Hercules and Love Affair is a New York-based musical project. Their record company (dance music mainstay DFA Records) describes them as “a pan-sexual mix for our troubled times”.
That is one way of describing this eclectic bunch of artists and guest vocalists: Antony Hegarty (the Mercury prize-winning torch singer and radical gay performance artist, with a strong interest in gender reassignment), transsexual vocalist Nomi Ruiz, dancer Shayne, a gay B-boy and mainstay of New York’s voguing scene, and Kim Ann Foxmann (a Hawaiian lesbian jewellery designer famed for running a notorious club called Mad Clams, where one could apparently “get away with anything – smoking, sex, drugs, peeing in the corner, dancing naked”).
The band’s central figure, Andrew Butler, began his musical career at 15, DJing in a Denver leather bar run by a hostess called Chocolate Thunder Pussy. He then moved to Brooklyn, in order to attend Sarah Lawrence College and fulfill his dreams of building a career in music.
Hercules & Love Affair’s debut album (produced by Butler and Tim Goldsworthy) was released on 10 March 2008 on DFA Records. It has been critically well-received and charted in the top 40 in several countries. The band made their live debut on May 17, 2008, at the Studio B venue in Brooklyn, New York, before going on a European and North American tour.
Hercules and Love Affair – Blind (Feat. Antony Hegarty)
Their song “Blind” co-written and featuring guest Antony (lead vocalist in Antony & The Johnsons) was awarded Best Song of 2008 by Pitchfork Media. For Butler’s sophomore album under the Hercules moniker, he says he will involve “a whole handful of new artists,” stating that his plan is to release music with a rotating cast of performers and musicians.
Show Hercules and Love Affair some MySpace love and buy their music on Amazon or 
1 comment
7 pings
Chris
January 8, 2010 at 4:05 pm (UTC 1)
They’re pretty amazing, glad to see them doing well. They feature in the top albums of the decade here http://bit.ly/5O0RYX
FAN DEATH – VERONICA’S VEIL (Disco/ElectroTrash – Canada),remix « umstrum || music
November 22, 2009 at 3:47 pm (UTC 1)
[...] breakout acts of ‘08, along with Empire Of The Sun. The disco revival is in full swing (see Hercules & Love Affair, Holy Ghost!, Glass Candy) and these two Canadians bring you the beats like no other. Their sound [...]
JESSICA 6 – FUN GIRL (Electro/Disco/Funk – US) « umstrum || music
November 22, 2009 at 3:51 pm (UTC 1)
[...] umstrum Jessica 6, formerly known as Deep Red, is a collaboration between Nomi Ruiz, who sang on Hercules & Love Affair’s first self-titled album, Andrew Raposo (bassist) and Morgan Wiley (keyboards). They all met [...]
U R MY DISCO // vol.6 « umstrum || music
December 21, 2009 at 11:38 pm (UTC 1)
[...] Rebellion – Up All Night (John Bourke Remix) 12 Lost Valentinos – Thief (Nile Delta Remix) 13 Hercules & Love Affair – Raise Me Up 14 My Tiger My Timing – I Am The Sound 15 Fever Ray – Seven (The Twelves Remix) [...]
JESSICA 6 – FUN GIRL (Electro/Disco/Trash – US)
July 9, 2010 at 8:54 pm (UTC 1)
[...] HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR – RAISE ME UP (Disco/Electro – US) [...]
RAPHAEL GUALAZZI – REALITY & FANTASY (Jazz/Fusion/Electronica – Italy) » umstrum||music
December 31, 2010 at 2:19 am (UTC 1)
[...] ethereal and gender-confusing, evokes both silky-voiced diva Nina Simone and operatic pop singer Antony Hegarty. Enhanced by simple piano chords and Peterson’s soft electronica arrengements, it works like [...]
HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR – BLUE SONGS (Electro/Disco/Funk – US)
April 3, 2011 at 6:26 pm (UTC 1)
[...] for the dance classic “Blind”, with guest vocals by the ever mysterious Antony Hegarty, Hercules and Love Affair is the brainchild of songwriter/producer Andy Butler. Once described as “a pan-sexual mix for our [...]
U R MY DISCO // vol.6
June 7, 2011 at 8:31 am (UTC 1)
[...] Rebellion – Up All Night (John Bourke Remix) 12 Lost Valentinos – Thief (Nile Delta Remix) 13 Hercules & Love Affair – Raise Me Up 14 My Tiger My Timing – I Am The Sound 15 Fever Ray – Seven (The Twelves Remix) [...]