiences. From the first arrangement of the first song, to creating the different visual worlds of DEDE, to the live performances. I feel like it’s a new entity we’re creating, and watching it continue it grow and evolve is a really exciting, satisfying thing.

For Tim K, it’s being in the studio and making the music.

Flavors: What are your plans for the coming year?

Deanne: We just came off of a successful trip to SXSW, and we will continue to play a bunch of shows this year. We’re working on new music and finishing another video as well as in pre-production for a third. I’m working on a gallery show of DEDE in LA. We’re are going to play in new cities we haven’t yet played, to share our music with new people.

Flavors: Why did you choose Flavors to power your official website?

Deanne: We chose Flavors because it was the right balance of being aesthetically sophisticated and simple to manage from a technical perspective. We heavily believe in a DIY philosophy, and this was a high-end way to have our web presence be represented properly.


Flavors: How has being on Flavors helped you?

Deanne: It’s allowed us to quickly connect our content and social networks directly to our audience. It’s also given us a great tool to represent our whole visual aesthetic online.
- Flavors.me

Let's be rad.
Rad Music // DEDE

with one comment

DEDE

DEDE is the name of the musical project by Dede Reynolds and Tim Kvasnosky and, oh baby, I think I’m in love! The musical project, from Brooklyn, takes “a fresh approach to nostalgia” by making music inspired by “a shared love of Serge Gainsbourg, Nico, fashion, Warhol, trip hop and the South of France circa 1967.”

The first song I listened to, that truly made me weak at the knees (even though I wasn’t standing up), was “This Time.” The track starts with some nostalgic sounds – a muffled snare roll and piercing pluck of a guitar string – that instantly transport you to a decade past. Dede’s sultry yet cute vocals then come in slow, but as you listen you can hear something brewing in the background as the drums differentiate up to an amazing release of sound that ends up being the chorus. This is where I lost it – I became completely enveloped in euphoria. The retro organs, the encapsulating vocals – it makes you feel like you’re floating.
This Time by DEDE
Now that you have been seduced by the sounds of DEDE, check out the video for their song “Secrets” to be hypnotized by some visuals. Directed by Aron Kantor, this video should seal the deal. DEDE is rad and you know it.
Definitely keep your eyes and ears peeled for more from DEDE. I know I will.

Be Rad. Enjoy. - The Be Rad Blog

Let's be rad.
Rad Music // DEDE

with one comment

DEDE

DEDE is the name of the musical project by Dede Reynolds and Tim Kvasnosky and, oh baby, I think I’m in love! The musical project, from Brooklyn, takes “a fresh approach to nostalgia” by making music inspired by “a shared love of Serge Gainsbourg, Nico, fashion, Warhol, trip hop and the South of France circa 1967.”

The first song I listened to, that truly made me weak at the knees (even though I wasn’t standing up), was “This Time.” The track starts with some nostalgic sounds – a muffled snare roll and piercing pluck of a guitar string – that instantly transport you to a decade past. Dede’s sultry yet cute vocals then come in slow, but as you listen you can hear something brewing in the background as the drums differentiate up to an amazing release of sound that ends up being the chorus. This is where I lost it – I became completely enveloped in euphoria. The retro organs, the encapsulating vocals – it makes you feel like you’re floating.
This Time by DEDE
Now that you have been seduced by the sounds of DEDE, check out the video for their song “Secrets” to be hypnotized by some visuals. Directed by Aron Kantor, this video should seal the deal. DEDE is rad and you know it.
Definitely keep your eyes and ears peeled for more from DEDE. I know I will.

Be Rad. Enjoy. - The Be Rad Blog

Groovy. This video, directed by Aaron Kantor, is like a 1966 James Bond into montage stuffed into the album art of Rolling Stones Hot Rocks 1964-1971 while humming Françoise Hardy tunes under its breath. I’m digging their EP of singles - all worth a listen. Also, they be on Tumblr. - YVYNYL

Groovy. This video, directed by Aaron Kantor, is like a 1966 James Bond into montage stuffed into the album art of Rolling Stones Hot Rocks 1964-1971 while humming Françoise Hardy tunes under its breath. I’m digging their EP of singles - all worth a listen. Also, they be on Tumblr. - YVYNYL

“We call it yacht pop,” says 28-year-old Dede Reynolds of Brooklyn duo Dede. Specifically, “it’s music for your yacht circa 1967 in the south of France.”

