Kavinsky is a zombie. An anime-inspired concept character and alter ego of Vincent Belorgy (b. 1975), neon-noise maker from the French electro scene. With a style evoking 80s cop-movies, police shows and Miami Vice, retroist Kavinsky revels in video arcade aesthetics. The cheesy arpeggios, a cartoon avatar and car crash themes suggest the zombie is a Frankenstein: part JG Ballard, part Jan Hammer and part Giorgio Moroder.
 
As a child in Paris, Berlogy took piano lessons until he was nine, but quit the same year Miami Vice made its debut on French shores – 1984. It would be more than 20 years before he took up music again, after he was prompted by long time pals Quentin Dupieux (Mr. Oizo) and Jackson Fourgeaud (of Jackson and his Computer Band). When, three years ago, Dupieux gave him an old Mac he no longer needed, Belorgy started making electronic music.
 
In 2006, Belorgy released his first EP on Record Makers, the French label founded by Air. The seven track record, Teddy Boy, was a thematic epic revolving around the ultimate 80s symbol, the Ferrarri Testarossa, with a narrative sequence and song structure. It featured a remix by Mr. Oizo.
 
The next instalment, 1986, followed a year later, a continuation of the first EP’s 80s thematics, kitschy sounds and cheesy covers. 1986 was a full-blown concept EP. The Testerossa featured again prominently in an unfolding drama about a Ferrari accident that led to the death and zombifacation of Kavinsky, elaborating on the fictionalisation that turned Belorgy’s twenty year musical hiatus into a sci-fi return of a man killed and reborn a zombie twenty years later. It also featured a SebastiAn remix of 2006's 'Testarossa Overdrive'. A split 7” with DJ Mehdi was released on Arcade mode in 2007, and later in the year, Kavinsky toured with Daft Punk, The Rapture, Justice, and SebastiAn.
 
Before he became a zombie, Berlorgy was an actor. He’s appeared in several films: Nonfilm (2001); Aaltra (2004); Atomik Circus/The Return of James Battle by the Poiraud brothers in 2004, where he met the Belgian actor and director, Bouli Lanners, later appearing in the 2005 Bouli Lanners film Ultranova. Belorgy has appeared in several Quentin Dupieux/Mr.Oizo productions, including clips (Analog Worms Attack among others), and the 2007 feature Steak, where he played Dan, head of the band Chivers. He has appeared in at least a dozen other short films.
 
> Kavinsky on Myspace
 
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > CRANKED UP DISCO