Sunday, 25 September 2016

U&C: Ross From Friends



Don't let the jocularity of the name of this artist deceive you from the talent that is shown within his music. Ross From Friends, not David Schwimmer, is another exciting artist coming out of South London supplying us with electronic music scattered with influence from early electronica, hip hop and house music. These influences are shown through an elaborate use of sampling and nebulous 80s synths. You can forget the impatient waiting for underwhelming drops with this area of electronica, instead a more reserved approach is taken, introducing an intelligent design and structure to his songs.


    (Credit - Google maps)

Ross From Friends’ ‘The Alex Brown EP’ expressed a much more vigorous attempt at electronica giving out a hectic industrial atmosphere but relaxation can be found within the heavy club drum beats, especially on ‘Golf School’ as he uses a juxtaposition of melting fuzzy piano chords. You can find this Ep’s repress exclusively on Phonica Records.

What’s to come is undoubtedly exciting - he is releasing another EP on the 7th October entitled ‘You’ll Understand’ following on from the song ‘Talk To Me You’ll Understand’ which has already been released. The song is immaculately pieced together with tropical sounding guitars eloping with fuzzy keyboards pitch changes on heart wrenching vocals quoting, ‘Talk to me’. The song has already reached over 500,000 views on YouTube which can only exaggerate the amount he will blow up after this EP.



     (Credit - 'Talk To Me You'll Understand' artwork)




You can also catch Ross From Friends playing at XOYO on the 8th October, a day after his Ep is released - a show not to miss.



Listen:

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/rossfromfriends

'Talk To Me You'll Understand' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tKKNV5sXUs





Tuesday, 6 September 2016

The Return of Pimp Shrimp


Peckham born Archy Marshall is a man of change within his musical releases; something that is not only shown by the number of his alter egos (King Krule, Edgar The Beatmaker, Edgar the Breathtaker, DJ JD Sports and Zoo Kid), but it can also be seen through an eagerness to continue to create dynamic, genre stretching music.  


            (Credit: FEEL SAFE 88 (just say no) artwork)



‘The Return of Pimp Shrimp’ is the new name that Archie will release music as, after posting a status on his Facebook page – “another age another name for the stomps”. The name alone suggests mystery and alongside the new name, the enigma is revealed even more through a new song – ‘FEEL SAFE 88 (just say no)’.

The new track shows a very different path to the hypnotising artistic project and electronic hip hop album  – ‘A NEW PLACE 2 DROWN’ (2015). He instead attempts a more disco based number, providing an almost vintage array of instruments gliding and swaying through the song. Even though there is a change, Archy’s own unique style is still clear throughout; the haziness of the synths and the guitars are placed under his strikingly soulful vocals, whilst maintaining key post-bop jazz influences.



             (Credit: Pari Dukovic / The New Yorker)


Archy evades the media, instead he likes to slowly unravel his creations, for example, he played an intimate surprise gig last week at Peckham’s Montague Arms. So, for the time being, the music to come will be announced only through his own methods, but the mystery raises excitement for a project started so intriguingly.





Listen to the new song here: