Justice life and biography

Justice (stylized as Jus†ice) is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Augé (born 21 May 1979 in Besançon, Doubs) and Xavier de Rosnay (born 2 July 1982 in Ozoir-la-Ferrière, Seine et Marne). The duo is one of the most successful groups on Ed Banger Records and is managed by the label's head, Pedro Winter. Justice is known for incorporating a strong rock and indie influence into their music and image. The duo gets all their inspiration from Rick James.

Justice first produced tracks together for Musclorvision's "Hits Up To You," a concept compilation where tracks were designed to sound like they were meant for the Eurovision song contest. The compilation included two of their songs, and a track by Augé's alter-ego Microloisir. Justice first came to prominence through their 2003 remix of Simian's track "Never Be Alone", created for a Paris college radio station's remix contest.The remix resulted in the group being signed to Ed Banger (who released it) and became a hit in clubs and on the Internet. The song was re-released in 2004 on DJ Hell's International DeeJay Gigolo Records and eventually given a commercial release in the UK in the summer of 2006 under the title "We Are Your Friends," on Ten Records, a sub-label of Virgin Records.

After the original release of "We Are Your Friends" Justice worked on remixes for a number of French groups (Vicarious Bliss, Scenario Rock, and Gambit) as well as for larger mainstream acts such as Britney Spears, N*E*R*D, Fatboy Slim, and Daft Punk. Justice's first solo single, "Waters of Nazareth," was released on Ed Banger Records in September 2005 and was championed by DJs such as Erol Alkan, Eddy Temple-Morris, Tiga, 2 Many DJ's, and Ivan Smagghe. The track was re-released in 2006 with additional remixes. The duo's prolific remix work continued, as they turned in mixes for Franz Ferdinand, Mystery Jets, Soulwax, and Mr. Oizo.

Their debut album, titled †, was released on Ed Banger Records on 12 June 2007. The album was released in the United States on Downtown/Ed Banger. The album was preceded by the D.A.N.C.E. EP, released on 28 May 2007, which featured the tracks "Phantom" and their own remix of "D.A.N.C.E." titled "B.E.A.T". "D.A.N.C.E." was nominated for "Video of the Year" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. On 1 November, Justice received the "Video Star" award at the European Music Awards in Munich and was named the Best French Act of the Year. Justice was chosen to do a mix for the Fabriclive series in 2008, but Fabric rejected it. De Rosnay said that, "[T]hey weren't ready for something like this." Now titled "Justice Xmas Mix," the mix is available on the Internet.

Justice uploaded their music video for "Stress" to YouTube on 1 May 2008, having had several TV stations boycott the video. The clip features a group of youths committing acts of vandalism and harassment, wearing jackets bearing the Justice cross on the back. Accused in some quarters of racism for its stereotypical depiction of youths of African descent (both black and North African) from Paris' socially deprived banlieues, others saw the video as a critique of their portrayal in the French media.

In July 2008, Justice was revealed to have done a mix for the Dior Homme Summer 2009 Fashion Show, much like Daft Punk did for Louis Vuitton in 2007. The track, now known as Planisphere, was released in four parts on the band's MySpace page, with an extra final cut that did not make it into the fashion show mix (known as "Planisphere IV", or "Planisphere Final").

On 28 March 2011, the Justice single, "Civilization" was released as a one week iTunes exclusive, in full, as a premier for the release of the single on 4 April. On the 27 May, the duo released the official music video for the single on YouTube. The video relies heavily on CGI and illustrates a world in which famous monuments (such as the Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro) are destroyed as gravity appears to be reversed. The storyline is of a herd of bison running from the falling ruins.

In August 2011, the band announced that their sophomore record, Audio, Video, Disco, is due 24 October 2011. In an interview with French magazine Tsugi, the duo disclosed the 11 song tracklist of their upcoming album, and described their new album like "a progressive rock record, played by guys that don't know how to play". Label owner and manager Busy P has played unreleased material from the album in recent shows.

On 6 September 2011, a music video for the single 'Audio Video Disco' was released by the duo via their Facebook page. The video features Xavier and Gaspard in a studio setting, and details the lengthy, rock n' roll style recording process that was experienced in making the single, and album. Within the clip various instruments are seen: an electric guitar, a piano, and a drum kit, standing as the quite literal symbols for the Justice progression into a more rocky, less electronic sound.

Justice's debut album, †, was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Electronic/Dance Album" and it was also nominated for the 2007 Shortlist Prize, but lost to The Reminder by Feist. The duo has been successful at the MTV Europe Music Awards, winning three awards: "Best Video" for "We Are Your Friends" in 2006 and "D.A.N.C.E." in 2007, and "Best French Act" for the band, also in 2007. Their remix of the MGMT song "Electric Feel" won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical in 2009. Overall, Justice has received five awards from fourteen nominations.

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