Ben Browning (of Cut Copy) and FartBarf

Ben Browning (Cut Copy): A pulsating solo effort from electronic pop crooning man-child and Cut Copy bassist Ben Browning is the shiniest, newest addition to the Cutters stable of artists. Prior to starting on Cut Copy's most recent album Zonoscope, Ben Browning dug into his trusty mind-hole and began penning tracks for a solo release, culminating in the new 12-inch EP which is to be released by Cutters Records. I Can't ...Stay is the lead single, taken from Browning's forthcoming EP on Cutters records. It opens with an almost calypso guitar lead, before opening up into bouncing bass driven club-pop, the likes of which wouldn't have been entirely out of place on the recent Cut Copy album. The vocal is trademark Ben Browning: delicately strained melodic and harmonic stylings, with a seeming fragility which belies its true versatility. The talents of Architecture In Helsinki's Gus Franklin and Haima Marriott were enlisted to add production and shimmer, with Franklin even laying down live-drums on the final recording. Meanwhile, Cut Copy's own Dan Whitford reached into his collection of vintage synths to provide keyboard programming, producing some of the the classic keyboard tones herein. What's that you say? You wanna dance? Never fear, the single is rounded out by two energetic remixes of the lead track I Can't Stay. Cutters' own Knightlife, who has made spacey disco bliss his stock in trade, has transformed this into and epic, infectious melodic house gem. And DFA's Juan Maclean opts for an energized version, more faithful to the original, much like classic expertly finessed dance mixes of old.

Fartbarf : Fartbarf is a musical group that consists of 66.6% analogue synthesizers and 33.3% live drums. This leaves 0.1% mystery, and a multitude of genres which are tangled together to create the sonic resolutions put forth by Fartbarf. They are utilitarian by nature, and post-neanderthal by choice. Conceptual development began in Los Angeles, CA, in 2008, and was completed in the form of a tidy 3 piece p…ackage less than 8 months later. Key ingredients include a surplus of post-war German caveman masks, Jet Propulsion Laboratory cosmonaut jumpsuits, a strange obsession with pre 1980’s analogue synthesizers, all accompanied by infectious melodic hooks and robotic rhythms that have proven to gain notable popularity, even amongst the most pessimistic of individuals that span across the globe. For those of you who might be wondering still, what sets Fartbarf apart from all other electronic music… Do not be fooled. 99% of electronic musicians today should be considered computer musicians (which are almost as much fun to watch perform live as a rock sitting in the sun). Yawnnnn… Fartbarf’s music is not computer music at all. Nothing is generated from computers. All sounds heard are created from electrical voltages being controlled by keyboards which in turn are being controlled by the members of Fartbarf. Musically speaking, try to imagine yourself as James Brown running through a Nintendo game with a Herbie Hancock cover of Slayer’s South of Heaven as your theme song, all played in slow motion with the technicalities and rawness of the Meter’s meets Stewart Copeland. It’s primitive and futuristic. Mechanical and organic. It’s the perfect equation and the worst of all paradoxes. And it’s social commentary fits like a glove coming from Los Angeles in 2010. Guitars? How cliché. Vocals with lyrics you can understand and comprehend? How predictable. Instruments that don’t require massive amounts of electricity to function? Pfft… Living in the past. As subversive as it all may be, there might just be something in it for everyone. As of now, Fartbarf’s social experiment (the Throng), has been growing at a rate more steadily than not. Even more curious is Fartbarf’s refusal to change their name for the sake of conforming to gain mass appeal, or their lack of interest to speak to record labels to and fro. Further solidifying that not even El Duce and GG Allin’s love child could display a more misanthropic attitude toward the music industry as clearly defined as this. For more clarification, and sometimes even more confusion, connect to Fartbarf via their twitter or facebook account. For those interested in applying for a Throng membership, email throng@fartbarf.com