Indie Electro Pop, New Audio, Single Review Video
by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chet Faker’s Club-Friendly and Sexy Collaboration with Marcus Marr

Up-and-coming, London-based DJ, producer, electronic music artist and multi-instrumentalist Marcus Marr has received international attention over the last couple of years for a number of critically acclaimed singles released through renowned dance music/electro pop label, DFA Records; in fact, “Brown Sauce,” which was released earlier this year was named in Pitchfork’s Tracks, “The Music,” which appeared in the film, Pusher also landed at number 3 on Spin’s Best Dance 2013. And adding to a growing international profile, Marr has regularly spun sets at Berlin’s world famous Berghain/Passenger Bar.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM for some time, you’ll likely be familiar with the now-internationally recognized, Australian-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and producer, Nick Murphy, best known to the music world as Chet Faker. Since the release of his critically acclaimed debut effort, Built on Glass last year, Murphy has been very busy as he’s played sold out shows on 5 continents, as well as some of the world’s biggest and most renowned festivals, including Primavera Sound, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. During that same time, Murphy collaborated with fellow countrymen The Cactus Channel on the  “Kill the Doubt”/”Sleeping Alone” 7 inch, which was released last month digitally through  Downtown Records across North America and Hope Street Recordings throughout the rest of the world. Interestingly over the past couple of years both Marr and Murphy had built up a mutual appreciation society between the duo through where else — Twitter.

Initially, as Marr explained in press notes, their collaboration began when the duo exchanged DMs over recording processes and other tech nerd stuff, and after recognizing that they were like minds, they then started to exchange voice memos with some ideas and sketches, which eventually lead to Murphy suggesting that they should try to work on something together. And the end result is the duo’s forthcoming 4 song EP Work slated for a December 4 release through Murphy’s Detail Records, Downtown Records across the US and Fontana North Distribution across Canada.

The EP’s first single “The Trouble With Us” pairs Murphy’s soulful crooning about a dysfunctional yet emotionally and sexually charged relationship with a slick, club-banging production consisting of angular Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitar chords, a sinuous bass line reminiscent of Daft Punk‘s “Get Lucky,” Boulevards‘ “Got To Go” and Michael Jackson‘s “Burn This Disco Out,” and a ridiculously infectious and sensual hook. Granted, Murphy has a reputation for crafting incredibly sexy material; however, this particular single may arguably be the sexiest and most straight-forward, club-friendly song he has released.

And how does a relationship between a London-based DJ and Brooklyn-based Australian producer blossom? Twitter, obviously. Notes Marr, “Nick posted my song on Twitter. I messaged him and said thanks and a conversation started – all nerdy stuff about recording processes. Pretty soon we started exchanging song ideas in voice memos. He then suggested maybe we try and do something together.”

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