–Click on IMAGE to play this V I D E O —
Review by Kim Taylor Bennett:
Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if an alien with a boner for minimalist teutonic techno and post punk made this, it’s that weird. White perforated leather gloves and an old telephone. Factory workers in the 50s hard at work. Is that a mini-bust of Beethoven in day-glo make-up sitting next to the Universal Mother and Akhenaten? Gordon Raphael in a Harpo Marx style top hat. It’s all very bizarre.
If you’re thinking, hey that name sounds familiar, well that’s because Raphael recorded a couple of the greatest records of the 2000s—The Strokes first two albums, Regina Spektor’s Soviet Kitsch, plus working with countless other artists—in his one time East Village studio, in London, and also where he lives now, in Berlin. But even as he’s been busy producing, he’s always been making his own music on the side and this video, for song “Substitute Music” is a track lifted from his forthcoming LP—recorded in Buenos Aires Argentina (how glam!). This tune is made up entirely of Raphael messing around with his trusted Arp Odyssey synthesizer, an old 808 drum machine, and some overly saturated guitar. Oh, and his voice.
In order to help us explain what we’re hearing and seeing, we probed Raphael for answers: “This is a song I’ve been developing for many many years. I can honestly say that I have recorded 20 different versions—and now I’m ready to release this particular one.
“There were two concepts I had in my mind when I invented this particular piece. The first was to try to create a song that would be very difficult (if not impossible) to talk over by audience members or listeners while it was being played. I tried to accomplish this by having one loud abrasive note playing on repeat through the whole song from beginning to end! I named it ‘Substitute Music’ because I thought is should be played when normal music wasn’t appropriate.”