ANR (Awesome New Republic)

Awesome New Republic is an indie dance-rock duo from Miami, FL, who made their full-length album debut in 2005. Founded in 2004, the duo is comprised of multi-instrumentalists Michael-John Hancock (aka John Hancock; vocals, drums) and Brian Robertson (keys, vocals), who began working together as students at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Citing influences that range from Prince and Parliament-Funkadelic to Giorgio Moroder and Talking Heads, Hancock and Robertson initially recorded a pair of homemade albums, Witness Now the Birth of an Awesome New Republic (2004) and Courageous! (2005), the highlights of which were later compiled for release on the full-length commercial album debut ANR So Far (2005). Released on the Miami-based indie label Sutro, ANR So Far garnered generally positive reviews, including write-ups in mainstream indie publications such as Pitchfork and Stereogum. A limited-edition four-track vinyl single, All Party Talks (2005), was also released on Sutro. A few years later — following a period during which Hancock released a solo album, Part Mongolian (2007) — Awesome New Republic re-emerged on a new Miami-based indie label, Honor Roll Music, with Post Crunk and Hard as Hell (2008), a compilation of remixed early material. The following year, they unveiled Rational Geographic (2009), a three-volume series of mini-albums.