The self-proclaimed Francophile and her partner Tim Kvasnosky, 35, find influence in Serge Gainsbourg, Brigitte Bardot and Françoise Hardy, as well as trip hop and electronica bands such as Portishead and Air. “I really don’t listen to a lot of new music,” she says. When asked if there are any current pop stars she likes just a bit, without hesitation she says, “Is it wrong to say no?”

Asked about her own sound, she explains: “It’s definitely indie pop, but from a different sensibility, more like late Sixties Beach Boys mixed with French pop.”

For an artist so particular in her vision, it’s a bit curious to find out Reynolds didn’t even think about becoming a singer until about a year and a half ago. She first met Kvasnosky while she was working in Los Angeles as an art director and was asked to help on a few of the projects he was working on as a record producer. The pair eventually started a long-distance relationship. Before long, Reynolds was bound for New York, where Kvasnosky supplemented his production work with a job as a commercial jingle composer.

“One day he said, ‘I need someone to sing on this spot,’” she recalls, noting he had only heard her sing around the house. “I enjoyed singing but I just wasn’t thinking of pursuing it.” They collaborated again when an offer for an ad for Purina’s Friskies cat food came along a few months later. The result was the psychedelic “Adventureland” campaign, which began airing in early 2010 and was soon a viral sensation. The pair had already toyed around with the idea of doing a project together, so they reworked some of their outtakes and posted them on MySpace. After writing songs in St. Martin with Kvasnosky “over rum punch and sunsets,” they recorded a six-track EP with him on piano and organ, and session musicians on drums and bass. They plan to release the work this summer, either on their own or through one of the record labels that have shown interest.

“Tim is the mad scientist, I’m the face of it all,” Reynolds says. “I carry two hats in this band — I’m the voice, but I also produce all the imagery.”

A former film school student, Reynolds is the unofficial art director for the duo’s videos and live performances, for which she’s created an Andy Warhol-inspired projection show. “I don’t want to be known as just another indie band from Williamsburg,” she explains, “I want it to be you’re coming to be entertained.”

Exploration seems to come naturally to Reynolds. Last summer, for example, she delved headlong into the world of pop with a stint as one of Ke$ha’s back-up singers while the be-glittered singer was in town opening for Rihanna at Madison Square Garden. “It’s not my thing, but it was a great experience; it kind of surprised me,” she says. “I was all Ke$ha-ed out in my outfit!”

For her own shows, Reynolds looks to fashion idols Peggy Moffitt, Catherine Deneuve, Mary Quant and Jane Birkin. On off-days, she relies on vintage dresses and jumpsuits and says she never wears jeans.

“I would say 60 percent of my wardrobe is vintage,” she says, though she concedes a few contemporary favorites such as Proenza Schouler, Alexander McQueen and The Row. But nothing can take the place of her beloved vintage Italian lambskin fur hat given to her as a gift.

“I love it because the label says, ‘shake it vigorously it will become beautiful,’” she says. - Women's Wear Daily

DEDE is my new soul-mate, she’s just currently..how to put this..unaware..of it, at the present moment. But mark my words, someday when we run into each other in Paris, at dusk perhaps, while snapping photos during an homage at Serge’s graffiti covered home on the rue de Verneuil, we’ll lock heavily eye-linered eyes and just know. Soon thereafter we’ll be gabbing about the best drugstore false eyelashes (Ardell!), favorite 60’s perfumed talc (Ambush!) and swapping helpful back-combing and flat-ironing techniques. Until that super-specific, magical day, however, I’ll be completely satiated watching this modern-day, Warholian chanteuse’s video Secrets, the first single off DEDE’s self-titled debut, on constant repeat. Suffice it to say, it’s the hedonistic, psychedelic, retro French-pop feast for the eyes and ears we’ve all been waiting for. Aesthetes of Francoise Hardy, Serge Gainsbourg, and Morcheeba’s Skye Edwards, will celebrate the ambrosial arrangements of stoned-funk grooves and Dede Reynold’s jazz-pop vocals, which ooze with icy lust. Band mate Tim Kvasnosky’s layered, vintage organ and keyboards add a nostalgic and baroque flavor to this duo’s uber-stylish dream-pop.

