My Favorite Producer Thirty Two

Long Island, New York indie pop act My Favorite emerged first in the ’90s with retro-futuristic songs that employed dual vocalists, synth augmentation, and danceable rhythms to deliver their new wave-informed melodic hooks. The band released a wealth of singles and two full-length albums before breaking up in 2005, but regrouped in a new configuration in 2014. This new iteration of My Favorite is even more synth-reliant, and releases like 2022 EP Tender Is the Nightshift, Pt. 1 capture this phase of their evolution.
My Favorite was formed in 1991 by childhood friends singer/composer Michael Grace, Jr. and guitarist Darren Amadio while they were attending SUNY Stony Brook. The band was filled out by singer/keyboardist Andrea Vaughn, bassist Gil Abad, and drummer Todd Karasik. Inspired by new wave, the post-punk era, and ’80s pop culture in general, the group self-released its first cassette, the limited-edition Brighton Riot, in 1992, followed two years later by the Swingset Records 7″ The Last New Wave Record. A 1995 Harriet label single, The Informers and Us, earned My Favorite considerable media acclaim, but despite a handful of single sides and compilation appearances, they kept a relatively low profile in the years to follow, finally issuing their brilliant debut, Love at Absolute Zero, on Double Agent in 1999. The next few years saw them recording a string of EPs (2000′s Joan of Arc Awaiting Trial, 2001′s A Cult of One, and 2002′s The Kids Are All Wrong) that were released as limited editions that were then put together with a fourth EP that was never issued (Famous When Dead) — combined, these were released as The Happiest Days of Our Lives: The Complete Joan of Arc Tapes in 2003. The disc also came with a bonus CD of remixes by artists like Future Bible Heroes and Flowchart. During this time, the band became relatively popular in Sweden and played multiple concerts and smaller club shows there for excited indie pop fans. After releasing one more EP, a 2005 split with Entre Rios, the band broke up when Vaughn left. The remaining members dusted themselves off and continued as the Secret History, adding new vocalist Lisa Ronson and updating their sound a little. They released an EP and two well-regarded albums before they went on hiatus in 2014 after Ronson’s departure for England. At this point, Grace, Jr. revived the My Favorite name and readied a new single, “Second Empire”/“Dance with a Stranger,” which was released at the end of the year. Now in their second act, the regrouped version of My Favorite included Grace, Jr., Abad, the Secret History’s Kurt Brondo, and new member Jaime Babic. They played at the 2015 N.Y.C. Popfest and began releasing new music. mostly in the form of singles and EPs. Along with 7”s like 2016′s “Christine Zero,” the group delved deeper into electronic pop and sequenced digital rhythms on 2022′s Tender Is the Nightshift, Pt. 1, the first in a planned trilogy of EP releases. ~ Jason Ankeny