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The Golden Filter's take on late-'70s downtown glitz has taken Manhattan's club scene (and the blogosphere) by storm. Consisting of record producer Stephen and vocalist Penelope, the duo is notable for its chilly arpeggios, pulsating beats, and plush vocals -- as well as their elusive personas. (No, those aren't their full names.)

What is known about the Ohio-born knob-twister and the Australian chanteuse is that they met in New York through a mutual appreciation for photography. After putting out a sensational debut single, the disco-noir cut "Solid Gold," the Golden FIlter cemented its reputation with brilliant nu disco remixes of Cut Copy's "Far and Away" and Peter, Bjorn and John's "Lay It Down." Couple that with a successful opening slot for the Presets on a recent North American tour, as well as a highly anticipated follow-up single "Thunderbird." In its physical form, it's a limited-edition 12-inch with a glittering disco-pop cover of The White Stripes' "The Hardest Button To Button" on the B-side. 

Crossfade caught up with the enigmatic duo by e-mail a day after they played Iceland's Airwaves Festival. Read the Q&A after the jump.

The Golden Filter. Saturday, December 5. Poplife at Electric Pickle, 2826 N. Miami Ave. Doors open at 10 p.m., tickets cost $10 in advance from wantickets.com. Ages 21+ with ID. 305-456-5613; epoplife.com

OK Go in Moritz Waldemeyer-designed LED jackets.

We're just going to come out and say it: The only reason OK Go has enjoyed any kind of popularity is because of that darn "quirky" music video. Their songs are okay at best, so we're a little shocked that they've been tapped by forward-thinking fair Design Miami/ for a special Design Performance.

The indie-pop band will be come together with tech designer Moritz Waldemeyer for a FENDI-sponsored event at the fair. Waldemeyer has retrofitted Gibson guitars with laser lights and FENDI materials that will interact with a video wall that will leave luminous traces behind when played -- sort of like a musical paintbrush.

This isn't the first time Waldemeyer has worked with the band, he's designed LED jackets for OK Go's stage show. "It's such a pleasure to be working with Moritz again. He's one of those rare and wonderful artists who's equally inventive in the domain of minute technological details and broad, open-ended creative ideas," says OK Go's Damian Kulash. "Our brand of performance -- super-saturated, super visual, super fun -- is precisely the right arena for his design. We knew right away that we needed to make instruments with him, and ever since we've been looking for the opportunity to realize our dream of playing guitars that are their own light show."

OK Go will be on site to perform, for the first time, with the customized guitars for the duration of the fair from December 1 through 4 from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Admission to the fair is $20. For more information, visit designmiami.com.

Audion

A heads up to Miami's downtown cognoscenti: Michigan's esteemed Ghostly International label will be celebrating 10 years of forward-thinking music and subculture at White Room on Saturday, December 5. Founded in 1999 by DJ Sam Valenti, Ghostly has become one of the most highly-acclaimed international platforms for cutting-edge and genre-defying contemporary music and multimedia, along with its more dancefloor-centric sister imprint Spectral Sound.

Ghostly's eclectic musical contingent will be represented on December 5 by the experimental Detroit techno/avant-pop forays of Audion, a.k.a. Matthew Dear, electro-tech producers Michna and Bodycode, and synthpoppers Solvent, along with Get Physical's M.A.N.D.Y. and Miami's own DJ Conway. This much anticipated musical extravaganza also marks the return of Miami's beloved SAFE, who brought us some of the finest underground electronic dance music bookings of the last couple years, and will be teaming up with Miami's legendary festival audio designer Terry McNeil to guarantee this will be one night of mind-blowing sounds. 

Click here to get your $15 pre-sale tickets.

Ghostly International 10 Year Anniversary Party. Saturday, December 5. 10 p.m.-5 a.m. White Room. 1306 N. Miami Ave., Miami.

Justice

Yes, you read it correctly. Just in time for Art Basel Miami Beach, Mansion is bringing French electrohouse duo Justice to Miami Friday, December 4.

The pair haven't really played a proper club set since Winter Music Conference 2007 when they spun at the Fixed/Ed Banger party at Studio A. They've made subsequent Ultra appearances, but this will be the first "intimate" South Florida setting in almost four years.

