- The trio of Brandt Brauer Frick dress up in suits and ties for their live performances. It's not unlike Kraftwerk, and that's surely not an accident. As one of the few truly live electronic groups around these days, they take plenty of cues from the group. Musically, however, their aims couldn't be more different. While Kraftwerk were intent on celebrating computer worlds and the pleasure of radioactivity, Brandt Brauer Frick get off on controlling acoustic instrumentation. Pianos, bass, xylophone, the lovely sound that pebbles make as they make their way down from one end of a rainstick to the other.
The trio's powerful video for "Bop" is reminiscent of Daft Punk's "Around the World," slowly revealing each individual instrument to the viewer. (In this case, it's fascinatingly literal until the final act when a quartet of ballerinas come in to steal the show.) It helps that it's among their most immediately catchy songs as well, featuring a jazzy piano riff and percussion that has syncopation hidden within its easy 4/4. The A-side to their new 12-inch fares just as well, even without the visual clues: It's hard not to identify the fat bass or the cymbals when they come crashing in.
But it takes an outsider to isolate what makes Brandt Brauer Frick so interesting. In Losoul's remix of "Paino Shakur," you can hear each element coming from a mile away. Somehow the trio, though hardly interested in anything other than making you dance, are capable of surprise. Even when you see every little thing displayed before you.
Tracklist A1 Paino Shakur
A2 Bop (Video Edit)
B1 Paino Shakur (Losoul Remix)