Top Secret Robot Alliance: 'Dance Friends 2 the End'

The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.

Dion Thünder and Lucious Sandstone are the stage monikers for the two San Francisco artists that make up the dance music duo Top Secret Robot Alliance.

Formed in 2006 as the two members were at school in Michigan, at a time when the idea of a “secret robot alliance” sounded more playful and less evil than it does today, the band “united for the sole purpose of creating dance songs about dancing.” That mission is still alive and present in their music and performances.

With “Dance Friends 2 the End,” their latest single from a two-volume EP they released earlier this month, the duo want listeners to do the most rebellious thing against the unease and tension that has taken over the world: “to dance on the dance floor with your dance pals.”

“What would Robyn do?” is a guiding question for Top Secret Robot Alliance’s writing sessions. “That solves a lot of the disagreements we might have based on our personal tastes … that’s the one common place we can always meet,” Sandstone says.

Even though they identify as “full-time dancers,” the duo work regular full-time jobs in addition to pursuing their passion for dance music. “We wrote this record while our kids are sleeping, between 10 p.m. and midnight,” Thünder highlights, “while we’re exhausted, and it’s impossible to afford anything.” Still, living in San Francisco has fueled their creativity more than anything.

Top Secret Robot Alliance will co-headline a show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco alongside Vancouver pop-rock band Fionn on Saturday, Nov. 1. Their latest EPs, God’s Gift IV Dance — Books I & II are available to buy and stream on Bandcamp.