MUSICIENS SANS FRONTIERES

MUSICIENS SANS FRONTIERES / About This Artist

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Artist Details and Stats:

Hometown: New York, NY

Label: Artist owned label

Management: zen.booking@endorphinrecords.com

Website: www.thomassimon.nyc

Genre: Alternative

Alternative charts for New York, NY

16,834
Total Fans
13,514
Profile Views

6
Recent Plays
41,167
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Biography:

MSF - BIOGRAPHY:

Musiciens Sans Frontieres - "The Sound of Activism"

The story of Musiciens Sans Frontieres is a New York story and a global one. Viennese expat Thomas Simon and native New Yorker Jillie originally met at a cafe in the East Village. They subsequently founded their first alt rock band LOVE ALIEN, married, released three CD's, toured extensively (USA, Canada, Europe and the Middle East), becoming one of New York's cult bands in the early 2000's... Network of the World (NOW UK) said “one of the most promising up & comers in the N.Y. scene”

In 2003 Thomas found new inspiration by recording with and filming local street and temple musicians worldwide from Brazil to India, Indonesia and beyond. Some of these sessions are captured in his documentary "Thomas Simon Walkabout", which was selected to five international film festivals -

- And in 2005 Thomas and Jillie embarked on an exciting new musical project.

Fusing alternative rock with world beats and experimental soundscapes, Musiciens Sans Frontieres creates a unique blend of rock, from goth and grunge to world beat and ska-tinged acoustic rock. And tackles issues ranging from banning fracking to marijuana legalization to the importance of protest (along with some songs about love).

New York Music Daily called their sound "luridly seductive" in his review of Musiciens Sans Frontieres fourth studio album ‘Spread Some Love’–
entitled "Relevant Psychedelic Rock by Musiciens Sans Frontieres”.

Songs off the album have been receiving airplay on 23 radio stations (commercial, satellite and internet) in the U.S., has received airplay on Austria's premiere alternative radio station FM4 as well as three radio stations in Germany to date.

Their trilogy of activist videos started with MSF's cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (a paean to documenting, and helping to create change) which won three awards and was selected to 12 film festivals.
-Their next video "Legalize", makes the case for the social and economic benefits of marijuana legalization and earned them four awards in 11 festivals in the US, Canada and Europe. -Their third music video "So Many Ways (For Safe, Green Sane Energy)" is also award-winning, in six film festivals so far, and continues it's journey of spreading awareness.

"We want to help create positive change, spread some love and make music that will let you dance your pants off" says Jillie.

Thomas Simon's tuned down dark, layered and dense guitar sound, which Lucid Culture, NYC, said "is very Daniel Ash" is lit up by the "pure angelic voice" (Legends Magazine) and "stage presence of erotic force" (Infinity Press) of actress-singer-songwriter Jillie Simon and backed up by Keith Golden on bass and Alex Alexander on drums who'd both previously toured with Dido among others.

Press:

“Interview with Jillie and Thomas Simon, September 2013; click on the link, front page of Magazine will open, then proceed to page 86 for full interview.”
Rob Ryles - Rock Revolt Magazine

“Relevant Psychedelic Rock from Musiciens Sans Frontieres: (Thomas) Simon has followed up his intense, haunting 2010 noir soundtrack album, Moncao, with Spread Some Love by his band Musiciens Sans Frontieres. Simon handles all the guitars and keys, with his wife Jillie Simon on vocals plus Keith Golden on bass and Alex Alexander. While this is first and foremost a psychedelic rock record, it’s also a dark one...The opening track, Dream Segments, sets his trademark layers and layers of echoey, twanging, resonant guitars over a distorted, spacey bass pulse and hypnotically insistent percussion loops that run through the mix dub-style. The first of the vocal tracks, Happy Monday, continues the dark ambience over echoing, galloping waves of guitar, Jillie Simon's vocal harmonies projecting equal amounts coyness and unease. Likewise, Affection has a wary, longing edge-with it's swaying, pounding, bluesy central hook, it's the closest thing to stadium rock here....fans of the more thoughtf”
delarue - New Music Daily

“This (NYC) based foursome is led creatively by the husband and wife duo of guitarist Thomas Simon and singer Jillie Simon. The band plays a variety of genres, from prog-rock to grunge and trip-hop, drawing on the diverse backgrounds of its members to create a global sound. While the mood can be quite dark with down tuning and distortion, Jillie’s vocals provide an effective counterbalance as she uses her sly and seductive voice to address both personal and environmental topics. The album features an interesting ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ cover as well as a reworked version of ‘Affection’, a standout track from their previous album “Satellite”. The album opens with ‘Dream Segment’, a likeable but foreboding instrumental. A similar groove surfaces on ‘Happy Monday’, which sounds a lot like Massive Attack circa “Mezzanine”. ‘In the Waves’ uses a nice tabla rhythm and bass riff, conjures a Tool/Perfect Circle vibe...This & a few other songs on "Spread Some”
Gabe Vigh - Hot Indie News

“ An alternative to Bregovic ...The band’s powerful recital started around 10pm and it lasted until midnight when the audience called them back on stage for an encore. For the audience this was an opportunity to sense the difference between Romanian and American bands and Thomas Simon’s sound was exceptional. Stage presence was also at the highest level as singer Jillie Simon has worked in television and is also an actress. ”
--ZIARUL, Clujeanului, Transilvania, Romania

“ How globalization can be anti-globalist -Thomas Simon - producer, film maker, musician and composer – toured the U.S., Canada, (and beyond)... and here he is now with his “Thomas Simon Musiciens sans Frontieres” formula playing in the Bucharest club Utopia. ...the band is a great indie rock traveler. On stage, Jillie Simon is the feminine voice that counterbalances Thomas Simon’s...she is always almost painfully sensual and most of the reviews describe her as being “the light in the dark atmosphere” of the band’s music. She has a delicate voice that seems to penetrate dramatically... The band is more than just a geographical wanderer, they also stroll through different musical territories – critics mention the Dead Can Dance tribalism, the Nine Inch Nails twilight, Moby’s funk, etc....This means that, as their French name discloses, they are diligently tearing down frontiers; only that which they globalize is not commercial waste. .... ”
--B24FUN, Bucharest, Romania

"...exotic vocalist Jillie (Simon) who spins together a chanteuse style of glimmer and fury and commands a stage presence of erotic force. "
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““one of the most promising up & comers in the N.Y. scene””
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“Simon exhibits an excellent sense of building space and rhythm, performing in a noir-ish style that sometimes recalls Dead Can Dance and other 4AD artists.”
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“MUSIC WITHOUT FRONTIERS. Thomas Simon plays music without borders GOTH & GRUNGE AT THE GRABOVSKI St.Wolfgang. Thursday May 18th, experimental-rock musician, Thomas Simon will perform with his band at the Grabovski for the first time. The Vienna born New York Multi Media Artist has reached a lot of acclaim with his experimental progressive fusing of Goth and Grunge. By creating a sensitive web of space and rhythm, Simon leads his listeners, with a noir-ish style, through the myriad of his musical works. Trent Reznor was a definite inspiration. I.W.”
I. W. - I. Woche