Party with DJ duo Gorgon City

From singers like Sam Smith, Jessie J and Charli XCX to the popular thump of electronic acts like Disclosure and Clean Bandit, England is currently exporting modern pop stateside by the boatload.

The latest big-time arrival is Gorgon City (real names: Matt Robson-Scott and Kye Gibbon), a DJ duo that has produced for huge names like Jennifer Hudson and dropped its debut album, Sirens (featuring Hudson on one track), on Tuesday via Capitol Records. The groups Ready for Your Love has busted out in its native country thanks to a strong house music influence and a killer feature from singer MNEK, and its about time for Gorgon City to connect on this side of the pond.

By phone from London, Robson-Scott, 25, talked to RedEye about Chicago house music and Greek mythology.

"Sirens" sounds like an album you listen to while getting ready for a night out. Was that on purpose?

Kind of. We wanted to make an album that you could get ready to that you can also listen to when you come back from the party, if that makes sense. There's dark and twisted parts right next to big party songs that hit in the club. The goal was a well-rounded album that goes off live. This coming show is our first headlining show in Chicago. We played the Mid with Green Velvet a few months back, and you heard it here first: We're going to throw a banger.

What was your first experience with house music? Has that sound really permeated the culture in England? When I was younger, my brother's friend left a CD of a [legendary London nightclub] Ministry of Sound event. There was a song on it that was a Chicago house track, and I listened to it over and over. At the time I was listening to garage, drum and bass and jungle music but I remember the Chicago house sound blowing me away. I'd be in record stores and they'd talk about how UK garage music originally came from New York and Chicago. [New Yorks] Paradise Garage and stuff like that. You're seeing DJs who play house get booked a lot over here. You've got folks like [Chicago house DJ legend] Derrick Carter doing shows over here too.

It's interesting to hear that the house scene is doing so well over there. You've said before that EDM and dubstep aren't as big there as it is here. Why do you think that is?

It's quite strange. It doesn't really connect with British culture like that. We've had a bit of a different journey when it comes to dance music, listening to it for a long, long time. Not that Americans haven't been listening to it, but it was a smaller thing. Dance music, specifically rave and acid house exploded in the U.K. in the '90s, and that whole illegal rave scene was such a massive part of our culture. EDM doesn't have the same kind of connection here.

Both of your collaborations with Jennifer Hudson ("I Still Love You" and "Go All Night") have a huge sound. You guys really get singers to belt it out over your tracks. How do you provoke that reaction? Are you creating these songs with specific singers in mind?

Generally we write the song from scratch with the singer in the room. We might have some random beats pre-made, but we prefer to have the vocalist in the studio so we can create it all together. Funny enough, the Jennifer Hudson track was originally recorded with [Canadian singer] Kiesza in studio and we thought it would be a good fit for someone with a classic and big voice. [Hudson] absolutely killed it.

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Party with DJ duo Gorgon City

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