New Audio: Cape Town-Born, London-Based Sibling Duo Roi Turbo Share Two Funky Bops

Benjamin McCarthy and Conor McCarthy are Cape Town-born, London-based musicians, who have different musical backgrounds:

• Benjamin McCarthy had more of background in electronic music
• Connor McCarthy was in several alt-rock and alt-pop projects

Since the siblings were in high school, they wanted to collaborate on a musical project that was just the two of them. Their project together Roi Turbo sees the Cape Town-born, London-based musicians blending a mix of African and Western influences from the 70s, 80s an 90s, including Larry Levan, William Onyeabor, Air and Pino D’Angiò.

“We were listening to ‘70s and ‘80s African disco and funk records at the time, and the contrast between the synths and raw live elements of these records really inspired us,” the members of Roi Turbo explain. Over the years we bought as many synths, drums, guitars and microphones as we could get our hands on and would experiment for weeks on end until we got the sound we were going for. We wanted to create a project that encompassed all our niche tastes in music, fashion, automobiles and design, free of any pretentiousness, just quality music that gets you moving!”

Over the past month, the pair have released two singles:

• “Dystopia,” features squiggling Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, glistening and fluttering synth arpeggio and a strutting bass line paired with a motorik-like groove.
• “Bazooka” is anchored around some phaser-drenched synths and squiggling keytar and a sinuous 80s-styled, two-step inducing groove.

The two singes bring to mind a slick synthesis of Zazou Bikaye‘s Mr. Manager and Synthesize the Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica from Cape Verde Islands 1973-1988, 80s synth funk while revealing a duo with an uncanny knack for funky grooves and remarkably catchy hooks.