Hercules and Love Affair is a dance music project created by American DJ, singer, composer, musician and producer Andy Butler in 2004.

Consisting of a rotating cast of performers and musicians, the band work within the genres of house music, disco, techno and nu-disco.

The band recorded Blue Songs in 2011, and then The Feast of the Broken Heart in 2014 which featured John Grant as guest, on the single "I Try To Talk To You".

[4] He went on to give his first DJ set aged fifteen, in a Denver leather bar run by a hostess called Chocolate Thunder Pussy; on that occasion, the club was raided by police, leading him to hide from them in the toilets.

[7][8] In the city, he befriended the musician Anohni—then working under her birth name of Antony Hegarty—and in 2004 convinced her to perform vocals for a song he had written, titled "Blind".

[8] For the album, Butler assembled a mixed line-up; Morgan Wiley and Andrew Raposo, both formerly of Automato, joined the backing band, while Nomi Ruiz, CocoRosie, Kim Ann Foxman, and Anohni took up vocals.

[4] Butler remained in control, joined by Mark Pistel, and Kim Ann Foxman returned, however it also featured two new main vocalists, Shaun Wright and Aerea Negrot.

[4][14] One of the songs, "Step Up", contained guest vocals from Kele Okereke, the lead singer of indie rock band Bloc Party.

[15] The album's title was chosen by Butler to reflect his own "blue period" during adolescence, before he discovered the existence of like-minded people through music.

"[16] As a result of the stress and pressure of the band's success, Butler began making increased use of drugs, and in an attempt to get clean he moved from New York City to Vienna in Austria.

It had to get really bad before it got OK."[17] In August 2012, Hercules and Love Affair played at the Meltdown Festival at London's Southbank Centre, which was curated by Anohni.

[17][19] Also singing on the album were Rouge Mary, Gustaph, and Krystle Warren,[19][20] with Butler informing The New York Times that that line-up constituted "the best ensemble of vocalists I've had.

[22] In August, the band generated some controversy with the release of the video for their song "My Offence" which featured excerpts of conversation with figures from the New York City gay scene like Honey Dijon and Juliana Huxtable.

Butler described the song and its video as an examination of his "relationship to taboo words and the use of 'cunt' amongst NYC's gay community to relay flattery, empowerment and strength".

In Amber also featured drummer Budgie previously of Siouxsie and the Banshees, who was asked "to participate, to derailing some of the arrangements for more impact" on a suggestion of Anohni.

"[4] Reviewing a live show at the Oval Space in London in 2014, The Guardian asserted that Hercules and Love Affair's current line-up has reached an apex in terms of their vocal virtuosity.

[33] Rob Ledonne of The New York Times asserted that Hercules and Love Affair have a "distinctly Continental sound" in that they are influenced by European dance music.