Track Marks: How Justice Became This Week’s Biggest Band In The World

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts.

Artist: Justice Hometown: Paris, France Album: As-yet-untitled debut, due this summer First blog mention: An August 19th, 2005 mention on 20 Jazz Funk Greats The Build-Up: Thanks to the duo’s remixes of songs by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Britney Spears, Justice have been Hype Machine mainstays for the past few years, with mentions on Fluxblog, You Can Call Me Betty and Musicisnotdead, among others. And their profile got a big bump when “We Are Your Friends”–a collaboration with Brit rockers Simian–won a trophy at the MTV Europe Music Awards, prompting Kanye West to make a headlines-spurring rush to the stage. The Dam-Break: Earlier this week, Discobelle.net posted an MP3 of the cheery “D.A.N.C.E.,” which has since been picked up by Gorilla vs. Bear and B-Town Hit Parade, and now sits at No. 1 on the Hype Machine’s popular-tracks list. Odds of Backlash: 3-1. No matter how good they get, they’re still French. Plus, judging by this photo, one of these guys might actually be Jeff Lynne. Are They Worthy?: So far. “D.A.N.C.E.” is part 3-2-1 Contact, part Studio 54, and their remix of Britney’s “Me Against The Music” is far better than the original (faint praise there, but still).

Justice – D.A.N.C.E. [MP3, link expired] Britney Spears feat. Madonna – Me Against The Music (Justice Remix [MP3, link expired] Justice [MySpace]