BLUFRANK TR-808 & A BABE

It might just be me (but then again if ONE person does it then it's probably quite likely that another person or multiple people will also do the same thing) but I like a song title or artist name or whatever kind of thing that requires you to look further into what exactly it is. Being the innocent mind that I am, I had to google 'TR-808' – and what fun! It's short for The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, "one of the first programmable drum machines" (thanks Wikipedia) and "TR" is an acronym of "Transistor Rhythm". There may be some of you out there thinking, "omg what stupid is this guy! HA ha!!" but to others who were wondering what BLUFRANK's song title meant, there you go.

Hang on, wait—what? Who's BLUFRANK? Don't worry. BLUFRANK is a producer from Cairo, Egypt, who makes mostly house (to use a very general and very useful term) music. The stuff about the TR-808 refers to this song, titled 'TR-808 & A Babe' – I can only imagine or guess that this was a fun time. It has to have been, surely? Sorry for being male.

The track is a minimalist escapade of house music, complete with ticking hi-hats claps and gloriously subbed-out kicks which give the track a juicy bedrock that shakes your very brain. Slightly atonal synth chords dip in and out of earshot as long-horizon glittering synth melodies soar across the landscape of the track. It's filled with a cheeky funk from 2:00 for around a minute, taking a different theme and running with it, changing back to that liquid-like flow for the final third. It's simplistic stuff but it works exceedingly well, combining bassy kicks more typical in hip hop or even juke with a future-facing house beat. The retro sounds of the synth is an obvious love for BLUFRANK, who is "inspired by the 60's, 70's, 80's, Cairo nightlife, love, dance-floors, bars, summertime, beaches" as they say on their Facebook page.

It's nice to hear a different take on dance music, one not ultra-minimalist nor wholly experimental nor completely stuck in the 80s. And something from Cairo! Which is fun, because I've never heard anything from Egypt. Oh, by the way, BLUFRANK has a load of other really nice songs on his SoundCloud – two very good ones are 'MID(s)' and the very sunny 'Never Ending Summer'. Bye!

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