Francis Harris [Open-to-Close]

Francis Harris is a name we in the DC dance community are very familiar with, as Frank's love affair with DC is on-going and well-documented. The head of Scissor and Thread alongside Anthony Collins, Francis Harris has been DJing for over 17 years and has well over fifty releases to his credit. We are excited to host Francis Harris for a rare open-to-close set (beginning at 11PM). #Bodyfeel returns to FlashBar after a brief hiatus to kick off the summer with special guest DJ Heather Femia, and a back-to-back from residents Dansman and Throe.  Arrive early to enjoy the Lady Acid Experience in FlashBar featuring Melanie and the Funky Motherfuckers from 8-10PM.

One might think that at 40 years old, over 50 electronic dance music releases (under the names Adultnapper, Sycophant Slags and lightbluemover) and 15 years of DJing the world’s top clubs that Francis Harris has reached the pinnacle of his career. 2012, despite these numbers, marked a pivotal year for the Brooklyn-based producer who showcased his true potential as a composer, producer and label executive. It was then that Harris dropped his aliases and stepped to the forefront under his given name with his debut full-length album Leland, a poignant opus written as a requiem for his father.

Seeking a more subtle and emotional sound, Harris departed from his tried and true methods as a solo studio engineer and forged creative collaborations that rekindled his long dormant interest in the crafts of songwriting, live instrumentation and performance. The result was an album laced with piano, guitar, cello and trumpet featuring vocals by Danish singer Gry Bagøien. Leland was painstakingly recorded and mixed on an analog SSL board, mastered by industry veteran Joe Lambert and delivered as a triple LP on Scissor and Thread, a new label formed by Harris as a platform for his highly personal expression.

Leland received praises from the indie press and electronic music faithfuls alike; notable support from Pitchfork, Ghettoblaster, Magnetic Magazine, the Village Voice and other major publications confirmed Francis Harris as an artist whose scope and ambition extends far beyond the dance floor.

Harris returned to the club music arena in 2013 with newfound purpose and an entirely new approach to making music. Harris has been collaborating in the studio and behind the decks with label partner Anthony Collins as Frank & Tony, focused on the development of new artists for the Scissor and Thread collective. Together the pair have released five well-received EPs of pitched down, melodic house tunes in the “Frank & Tony present…” series. The series has featured the vocal talents of S&T staples black light smoke, Gry, Corbu, newcomer Julia and current sensation Bob Moses, a duo that Harris has been instrumental in launching to sudden and remarkable global success.

In between touring and the production and management of this group of S&T exclusive artists Harris somehow found the time to record his sophomore solo effort, sadly in reaction to the loss of his mother. Minutes of Sleep, released in February 2014 on Scissor and Thread, picked up where Leland left off, delving further into the subjects of memory, loss and the expression of monumental grief. On Minutes of Sleep Harris solidified his signature blend of house, modern classical, shoe-gaze and noise to deliver his most accomplished work to date. The first single off the anticipated follow up, You Can Always Leave, released in November 2013, portended the elegant and brooding mood of the album. Gry Bagøien's were once again at the forefront alongside the heartbreaking trumpet of No Regular Play’s Greg Paulus on what amounted to the only dance floor moment on the album. Remix duties were handed to kindred spirit Terre Thaemlitz, aka DJ Sprinkles, one of the few artists operating in the dance space whose intellectual underpinnings echoed Harris’ own deeply held convictions.

Harris and DJ Sprinkles embarked on a six-city US and EU tour in December 2013 to support the single and pave the way for the album release with high profile stops in Brooklyn (Output), during Art Basel in Miami (the Electric Pickle) and in London (Fabric) before Harris returned to the BPM Festival in Playa del Carmen for the third annual S&T showcase in January 2014.