Live Footage

Conceived through the art of improvisation, Topu Lyo plays electric cello, incorporating the use of live loops and a handful of electronics with no pre-recorded samples of any kind. Mike Thies plays drums and keyboards, often simultaneously. This duo's formula is unique songs structured in such a way that enables them to actually build loops without disaster, all while keeping the music’s integrity and allowing ample room for improvisation. It is Live Footage’s coherent complexity that inherently wow’s new ears away. Plain and simple, they are cinematic, experimental, yet still catchy and melodic. Live Footage is often described as some of the finest “surrealist soundtrack composers” in the making by scoring some of the most eclectic contemporary pieces in film, fashion, dance and in tune composing their own music. Respected companies and organizations like Van Cleef Apparel, Cole Haan, UNICEF, Rag and Bone, VICE, and It Gets Better have actively sought out Live Footage's music. They have played a diverse collection of events, diverting from the standard "concert" traditional bands typically seek to play. Such include: Iceberg Men's fall/winter collection for Fachion Week Milan in 2012, Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal 2012, the TriBeCa Ball for NY Academy of the Arts, Rooftop Films, various Modern Dance performances and off broadway theater pieces. In 2012 the TriBeCa Film fest debuted the critically acclaimed film "Graceland". The accompanying score was therein released by draft house and distributed world wide . Live Footage has toured in Europe, Korea, Canada and across the USA. They have performed with well respected bands like Emily Wells, Portland Cello Project, Pharoahe Monch, Robert Glasper, Dan the Automator, and Henry Wolff at prestigious rooms like the Bowery Ballroom and Le Poisson Rouge. 4 records are currently available online, and the 5th ("Moods Of The Desert") is due to release in Fall 2015. You can catch Live Footage in NYC appearing at Apotheke (9Doyers st Chinatown, NYC) on Sundays. Residency at Apotheke (9 doyers st Chinatown, NYC) every sunday from 10pm-1am