Duck Sauce is an electronic music superduo, formed in 2009 in New York City. The duo consists of American DJ Armand van Helden and Canadian DJ A-Trak. They are best known for their 2010 single "Barbra Streisand".

Duck Sauce
Duck Sauce performing in 2011
Duck Sauce performing in 2011
Background information
OriginNew York City, New York, U.S.
Genres
Years active2009–present
Labels
Members
Websitewww.ducksaucenyc.com

The duo released a mixtape named Duck Tape in October 2013, and their album Quack in April 2014. Awards the duo has won are the Best Underground Dance Track in 2011 and 2012, and Best Dance Video – International in 2011.[1][2][3]

History

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Duck Sauce's first tracks are "aNYway" and "You're Nasty". The track "aNYway" capitalizes "NY" to signify the duo's New York origins. The song was originally called "A New York Way" but was later shortened. The song samples "I Can Do It" by Final Edition. Duck Sauce's debut EP Greatest Hits was released on July 15, 2010.[citation needed]

In the summer of 2010, Duck Sauce released a track, "Barbra Streisand", named after the singer of the same name. The track heavily samples the 1979 song "Gotta Go Home" by Boney M., which itself is based upon "Hallo Bimmelbahn"[4] by the German band Nighttrain, 1973. The famous hookline is written by Heinz Huth. "Barbra Streisand" was first played at Miami Winter Music Conference in 2010 and gained heavy DJ and radio support in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Austria, Poland, France, Finland, Romania, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. The song peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and reached No. 1 on the Australian ARIA Club Chart as of 12 September 2010. For the Billboard week ending December 18, 2010, the song reached the #1 position on the Dance/Club Play Songs chart.[5][6] On April 26, 2011, the song was featured in the musical television series Glee's 18th episode of their second season.[7] The song was also featured in the Vitamin Water Revive commercial.[8] The "Barbra Streisand" music video reached over 100 million total views.[9]

"Big Bad Wolf" was released by Duck Sauce in 2011 on BBC Radio and samples wolves howling. The music video features genitalia replaced by human heads. A-Trak notes "When Keith came up with this idea of 'crotchfaces,' we just thought it was hilarious."[10]

On June 6, 2013, announced via Facebook, a preview of the song "It's You" was shown, with the full song released on June 25, 2013. "It's You" samples the track of the same name from FirstCom's OneMusic library.[11] The music video features a barber shop transformed into a surreal dance party which comes to life with the beat of the song. The music video earned Duck Sauce a nomination at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.[citation needed]

In October of the same year they released "Radio Stereo". The song is a rework of "Radio", a 1982 hit by UK punk act The Members. The original chorus, "We listen to the radio! It's better than the stereo", is looped over a driving, funky bass and playful sampling.[citation needed] Songwriter Nigel Bennett of The Members was quoted saying that he was happy that Duck Sauce discovered his song and loved what they've done with "Radio Stereo".[citation needed]

On October 12, 2013, they appeared on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix.[12] The first hour of that mix, which contained many unreleased demos, was later released as a mixtape titled Duck Tape.[3] Four of these demos were released in January 2014 on the Duck Droppings EP.[13]

On the Essential Mix broadcast Duck Sauce announced a full album, Quack, to be released through Fool's Gold Records in early 2014. The album features twelve songs by the duo, including "Barbra Streisand", "aNYway", "It's You", and "Radio Stereo". The album's lead single "NRG" samples Melissa Manchester's 1985 track "Energy" and was named Zane Lowe's "Hottest Record in the World" on April 3, 2014.[citation needed] The album was released on April 14, 2014.[14][15]

On January 1, 2020, member A-Trak teased a comeback of Duck Sauce on his Twitter account. Later that week, it was revealed that the duo were to perform at Coachella that April. This ended up not taking place due to the cancellation of the event as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They subsequently performed at the 2022 edition of Coachella.[16]

Discography

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Albums

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Title Details
Quack

Extended plays

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Title Details
Greatest Hits
Duck Droppings
  • Released: 20 January 2014[13]
  • Label: Fool's Gold Records
  • Formats: Download
Put The Sauce On It

Mixtapes

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Title Details
Duck Tape

Singles

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Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications Album
CAN
[20]
US
[21]
AUS
[22][23]
AUT
[24]
BEL
(FL)

[25]
FRA
[26]
GER
[27]
IRE
[28]
NL
[29]
SWI
[30]
UK
[31]
2009 "aNYway" 56 26 38 49 22 Quack
2010 "Barbra Streisand" 35 89 9 1 1 3 3 2 1 1 3
2011 "Big Bad Wolf" 16 79 Non-album single
2013 "It's You" 46 47 Quack
"Radio Stereo"
2014 "NRG"
2020 "Smiley Face" /
"Get to Steppin"
Non-album singles
"Captain Duck" /
"I Don't Mind"
2021 "Ask Me" / "Mesmerize" Put The Sauce On It EP
"Nonchalant"
2023 "LALALA" TBA
2024 "Clap Your Feet" /
"2 Da Face"
"Fallin' In Love"
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Music videos

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Title Year Director(s)
"aNYway" 2009 Eran Creevy
"Barbra Streisand" 2010 So Me[39][40]
"Big Bad Wolf" 2011 Keith Schofield
"It's You" 2013 Philip Andelman
"NRG" 2014 Dugan O’Neal
"Mesmerize" 2020 Keith Schofield[41]
"Nonchalant" 2021 Freeka Tet[42]
"Clap Your Feet" (feat. Fuzzy Cufflinxxx) 2024 Harrison Fishman

