Cut Copy

Melbourne’s Cut Copy has helped shape (and reshape) indie-dance music throughout the 21st century. Starting out as a DJ in the early 2000s, frontman Dan Whitford expanded his arsenal with a sampler, keyboard, guitar and drum machine and set out to create an infectious blend of lo-fi rock and dance music. His solo experiments were transformed into full-band workouts for Cut Copy's 2004 debut album, Bright Like Neon Love, a fuzzy, funky synth-pop sizzler produced by French house luminary Philippe Zdar. Riding a global buzz, the band recruited DFA Records cofounder Tim Goldsworthy to produce 2008’s disco-dipped In Ghost Colours, highlighted by euphoric club hits “Lights & Music” and “Hearts on Fire”. They kept the party kicking over the next decade, slipping in elements of chillwave and Fleetwood Mac on 2011’s Zonoscope, acid house and power balladry on 2013’s Free Your Mind, and Tropicália and New Wave on 2017’s Haiku From Zero. While the band has leaned heavily on its nostalgic whims, they continue to look forward, too—with 2020’s icy, apocalyptic Freeze, Melt.