CFCF BEYOND LIGHT [VIDEO]

Hi. Does anyone remember that really awkward time that I said "wOW man GR8 set!!" on Twitter to CFCF when actually it wasn't even CFCF playing? What an eejit I was. But since that time, since that month, I've grown up exponentially and already I feel the sage wisdom of a 200-year-old mind kept sharp with goji berries and rice wine. Gone are the burgers of my youth, gone are the raging sugars and the tendency to mistake identities. Tranquil mind.

In any case, yeah, I said it. Moving on, I can say that I really like CFCF. I first got to know the music of Montreal-based Michael Silver (for that is his real name) through his remixes of a couple of HEALTH songs, namely 'Triceratops' (my f-f-favourite) and the very-different-sounding-almost-opposite 'Before Tigers'. This was a long time ago now and he's been doing all sorts of business since then.

Most recently, as you can probably tell, he's released a new video for a song called 'Beyond Light'. If you watch the video I bet you'd think, "computer graphics fo sho" - and you'd be wrong. These are actually created non-computerly. Pretty cool. CFCF himself tweeted, "yes please do watch the Beyond Light video in the highest possible resolution plz. As loud as possible. In a sensory deprivation tank." The closest I can get to a sensory deprivation tank is a pair of headphones so that will have to do.

Starting simply enough with what sounds like two battling MIDI electric guitars, other instruments introduce themselves with subtle gusto, hi-hats shuffle at trance-like tempo, kicks like someone stamping on a huge, hollow wooden floor - dusty and muffled - with the rhythmic stutter of a heartbeat accompany the plasma-sweep of a wibbling bassline. It's an exercise in looping to ecstasy, invoking a hypnotic state - especially with the video blinking its trip-o-matic kaleidoscopic visuals at you, this is one mesmerising song. Big tribal drums every now and again beat an earthy punch that provide reality's interruption into this ceremonial dance.

This comes from his second album, Outside, which is released 21st October on Dummy Records (except for North America which is 22nd on Paper Bag Records). So keep an eye out for that よ.

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PSAPP EVERYTHING BELONGS TO THE SUN

Yo cool kids and hip-happenin peeps, word on the street is Psapp is/are back after like so long! ... Truth is, I'd never heard of Psapp before until yesterday. Then I did hear of them and I heard their actual music, their new song in particular, and I liked it and that's how I am here writing this now. Since I don't know Psapp, let's talk about that for a second.

They are a duo, Galia Durant and Carim Clasmann, from London who met 12 years ago and have been creating music ever since. According to their Wikipedia page they are credited with the creation of "toytronica" - electronica augmented by the use of toy instruments (whistles, flutes, mini guitars, a chicken). They've released four albums and five EPs. That's a lotta releasing. Despite these past endeavours I think it's important to focus on what's going on now: their new song 'Everything Belongs To The Sun'. It's nice and I hope you like it too.

In a way, everything kinda does belong to the sun, doesn't it? Well rather than belonging... we kinda just really need the sun. If you can equate this neediness to a sense of belonging to someone, then I guess yeah. Everything belongs to the sun. In any case, it's a bustling and busy song that sweats with equatorial rhythms, fizzing flavours of various modes of trickling percussion - even hand claps; my favourite! - float into your mind like a surreal vision crossing in front of you.

The vocals are good too - in the spirit of repetition, the lyrics "Everything belongs to the sun..." loop like a mantra, layered in distinctive harmonies for a gloriously enigmatic effect in Galia's clean and confident tones. A background "oooo-oo" joins the beat for additional tropicalia. At 2:55 a ukelele or something lends its whimsy to the collection of noises, and a baby gurgling also joins the party for cementing the fact that everything, yes even babies, belong to the sun. Where the hey do you think babies darn come from? It's the sun! Um.

Anyway, I really like this. It's a lovely tribally sound from some people who clearly like making music, and not just making music like playing an instrument but TRULY making music, like... chucking sounds together. For instance, a baby? Come on. That's a quaint curio if there ever was one. Nice experimentation. Looking forward to the album which is "coming soon".

