Po Po

Mixing grunge, punk, synth pop, hip-hop, and any other sounds that catch their fancy, Po Po (which means everything from "aunt" in Pakistani to "butt" in German) is the project of Pakistani-American brothers Zeb and Shoaib Malik. Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and put into Catholic school by their dentist father, Zeb and Shoaib, along with their brother Hassan and friend Mike Collins, formed Po Po in the mid-2000s and recorded a demo in a Bryn Mawr party house that they were renting as a practice space. Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor heard it and enlisted Po Po to open for him on his 2007 tour. By 2008, however, the bandmembers felt disillusioned with the music industry and were on the verge of breaking up when a fateful gig with Athens, Georgia's Dark Meat convinced them to keep going. Po Po took a trip to Dark Meat's hometown and ended up recording another demo, which was heard by Diplo, who happened to be in town at the time and caught one of Po Po's shows. Two songs from that Athens demo ended up on the Kill Tonight single, which Diplo released on his Mad Decent label in 2009. By the following year, Collins and Hassan had left Po Po; as a duo, Zeb and Shoaib expanded the band's sound by adding electronic elements. While they worked on a full-length album, they released another single, 2010's Bummer Summer, and toured with the similarly genre-defying Sleigh Bells. During that time, Zeb Malik also produced singles for Theophilus London and Spank Rock. Working with producer Nick Launay as well as Diplo, Po Po finished their debut album, Dope Boy Magick, which Mad Decent released in March 2012.