Beatmeister, DJ, restaurateur - is there no end to what this west coast electronicist can do?
Hometown: Santa Ana, California.
The lineup: Chris Alfaro (music, production).
The background: This is one of those new artist pieces where we are going to be presumptuous and determine that they are New to You, even if they're not new-new-new. Chris Alfaro - musician, beat-maker, DJ and owner of Santa Ana restaurant/bar/nightclub and all-round hip(ster) hangout the Crosby - has been making music as Free the Robots for a while but remains under the radar despite making music that broadly speaking fits in a category alongside the slow, often sombre, brooding jazz-tinged sampladelia of an above the radar character like DJ Shadow - in fact, he's been called the DJ Shadow of the Low End Theory scene, the Low End Theory being an experimental electronica/hip hop night in Los Angeles which, now that we think about it, is only 30 miles from Santa Ana so punters can head off to the Crosby after a hard-night's head-nodding and have something to eat.
Every article written about Alfaro points towards someone with an omnivorous appetite, which is handy considering he can pop into the Crosby whenever he likes and fill his face with anything on the menu. That try-anything attitude comes across in his largely instrumental music, which includes forays into areas as diverse as ambient, jazz, electronica, dubstep, prog, hip/trip hop and psychedelia. He uses dusty, crackly samples that betray a lifetime digging in crates for TV and film soundtracks, old jazz and soul albums - whatever he can find. And he mixes them up with digital sounds, analog synths and real live percussion. He's like a latterday Herbie Hancock with a kid 606 sense of play married to a serious electronic music/jazz buff's sense of musical righteousness. And it will appeal to fans of all of the above, especially those with super-attuned ears who own expensive stereos and want to test the full range of their equipment - not just the low end.
It's on his latest album, the Balance, that he achieves, appropriately enough, the perfect blend of treble and bass, analog and digital, ancient and modern. Ophic featuring singer Jessie Jones is slow and stately, with the swirling, queasy organ sound of a fairground - or a funeral. Reflect and Reform is a weird 8bit ballad, jazztronic, with a touch of the chanson about it, like Edith Piaf going EDM. At 90 seconds, all dubstep hell breaks loose, while the backdrop is pure Vincent Price horror muzak. Parallaxis could be the soundtrack to a conspiracy theory movie from 1972, only with dubstep bass wobbles and psychtronic keyboards. From the unsettling child voices and changing time signatures of Adore to the chopped and screwed TV theme of Innervision, the Satie-esque sadness of the title track and the off-kilter delights of 2040 ft. Jonwayne which is like Captain Beefheart or Tom Waits if they were drunk electronicists, there is much to recommend here. Tell Chris we sent you, you might even get a decent table, even a booth. Oh, and try the swordfish ceviche.
The buzz: "Just to warn you, this record will affect the way you think of the other records you listen to after this one."
The truth: If his music was a dish, well, expect sharp edges and tart flavours.
Most likely to: Regret nothing.
Least likely to: Put swordfishtrombone on the menu.
What to buy: The Balance is out now.
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