It’s The Time to get BRNFKD
When it comes to the brilliant genre of electro, the UK has forged ahead in many respects with some great acts who have claimed global recognition. Vying for equal status however are our Gallic friends.
I must admit (well off the boil) I didn’t realise that Rinse FM now have a French franchise where the duo of BRNFKD (pronounced Brain Fucked) have been pushing their weekly show promoting some of the best new wave electro sounds that France can offer.
In this juncture however instead of promoting the music of others, the duo of Ikaz Boi and Monk will be releasing their forthcoming eponymous ep on the Nowadays label (forerunners in the French electro scene). Due for release on the 22.04. 16, BRNFKD have come up with a sublime ep.
It’s essentially a 6 track ep (8 if you count the two radio edits) oscillating between brooding, cerebral, bass heavy instrumentals laced with copious amounts of digital ambience to more vocally biased tracks with smatterings of electro sensibilities and of course great but simple song-writing.
Case in point is the lead single taken from the ep, ‘Sixteen’. It features the dreamy vocals of the U.S up and coming vocalist, Camille Michelle Gray, who’s also one half of the duo NUEX. The 23 year old has been getting love for her acoustic covers of some classic hip-hop cuts (go check them out). ‘Sixteen’ is a straight nice single; a sumptuous bassline works purposefully while Camille’s addition brings something ethereal and radio friendly which was, I am sure, the idea. Check out the CG animated music video by multimedia artist Clarita Luzian, whose also credited with VFX work for Frank Ocean’s ‘Novacane’.
While ‘Sixteen’ is a great track I have to admit that ‘Only Mine’ featuring Denitia is (for me) the better of the two cuts from the female vocalists. Denitia literally covers you in vocal niceness which is sweet like a double chocolate layered cake to an insulin dependent diabetic-the ep in turn is like two double chocolate layered cakes to our insulin dependent friend – ‘I’m going hyperglycaemic’- as the tracks like; Duplication and Millions draw you into the esoteric world of BRNFKD.
As debuts go, this is a great ep that displays the duo’s cultured, intelligent production and ability to create tracks that are tight like a vice on your little finger. It’s an ep that will definitely be on my journey to work playlist so I can get totally Brain Fucked before the drudgery of work!
