I knew this week's edition of Friday Night would be different. The possibilities seem virtually endless when asking a New York-born industrial noise specialists to collaborate on a mix with a (what I perceive to be) moody Dane from an electronic post-punk band. Did I expect to hear the indigenous/tribal music of John Duncan? No. But, I love that Loke Rahbek of Vår and Margaret Chardiet, aka Pharmakon, managed to surprise me.
The two artists traded songs, playing selector, and testing one another. You will not dance this week, unless its interpretative or to the industrial house of Haus Arafna. Chardiet makes death industrial music, which means there's some chilling ambience. Loke's now-four piece has an album called No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers, but he's not about to disclose what he and his brothers dance to. One of the two selected a song from the Akira Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The only artist I'd heard of was Scott Walker. Chardiet and Rahbek expand the parameters with their collaborative mix. It's an opportunity to hear two artists challenge one another with obscure selections and gain insight into the not-so-different tastes of musicians with entirely different bands.
Pharmakon & Vår, “Passing The Space Inbetween Mix”
Margaret explained the process:
When approached about compiling a mix together, it seemed like a natural thing. Since we were first introduced, we have been sharing music, and our ideas about music, in a constant stream back and forth. So in many ways it is that process, made public. The concept was very simple – one of us would send a song, and the other would reply with the next, and so on… creating a thread that runs like a narrative throughout the mix. In that sense it is more a conversation than a mix tape. Margaret started with the first song, and Loke replied, and we did that until we came to a conclusion of some sort. Loke called it “Passing” and Margaret called it “The Space Inbetween”. So let's call it both; “Passing the space inbetween”
Passing The Space Inbetween tracklisting:
01 Mass – You and I
02 Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Dolls Polyphony
03 John Duncan – Power Love
04 Erik Enocksson – V
05 Anenzephalia – Noehaem V
06 Pan Sonic – Telakoe
07 Haus Arafna – Heart Beats Blood Flows
08 Scott Walker – Dimple
09 Boyd Rice – Untitled
10 Andreas Scholl – Now o now i need must part
Pharmakon's Abandon and Vår's No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers are out now on Sacred Bones.