Again, maybe it’s my rich imagination, but I’m certain DEDE and I will eventually get together to smoke our Gitanes from silver cigarette holders and sip Dubonnet while we get “vitamin B shots” from some shady “doctor” after luxurious disco naps, so we’re “fresh” for the long night ahead. And when she finally hits the stage, sometime in the wee morning hours, and seduces the entire crowd with her decadent, cooing whispers and scrumptious, Continental-pop, I’ll play it cool as I nonchalantly frug along to my new BFF’s band, but secretly inside…dying of happiness. (Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?) - My Old Kentucky Blog

It's not too often we dive into pure Pop here, but then again it's not too often we find a Pop song as good as DEDE's "Sun Kissed Lover." This is the type of song that you just can't get out of your head after you've heard it once. Here's hoping they use it as the opening song in the next James Bond film, as it has that type of vibe. - The Album Project

Dede Secrets video - Planeta Pop

Dede’s breakout song, “My Secret Sweet” induces nostalgia for childhood Saturday- afternoon-play-time with the neighbors - and brings to mind one of our favorite British band of the aughts, Broadcast. Maybe it’s the “chopsticks” piano chords on repeat, or the chimes cuing the her suggestion, “let’s play pretend.” Or is it the hand clapping, or her sweet, almost adolescent voice? It could be the fact that her appearance draws comparisons to Allison Wonderland, or her name sounds like a child’s first word. Either way, the youthful overtones of her music don’t imply juvenile musical skill. Our strong desire to reminisce upon hearing her songs is a result of expert composition and intuition as to what sounds people are uncontrollably drawn to. - Katie Bennett - Deli Magazine

DEDE- Phantom (waajeed remix) - ampsoul

Episode Guide- Episode 1- Rufus Wainwright
(this is a music listing of the track played on this episode- we are the second one listed) - IFC

Check out the brand new music video from one of our new favorite vocalist, Dede. The Brooklyn based artist has a new album coming out in 2011. This track was produced by Tim K. of Home & Garden. The video does a real good job of perfectly reflecting the nouvelle-pop sound of the track. Think Serge Gainsbourg meets Allison Goldfrapp. Enjoy!

Follow Dede on Facebook here.

Director- Aron Kantor (Dirty Glitter)
Editor- Alex Blatt
Director of Photography- Joseph S Pickett III
Post Production- Aron Kantor
Art Director- Dede Reynolds and Aron Kantor
Styling- Dede Reynolds
Produced by DEDE
Shot at Box 24 Studio in Venice, CA
- Om Records

The Friskies commercial “Adventureland” has attracted much interest in who is singing the song about how you can “feed the senses” of your cat with the pet food, or as the Nestlé Purina PetCare Company describes it as unlocking “a magical world of sensory stimulation for your cat.” The company told us:
We appreciate your interest in our commercial. The singer in our Friskies “Adventureland” commercial is Deanne Reynolds. The song was created for the TV spot “Adventureland”. It doesn’t have an official name as it is not released to the public as a downloadable song.
Watch the commercial that some have joked looks like a cat taking an acid trip below. Check out some other music from the Brooklyn singer and Tim Kvasnosky of the dream pop duo Dede at MySpace. - Popdirt

Dede- Phantom (waajeed remix) - Ampsoul

Check out a remix PPP’s Wajeed just did of NYC-based artist Dede. The track titled, ‘Phantom’ is a dope nouvelle-pop track originally produced by Home & Garden’s Tim K. Wajeed takes the original track and lays out some eerie tones and a cinematic drum beat turning the track into something reminiscent of an old school cinematic-french black and white film. Rumor has it she’s joining a roster of hip hop / soul heavy weights.
- Om Records

Truth be told, I wasn’t familiar with the source material for this remix. And after doing some searching online, I’m still not terribly sure who Dede is exactly. But Waajeed does and now, I’m thankfully more acquainted with her. He takes the track, “Phantom”, and essentially makes it sound like what the title implies. You get some eerie synths, a slow-moving drum beat, and an overall ambiance that could find its way on to a horror movie soundtrack. Well, at least the instrumental version could. That might seem like an easy assessment considering the song’s title, but have a listen and try to disagree. - Potholes In My Blog