So I've been told: Mylo, Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia, Kraftwerk, Radiohead, The Orb, Paul Hardcastle, Howard Jones, Basement Jaxx, Cafe Del Mar, Depeche Mode, Baz Luhrmann, Daft Punk, Yello, 2NU, Frank Zappa, Bill Hicks, David Ike, KLF, Visage, Ladytron, Nathan Fake, DJ Shadow...
AFS recently appeared in World AIDS Day Sheffield'sBattle of the Bands for WADstock 2009, a night festival raising awareness of HIV and AIDS, held at O2 Academy Sheffield on World AIDS Day itself, Tuesday December 1 2009. Hear the AFS AIDS-inspired piece, Awareness, featuring the Leicestershire AIDS Support Services, in the player. And WADstock promises to be a good night, with Battle of the Bands winners Flares From Far Away playing alongside some of the people that judged them, which must be slightly strange...
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18/08/09: AFS knows he is the first to start complaining about Christmas coming earlier every year, but he has just received a load of Fairy Lights-esque Christmas cards that he would like to share with anyone who vaguely knows him. Bearing in mind that Fairy Lights is yet another song that could only really be exploited at a certain time of the year, now's probably the best time to start. A picture will follow, but let us know if you want one anyway...
"Absolutely brilliant...a big, fat, guilt-trip of a record!"
Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/huwstephens/
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"Slightly creepy, slightly Da Bank... Moody old dad; I wouldn't want him to be my father."
Rob Da Bank, BBC Radio 1
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/robdabank
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Record-break attempt-maker and Leicester musician Adham Fisher brings us this handclap-house tale of subterfuge of hidden post-Mother’s Day horror nightmare-spoof acid proportions.
Early spaceout sample tactics sit beside the central refrain, as the drama unfolds. Simply this: “It’s the day after Mother’s Day” - a phone call from a father to his son, explaining how his mother is upset by the lack of acknowledgement.
Simple, and brilliant. The answerfone message is fragmented and stutters over some nifty LSD warped early 1990’s scratchology, spaced out and tuned in, a smiling response to some deep brain fodder that’s in tune with the manifestations of a tripping mind.
This same father is further sampled in the accompanying tune ‘Nest Flight’. The nervous father’s apprehension swims with trepidation over the sea of ambience, and it’s like he’s talking to a life support machine, or a prison inmate. It’s classic footage, haunting over banjo loops. Is he filming a video to send across the sea, or is his wife the one in the coma?
Yes! It has the soap-operatic quality – addictive, but deeper, reaching into your heart. Sounding like an excerpt from the utterly stupendous KLF chillout album is no mean feat, but this has timely echoes across a few mixes, and is very strong.
9/10
Whisperin & Hollerin
www.whisperinandhollerin.com
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Shut up; you can have it for next Mother’s Day if you’re as keen as you should be on this brain-wormed bass-led hypno beauty. This is the kind of disciplined, well crafted, blackly ironic portion of synth sarcasm and electronic art that echoes Yello, 2NU, Frank Zappa, Bill Hicks and possibly David Ike. The point being, this is a record that you should have, be proud to own and play often.
Unpeeled
www.unpeeled.co.uk
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Adham Fisher's new single features the voice of a father reprimanding his children for not buying their mum something for Mother's Day whilst setting up an Amiga computer. It's taken from a tape found in the computer at a car boot sale and it's an interesting concept, particularly as AFS doesn't know who the guy is.
Entertainment Manchester
www.entertainmentmanchester.com
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Surely one of the most bizarre tracks to date, and one of the most obscure stories behind its inception.
Adham Fisher, a 22-year-old Leicester musician tells the story best. "My friend, Brad Korponay, was at a garage sale in Winnipeg, Mantioba in Canada, and he bought an old Amiga computer. When he got it home, he played the accompanying audio cassette, which featured a man telling his children how to set the computer up. Halfway through the tape, he breaks off from this instruction to give the kids a blocking for not sending their mum a Mother's Day card. I thought this was too good an opportunity to waste, so I set the whole reprimand to music."
Mad, and so is the tune. It's one of those repetitive electronic offerings that penetrates your skull and claims squatting rights. Like all good art, it leaves you doubting whether it's art at all or just someone having a laugh at everyone else's expense. Zany, yet annoyingly catchy.
Selby Today
www.selbytoday.co.uk
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They say that the vocals on this are from a random tape bought in some pissant American town and feature a dad breaking off from telling his kids how to fix up the computer to bollock his kids for forgetting to send their mom (sic) a Mother's Day card. If that is true well done, really; it is a really cool song. You've just got to hope it is actually true and you're not being played for a fool by Adham Fisher. If we all are - and if you are reading this Adham - we will twat you.
New Noise
www.new-noise.net
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Leicester’s oddest boy, Adham Fisher, is doing his damnedest to personify his oddness in music, and with ‘Mothers’ Day’, he hits the nail on the head. Using a cassette recording pilfered from a garage-sale-bought Amiga computer, AFS remixes a man telling his kids off for not buying their mum a mothers day card. Brought together with the voice it works incredibly well as a chilled out slice of weirdness. Think Air’s 'Virgin Suicides' days, with a comedy twist. Keep a look out if you like strange tunes with a story.
Last Broadcast
www.lastbroadcast.co.uk
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Based around the use of sampled vocals found on a cassette tape found at a garage sale. It’s a simple electronic idea, but over the three tracks there is enough variation of style to provide this unique and inventive EP with an absorbing theme. Leicester musician Adham Fisher cleverly constructs his moods and lucky find, with plenty of good slow motion sounds and plenty of love.