Awards and nominations

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International Dance Music Awards

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Year Nominee / work Award Result
2011 "Barbra Streisand" Best Break-Through Artist Nominated
Best Best House/Garage Track Nominated
Best Underground Dance Track Won
2012 "Big Bad Wolf"
Best Music Video Nominated
Best Artist - Group Nominated
Best Underground Dance Track Won

Grammy Awards

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Year Nominee / work Award Result
2012 "Barbra Streisand" Best Dance Recording Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards

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Year Nominee / work Award Result
2012 "Big Bad Wolf" Best Electronic Dance Music Video Nominated
Best Direction Nominated
2013 "It's You" Best Visual Effects Nominated

UK Music Video Awards

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Year Nominee / work Award Result
2011 "Barbra Streisand" Best Dance Video - International Won
2012 "Big Bad Wolf" Best Dance Video - International Won
Best Art Direction Nominated
Best VFX Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "Quack by Duck Sauce on Apple Music". iTunes. June 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Quack by Duck Sauce - Download and listen to the album". Qobuz. June 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Duck Sauce "Duck Tape" | Fool's Gold Records". Fool's Gold Records. 2013-10-30. Archived from the original on 2016-05-02. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  4. ^ "Nighttrain - Hallo Bimmelbahn". YouTube. 22 December 2008.
  5. ^ Dance/Club Play Songs. Billboard.
  6. ^ "Top 50 Club Chart - Australian Record Industry Association". Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2012-02-09. ARIA Club Chart
  7. ^ Futterman, Erica (27 April 2011). "'Glee' Recap: Everyone's Proud to be 'Born This Way'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  8. ^ Vitamin Water Revive Commercial Archived 2016-05-06 at the Wayback Machine. YouTube. April 18, 2011.
  9. ^ Upload from September 25th, 2010 by SteveAATW: "Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand (Official Video)". YouTube. 24 September 2010. Archived from the original on 2017-09-02. Retrieved 2022-08-09. (20,594,643 views as of August 9th, 2022). Upload from October 5th, 2010 by Spinnin records, taken down in 2017: "Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand (Official Music Video)". Spinnin' Records. Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. (82,512,963 views as of March 27th, 2017).
  10. ^ "Big Bad Wolf". Rolling Stone. October 24, 2011. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
  11. ^ "OneMusic Track Sampled in Duck Sauce's New Single". FirstCom Music. June 25, 2013. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  12. ^ "Duck Sauce, Radio 1's Essential Mix - BBC Radio 1". BBC. Archived from the original on 2018-09-10. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  13. ^ a b "Download Duck Sauce Duck Droppings EP". Stereogum. 2014-01-20. Archived from the original on 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  14. ^ "Quack by Duck Sauce on Apple Music". iTunes. June 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Quack by Duck Sauce - Download and listen to the album". Qobuz. June 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Coachella 2022 YouTube Livestream Schedule & Details Announced". Pitchfork. 2022-04-15. Archived from the original on 2022-04-17. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  17. ^ "SoundCloud Widget". Archived from the original on 2014-04-10.
  18. ^ "Greatest Hits | Fool's Gold Records". Foolsgoldrecs.com. 2010-06-15. Archived from the original on 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  19. ^ "Put The Sauce On It - EP - Album by Duck Sauce". Apple Music. 2022-04-20.
  20. ^ "Duck Sauce Canadian Singles". allmusic.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
  21. ^ "Duck Sauce – Chart History: The Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  22. ^ "Discography Duck Sauce". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  23. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 88.
  24. ^ "Discographie Duck Sauce". Austrian Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  25. ^ "Discografie Duck Sauce". Belgium Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  26. ^ "Discographie Duck Sauce". French Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  27. ^ "Discographie Duck Sauce". German Charts Portal. Hung Medien.[dead link]
  28. ^ "Discography Duck Sauce". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  29. ^ "Discografie Duck Sauce". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  30. ^ "Discographie Duck Sauce". Swiss Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2014-12-23. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  31. ^ "Duck Sauce > UK Charts". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  32. ^ "Australian accreditations". Australian Recording Industry Association. 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  33. ^ "British certifications – Duck Sauce". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 6, 2022. Type Duck Sauce in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  34. ^ "German Singles Accreditations". Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  35. ^ "Search for duck sauce- IFPI". IFPI Denmark. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  36. ^ "Finnish accreditations". IFPI Finland. Archived from the original on 2018-04-03. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  37. ^ "Canadian digital download certifications – Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand". Music Canada.
  38. ^ "American certifications – Duck Sauce". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  39. ^ "Duck Sauce "Barbra Streisand" (SoMe, dir.)". VideoStatic. October 1, 2010. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  40. ^ Battan, Carrie (June 13, 2012). "Video: AlunaGeorge: "Just a Touch"". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  41. ^ Price, Stephen (2020-10-20). "Duck Sauce "Mesmerize" Music Video by Keith Schofield". Motion design - STASH. Archived from the original on 2021-08-13. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  42. ^ "Thousands Of Ducks Take The Streets Of Los Angeles In New Duck Sauce Video "Nonchalant"". Scenester.tv. 2021-08-13. Archived from the original on 2021-08-13. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
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