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Friday 21 October 2022

Becoming Strangers

This is a lovely dubby treat for Friday, the sort of thing that allows the mind to drift while it's playing, that eats up miles when driving, and feels like an imaginary soundtrack when walking with headphones on. Eight minutes of beautiful bass, looped and repeated, swirling FX and the ghost of a vocal layered somewhere in the middle. 

Becoming Strangers (Glok Remix) 

Becoming Strangers is by C.A.R., the musical outlet for Chloe Raunet, a French Canadian living in London.  Previously she was the singer in Battant, a London based synth post punk band from the 00s, with Timothy J. Fairplay on guitar. Battant broke up in 2011 after the tragically young death of multi- instrumentalist Joel Dever. Battant fell into Weatherall's world, initially from Lone Swordsman Keith Tenniswood who produced some early demos and then via Weatherall to Ivan Smagghe and the Kill The DJ label. Battant's first album is available at Bandcamp

Battant's single Kevin (1989) came out in 2007, a spiky, electric and lyrically hard hitting song about someone called Kevin. 

Kevin (1989)

Weatherall's remix slows it down, stretches it out, adds acres of space and kind of krautrock crossed with dub feel that he was working on back then- see also his remix of Doves from 2009. 

Kevin (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Tim Fairplay went on to become Weatherall's in house engineer at Scrutton Street and together they made The Asphodells'  Ruled By Passion, Destroyed By Lust album, released in 2013, and a hatful of remixes including one of Glock'd by C.A.R. but given there are three songs and an album here today that's probably enough to be going on with. 

1 comment:

Khayem said...

I hadn't known the C.A.R./Battant connection. Great tracks, all three of them.