AFS - Fairy Lights
"Eerily minimal hypnotism, made yet more enthralling by Amy Thomas's magnetic spoken word recital. More than a mere curio, it marks Fisher as an inspired weaver of samples." 8/10
John Earls
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AFS is the solo music project of Adham Fisher, who is normally to be found playing keyboards for GRR.
Away from his main band he has ended up producing songs consisting mainly of mellow, languid, sample-based electronica. Mostly utilised are vocal samples, the best example of this being arguably the mysterious and intriguing Mothers' Day songs, which sample audio from a cassette bought by accident at a garage sale in Canada. Nothing is known about the origins of the tape or of the man speaking on it, but the random interjections of a telling off for not having acknowledged Mother's Day, and later on, an apology for the outburst, were profound enough around which to base two songs. This music gained media interest in Canada and resulted in press coverage of the project in April 2006.
But Fisher uses original vocals for his work too, like on the childhood innocence of Fairy Lights and the clinical Sharp Scratch. He is on the lookout for vocalists at the moment, whether for speech or singing, and they don't have to be famous or even good.
Fisher controls all the recorded work for AFS, but live, he enlists the help of Monsieur Snaith and Ronald. He also does solo sets with improvised piano and samples.
He remixes; his biggest achievement so far having been to turn the GRR synth-rock epic Space Invaders into a chilled, minimalist piece.
There are three AFS EPs available at the moment: Clarendon House (the main one), Interlusion (the shorter one) and AFS Live (er...the live one). To listen to more music, order a CD, find out more, book the band, or anything else, please send a MySpace message or email adhamfisher@gmail.com. There's also a free CD giveaway of the band's season changing performance in Leicester Town Hall Square at Christmas 2006.
AFS is offering himself and his equipment for hire. He has co-written songs with artists including Idle Thumb, NMR and Sarah Long and has also done vocals for them. Collaborations are welcome. He is offering to be a session musician too, either for live or studio purposes, as a keyboardist, vocalist, bassist or more - he has been in the backing band for Hackney's Cocknbullkid and has played live with Birmingham singer Pericles, with whom he appeared at the NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS OF LIVE & UNSIGNED. He has produced the Chai Tea Radio Show and the first Atomicduster podcast. He also has a camera and will travel to photograph liked bands or bands that like him - see his pictures of the great Elliot Jack for evidence. In addition to that, there are also some instruments for hire from the AFS headquarters, including keyboards (Yamaha), synths (Korg), turntables (belt drive), small mixers (Alesis), bass guitars, guitar/bass amps and a double bass. Any interest, contact as described earlier...
You can also find him presenting the Chai Tea Radio Show.
PLACTICIAN / THE McMASH CLAN / RAIDEN / A1 BASSLINE BROKEN NOTE / HIJACK / THE CORRESPONDENTS / DJ FLOORCLEARER MDS / BRUCE STALLION / AMEN-TAL / MR JOSEPH & MC DEEFA
DEATH DEFYING CHINESE POLE / PYROKINESIS UV CIRCUS ACROBATIC BREAKDANCE DUO / COMEDY STREET PERFORMER FULLY PLAYABLE 16-BIT ARCADE / SECRET DISCO / 80s HOUR
DnB / Bassline / Dubstep / Jungle / Techno / Breakcore / Reggae / House / Gabba / Hip Hop / Psytrance / Rave
Doors: 9pm - 6am Advance tickets: £12 www.ticketweb.co.uk On the door: £10 before 9.30pm/ £14 after Venue: Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London N1 9NL Nearest tube/overground: Kings Cross
Check www.braindrop.co.uk for photos, downloads and info, and join our facebook group here =D
Hi AFS, thanks for continuing to be a friend of Electroflex.
Some important news!
Electroflex have been back in the studio following a break from gigging and recording with new track ‘Computer Virus’.
This is the first of a series of new releases for 2009, and what better day to start on than Liz’s Birthday!
‘Computer Virus’ is a live favourite. Anyone forced to work with computers will know how evil they are and this track is Electroflex’s response to Kraftwerk’s ‘Its More Fun to Compute’. It is a bouncy number with a serious bassline, sing-along chorus and a selection of curious samples.
The track will only be up on Myspace in full for a short time. Alternatively, visit our Facebook and iLike pages where you can add the song to you playlists
Every time that we listen & write music... play an instrument... dance... act in a play... or work in some audio/image/video engineering process... something is healing inside...
When we share it with friends... something is healing all over...
cada vez que escuchamos o escribimos musica... tocamos un instrumento... bailamos... o trabajamos en procesos de ingenieria de audio/imagen/video.... algo se sana por dentro...
Cuando lo compartimos con amigos... algo se sana en todas partes...
El Amor puede conducir... de manera simple... todo...
Wooohaaaaa!!! Braindrop is throwing its very first boat party on Saturday 6 June.
The vessel is specially equipped to hold large groups of people (and all the extra bass bins we can squeeze on). Her name is The Dutch Master and she be a mighty fine boat too!
It's going to be ridiculously fun rinse up. However, if you think you can get away with being remotely serious and/or cool at this party - ye be mistaken. The Braindrop Boat Rave is fancy dress: Pirate's from the 80's. Arrgh...better get thinkin what ye gonna wear.
D&B / DUBSTEP / TECHNO / BREAKS / ELECTRO / HARDCORE / HIP HOP / GABBA / BREAKCORE / PSYTRANCE / RAVE... and lots more!
Tickets are £20 and you can get them from TICKETWEB.
Check it out! I wrote a free book on music production! It's for total beginners, but if you aren't new to music production, maybe you'll still learn something... at least you can send it to your friends who always want to ask you a billion questions about music production! It's totally free too; my goal with this is to accumulate as many BFF's as possible.
Online Now!
