London Producer ZAFLON (Jamie Woon, Royce Wood Junior, Love Nor Money) Drops “Blink” With Mina Fedora October 9th. Check out this sick track before it officially drops to the masses right here. This is a sultry mix of beat plus beauty guaranteed to awaken the masses who chose the blue pill.
About ‘Blink’
A skittish, psychedelic dnb-toned tune of dark beauty, ‘Blink’ manages to absorb both the anxious urban nocturnes oft attributed to the likes of Burial or Darkside, and the exotic sonics of a New Guinea rainforest, as captured in its keynote sample, the worksong of a Korowai man. The junglist feel doesn’t stop here or in its multiple-breakbeat rhythm either – ‘Blink’ features a clamour of found sounds and heavily abstracted noises alongside electric synth stabs and guitar teasers – a colony of scurrying, i
nsectoid FX layered beneath a dense digital canopy. Floating above it all is the haunting vocal of Kentucky-based Mina Fedora, whose beautiful topline serves Zaflon with the kind of gorgeous diamond-in-the-dirt payoff that Liz Fraser used to convey for Massive Attack. Though its rush of percussive beats might loosely define it as dnb, ‘Blink’ – out across digital formats on 2 October – is a genuine fusion of intelligent post-millennial electronic dance.
About Zaflon
“When I was a kid, my dad took me to this guy’s studio who was making film soundtracks. He was using racks of samplers and a big automated desk to create the sound of an orchestra. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Ten years later I’d be using the same studio to record Royce Wood Junior and Jamie Woon.”
Although his interest in production and engineering was piqued at an early age, Zaflon, aka London-born-and-raised Dan Clarke, first stepped on the musical ladder playing guitars and synths in schoolboy indie bands, lying about his age in order to secure gigs. The acquisition of a digital multitrack at the age of 16 proved the initiator for Clarke to go on and gain a music degree from Westminster University, which was followed by the classic post-graduate dilemma: “What the hell do I do now?” Wisely, Clarke decided to apply his studio skills to as many projects as possible and Zaflon was slowly forged on the back of metal bands, theatre soundtracks, acoustic EPs and, increasingly, forays into electro, hip-hop, grime, garage and drum’n’bass. As both his business nous and reputation grew, Zaflon was able to cherry-pick his collaborators, and performed live production duties for irrepressible dance trio Love Nor Money as well as engineering tracks by Jamie Woon and Royce Wood Junior. This year, Zaflon has been dedicating his time to his own electronic musicianship, creating a visionary form of alt.digitalism that has drawn comparisons to the likes of Aphex Twin, Reso, Burial, SpectraSoul and Lapalux, but in truth plays with many sub-genres, for, as he admits: “No matter how authentic the tune starts out, whether it be dnb, hip-hop or psychedelic post-rock, it always ends up as a mutated, bastardised version of what it originally was.” ‘Blink’ is the first taster of these thrilling mutations, four of which Zaflon will be collecting on an EP in the latter half of 2015.
LINKS:
http://twitter.com/zaflon
http://www.facebook.com/zaflonmusic
