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CMU Approved
Approved: Brutalist
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 22 September 2020
Electronic musicians Lucian Blomkamp and John Hassell first met in 2015 when they played a show together, quickly forming Brutalist and putting out a mixtape the following year.
“He introduced me to Arvo Part and I introduced him to Prokofiev”, says Blomkamp. “Pretty dorky stuff, but straight off the bat it was apparent we had a lot of similar musical interests”.
Initially both based in Melbourne, the duo continued to work remotely as Hassell moved to London and then Marseille. This may have slowed the project’s progress somewhat, but newly released EP ‘Michael J Fox’ is, thankfully, very much worth the four year wait. Combining a broad range of influences into an urgent and melodic electronic sound, it’s clear that the initial spark is still with them.
“The EP is a dark and frenetic mix of tracks drawn from the last few years of Brutalist collaborations”, says Hassell. “A tapestry of blood, binary and Prophet Rev-2 presets. A somewhat daring attempt to reduce the distance between us all in this day and age”.
“Michael J Fox, whilst also the celebrity superstar we all know and love, was also the (legitimate) name of a colleague of mine when I was teaching at a high school in London”, he adds of the title. “He was in many ways an unsung hero”.
“For instance”, he goes on, “he single-handedly prevented the school science laboratory from burning down after a troublesome kid lit an aerosol can alight. He was never given credit for that act and, furthermore, his beloved Fulham FC were relegated two weeks later. Despite all of this, the EP’s only named as such as I lost a bet to him over a game of football. Nevertheless, he’s still a top bloke”.
The EP features a collaboration with rapper LYAM on the track ‘Balsalke’, the video for which you can watch here:
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