They of course rose to mainstream consciousness after the release of their album and scoring a MTV VMA nomination for their breakthrough video for "D.A.N.C.E." However, 2009 has been a quiet year for Justice, with no new material being release--except for a remix here and there. It's safe to presume though that 2010 might be a little busier.

Tickets are already on sale via Wantickets.com for $30. Sorry kids, 21 and over only. Doors open at 11.

After the jump, the clip for Justice's track "Stress," which was perhaps one of the more underrated tracks off their debut LP.

Vivian Girls

The Art Basel Miami Beach music news just keeps coming. This time we've received word that the Vivian Girls, Exene Cervenka and the Blow will be performing at Pulse Miami Art Fair, which moves to Ice Palace Studios this year. Their performances are part of the fair's Pulse Miami Performance Series.

This will mark the Vivian Girls second South Florida performance in the span of a two months. The Brooklyn trio performed at Propaganda in Lake Worth in October. The girls take the stage at Ice Palace December 3.

Cervenka, who is best known as the co-founder of punk rock band X, will be performing December 4. She's released her first solo album since 1991 this year titled Somewhere Gone, so this should be a rare treat.

Finally, Portland musician the Blow will hit the stage December 5. Perhaps the least known of the acts, the Blow creates sweet and hooky-laden indie-pop music.

All the performances are technically free. Once you've paid the admission price to the fair -- $15 for general admission, $10 for students -- you can enjoy the performances at no additional cost. For information, visit pulse-art.com.

We're sure Jesse Rose will be playing on something a bit more, er, advance.

Let us know when you're sick of hearing the words Art Basel, because you'll be hearing it plenty until the end of the first week of December.

In more Art Basel music news, British DJ Jesse Rose will be spinning at Rokbar (1905 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach) on December 6, which happens to fall on Sunday the week of Art Basel Miami Beach. The stop is part of the Scion A/V Tour for the upcoming Made to Play compilation. Riva Starr, Zombie Disco Squad, Oliver $ and Idiotproof, all who have releases on the Made to Play label, will also be joining Rose.

All past Scion A/V events have been free with RSVP, so it's safe to assume this one will probably be too. Check back here for further updates.

After the jump, one of our favorite remixes by Rose for Hot Chip's "Ready for the Floor."

via myspace.com/ebonybones

Ebony Bones on the cover of the French magazine Focus VIF

Heard of her? Neither had we. But a little birdie told us the London-based "jungle-punk" performer was scheduled to perform at this year's installment of the annual free "Art Loves Music" show, as part of Art Basel Miami Beach. A call to Basel offices found a flustered phone-answerer hemming and hawing on the subject, until she finally admitted they were "in negotiations."

Seems like it's all sewed up on Ebony Bones' end, though, as her MySpace page lists a December 2 date as "RED BULL presents EBONY BONES! - Art Basel MIAMI BEACH." December 2 of this year is a Wednesday, the opening date of the Art Fair, and the night on which "Art Loves Music" is always staged. So put two and two together?

The Golden Filter

We're about a month away from Art Basel Miami Beach, and yes, the art tends to be the bigger focus, but a great bonus is usually the influx of musical performers during the week. Last year alone, we saw performances by Casiotone For the Painfully Alone, Panda Bear, The Gossip, MSTRKRFT, A.R.E. Weapons, Yelle and more.

While Poplife hasn't officially announced it, both Pollstar and MySpace confirm that New York's The Golden Filter are scheduled to stop by the Electric Pickle December 5, the week of Basel. The secretive duo became instant critic and dancefloor darlings with its record "Solid Gold" and subsequent follow-up "Thunderbird."

They've also produce popular remixes, passing through, er, the golden filter, songs by Cut Copy and Little Boots.

If you've enjoyed past local performances by The Juan McLean, Hercules & Love Affair or Glass Candy, you're not going to want to miss this. No word yet on ticket prices or if there will be any additional performers. But stay tuned here for updates or visit epoplife.com.

After the jump, check out The Golden Filter's spectacular visuals for "Solid Gold."

This is it. Seven bands in about a minute. Two of them I didn't get the names of, so I just made something up. If you know who they are, tell us so we can tell the world. Tell your friends. Support the movement. Give the people with the money a reason to put me on the streets capturing all the awesome fucking moments this city is full of. Shit like that, that kind of shit, shit of that nature. Ride 'til I die. Make videos. Anybody can do it.

-- Jacob Katel