A quality I've always admired in 100% Silk and its artists is the ability to be invariably vintage. Whether the album dropped two days ago or two years, each release is distinctively LA but could easily be mistaken or displaced in the linear history of house and disco.
Pharaohs began as an LA-based duo of Sam Cooper and Alejandro Cohen, but with each passing weekend of performing at dance parties, collaborators became bandmates and Pharaohs expanded to include Diego Herrera (aka Suzanne Kraft) and Casey Butler (aka Stellar Rahim). With several EPs in their pocket, the four-piece is releasing its debut Replicant Moods tomorrow.
Original Pharaohs Sam and Alejandro crafted this weeks Friday Night mix, much like we imagine they'd launch into a set at a club. Although their club is an abandoned factory from a dystopian alternate universe. The host is a sassy black comedian who proudly disses the audience and then earns her keep by dedicating the night to those who've loved then lost. Her soliloquy gives way to dancing, with each declaration the audience becomes more empowered in the rhythm and the rhythm of her speech. Act two is a cyborg chanteuse dressed in blue velvet that sings of abandonment. Eventually the Pharaohs take to the booth and guide us until the starlight gives way to day break.
It's a mix customized from eras past and records dusted off, but when played together create another world. Is it in our nearing future? Or is it an alternate plane absorbing the archetypes of our discarded past?
Pharaohs, “Greetings from Friday Night mix”
Pharaohs' Replicant Moods is out April 20 on 100% Silk.