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DIANA PERPETUAL SURRENDER (FOUR TET REMIX) [VIDEO]

I haven't heard anything from Four Tet in a while. Why? I don't know. It's quite easy to miss things if you're not looking for them, I guess. I just assumed, maybe, that something would pop up eventually. And it did. And it's good. As you'd expect

You may have already heard this doing the rounds recently. It's a remix of 'Perpetual Surrender' by a Canadian band called DIANA. The original is quite a nice song by itself: nice percussion, synths that wash over you, groovy slow-jam bassline and caressing female vocals that get right in your ear. This combination of nice things kind of lends itself to a good remix, especially someone with a good ear.

Enter Four Tet. He takes the slow percussion and speeds it up, making it a clip-clopping tick-tocking tribal sensation. A house kick then bursts onto the scene. The start of this song is a typical Four Tet intro. A lush build up that kind of sends your mind into a frenzy. So many new elements are added and then repeated ad infinitum; layers of samples from the vocal, breathy bits and snippets of sung words. A glitchy affair. Before you know it, even these have become a part of the beat itself. He is the king of looping. Let's loop forever.

And this video is nice. It's cool. Karaoke style. 112 bars intro.

Soon he introduces the bass. It is a funked-up groovesomely majestic stand-out variation of the bassline from the original song and it works really nicely. The vocals are treated with respect, being allowed to breathe over the top of the jungle-noise percussive beat; in fact, he has taken the echo from them that is present in the original. Perhaps that's a better thing, I dunno. Probably. They just sound clearer and it suits the busier background sounds of Four Tet's version.

The saxophone solo and more noises rush in towards the end. Then the abrupt finish. What! It's over! Huh! !??!??¿¿¿⁄⁄⁄⁄!!¡¡¡ I know. I know. It's nice. It's like it should NEVER end. But it has to. Like all things. But at least it was nice enough to have that feeling of wanting it to go on for longer. Nice one.

btw you can download this song for FREE on DIANA's website the debut album of DIANA, incidentally named Perpetual Surrender too, is out 20th August on Jagjaguwar.

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YOSI HORIKAWA WANDERING

Wowee. Sometimes you can be surprised by what you like. That's why, I guess, it's probably quite a silly idea to say, "I like only this, that, and another genre" - because in reality you never really know what you could end up liking.

For instance, for people who like ham sandwiches: did you know you were going to like ham sandwiches from the very first bite of a ham sandwich that you ever took? Probably not. It's trial and error. A stream of recommendation and feedback that leads you as an individual on an exciting journey to new things.

So yeah, that's what I feel about this track I heard yesterday. It is by Yosi Horikawa, a Japanese producer based in Chiba. His roots are entirely in the DIY side of things - he started making music at a very young age (12 apparently!) recording all sorts of sounds in his bedroom, tapping on objects and using his voice. What started as a curiosity turned into a hobby and finally blossomed into a true talent, and a profession - he was, for instance, a participant in Red Bull Music Academy 2011, described as a "sound designer"; you can see why.

In this song, 'Wandering', Horikawa begins the track with a recording of footsteps crunching along a path and goes on to summon up all the ambient sound of a forest bursting with unseen life.

Birds trill as a backing to a storm of percussion. Some of it is mid-level and sonorous, some of it is trebly and frantic and beset with shakers. It is underpinned by one particularly gutsy kick that reverberates with punch. It is very tribal, like the introduction to some kind of war dance. After which everything turns peaceful. Warm synths flow in, wide and rich, lulling you to sleep whilst the forest sounds become all-encompassing, a tinkling backwards-sounding high-pitched noise glittering in and out. The percussion comes back, joined by that same glittering sound every now and again. It ends with the sound of what has always been there: the forest.

As far as the title goes, it could well be the soundtrack to wandering around a forest, with the tranquil middle section being the moment the titular wanderer discovers a peaceful clearing, away from the twisting gnarled paths where each new step treads new ground. A real inclusive sound that pulls you in to another world. Beautiful. But with a wild, infectious beat.

This comes from Yosi Horikawa's new album Vapor, which is out now on First Word Records. Stream it here.

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MOUNT KIMBIE FT. KING KRULE YOU TOOK YOUR TIME

Well for some reason or another I just haven't been paying attention to Mount Kimbie. I actually thought it was Mount Kimble at first - maybe that put me off. C'est la vie or whatever, it's not a problem, because now I have been alerted by my spidey senses to pay more attention in future. Not real spidey senses, just eyes that could read whenever it was that I saw the first tweet mentioning that Mount Kimbie (I keep wanting to type Kimble) had made a song with King Krule - that sealed the deal.

