A century ago, Cambodia and Spain’s Basque region had nothing in common; they were steeped in ancient traditions, without much influence or hegemony. How beautiful it is then, that now anyone from any part of the world can make any type of music with just a laptop and some headphones?
Two artists currently doing this are Phantom from Cambodia and English-American-Spanish East Londoners Crystal Fighters (pictured above). The latter make woozy, anxiety-driven poptronica for the hipsters. The former is a mysterious figure whose pumping anthem, “Cambodia”, is alighting the blogosphere like Bastille Day. Both artists are unconventional and unrelated, but the one thing that brings them together is the genre mashing latitude they incorporate into their music.
Paying homage to their part-Basque heritage, the Crystal Fighters’ first show included two bottles of tequila, the traditional Basque instrument txalapartas and some Latin percussion. Now they’ve become one of the most talked about electronic artists in the UK for good reason. Just signed to Kitsuné, this quintet seems hellbent on proving that just about any form of music can be combined in contemporary dance culture.
Phantom’s track was originally featured on Bok Bok’s “Nightslugs” show on Sub.fm, which exposed his music to an audience outside of Southeast Asia. Phantom emphatically proves that success has little to do with provenence and what scene you’re affiliated with, only about the skills you possess.
And finally for good measure, make sure you check out newcomers Teengirl Fantasy with their trancey hymn, “Portofino”. All of these Ones to Watch artists can be heard on their respective MySpace pages (see links below). I now end this transmission from music’s final frontier, the Internet, otherwise known as the last bastion of opportunity for artists.
Links & backgrounds
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