I really enjoy King Krule. I wrote about his very cool song 'Rock Bottom' at the end of last year, a song that displays Mr Krule's visceral slurring spoken-word-talk-singing quite perfectly. In it he payed homage to The Streets and takes off where it seems Jamie T stopped (two UK artists, if you didn't know; you should check them both out if you like Krule's stuff). I was very happy to hear an even more guttural KK spit every word out with more than an ounce of aggressive, tortured spirit on 'You Took Your Time', sounding at times like an animal in pain. Not in a bad way, of course; in a wow-what-feeling kind of way.

Here it is. Brace yourselves.

I regret now not having listened to Mount Kimbie before now. Soft synths begin a foray into slow garage beat, with a clinically clean crack of a snare and a fizzy cymbal that sounds like rain pattering outside a window. The synth becomes more organ-like at around the halfway point of the song, mournful and crunchy, enjoying its undisturbed vigil before the cymbal comes back, heralding the march on into the noise that follows. It's glorious noise though. Satisfying and affecting.

KK's tone becomes even more threatening, almost barking out the words, shouting and growling, his words taken by Mount Kimble and given a loud echo that yelps in the background as the beat becomes more brutal and tribal yet still keeping that garage rhythm. The bass shudders and shakes you and the music twangs melodiously in amongst the chaos. The ending, with the bare drums and raw shouts of KK, is a great end indeed.

I apologise to Mount Kimbie for ignoring them before. This song btw comes from their upcoming album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, out 27th May on Warp Records.

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THE DØ SLIPPERY SLOPE

Just a short one. This is the sound of The Dø, French/Finnish duo who make some lovely sounds. Here is a song from their upcoming album (they've already had a number 1 album in France), titled Both Ways Open Jaws, set for worldwide release this November. Have a listen...


It's tribal electro dance glam weird chic, and I love it - the drums and the nonchalant, quasi-MIA-style vocals drive 'Slippery Slope' not down a slippery slope, but up a gnarly hill into a heatbox of noise and boogie. I can't wait to hear more from the album.

• Here's The Dø's official site
• Their Facebook page
• And why not follow them on Twitter?

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2 SONGS FROM RAINBOW ARABIA

I like Rainbow Arabia. Their remix featured on Health's Disco2 of 'Before Tigers' is an interesting one - not my favourite, but it spurred me on to have a look at Rainbow Arabia themselves. And I was happy with what I found.

They seem to be a source of contention, as you can see from these comments on YouTube - are they liked? Unliked? Seems pretty mixed to me. The sheer mix of comments is pretty fitting too; they're a mixed up duo with a mixed up sound. They're actually a married couple from Los Angeles, Danny and Tiffany Preston. I got the impression they were from Lebanon, because of a story about the inspiration behind the music, told by Danny - "It wasn’t until we ordered an Arabic Casio from a Lebanese website that Rainbow Arabia was formed."

So you see why I thought that. It's also because their sound is so un-LA, un-USA, and so much more world, ethnic, tribal. They sound a bit like MIA, though like MIA blended up with a more lo-fi, experimental sound. They're certainly brave in how they make their music, pioneering weird sounds in microtonal synths, Eastern beats, and conjuring soundscapes that transport you from wherever you are to somewhere mad, somewhere that might not even exist. The video below for 'OMAR K' is bizarre.


Starting with tribal drums that carry on throughout, a spooky, ska-like, melody bounces around over the top as Tiffany's echoing voice calls you up to dance like a Dervish, or more likely just move like crazy. The video, in which Tiffany and a little girl with a tomahawk transform into bloodthirsty monsters with beards and fangs, suits the song totally. This is Rainbow Arabia's sound; carefree, brash, and full of energy. The next song, 'Without You' - taken from Boys and Diamonds (released March 1st, 2011) shows off a more new-wave influence.


Touching sounds, and lyrics tinged with the fear of being "so lonely", are contrasted against the tribal beats which typify Rainbow Arabia. From the video you can see how much the Prestons enjoy the music they make. And this is the key behind the songs they make.

Their passion creates a kind of transcendental sound; you can feel their energy and love of music in every single song. If you're a fan of MIA (the only coherent comparison I can make) I would very much recommend this lovely band to you. Well, at least I hope they have brightened up this grey Sunday evening.

Listen on SoundCloud or Myspace.

Or follow on Twitter...

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