Tag: Fifi Rong (Page 5 of 7)

FIFI RONG The One

18 October 2017 /

One person who is not shying from experimenting within the electronica genre is Beijing born, London based FIFI RONG.

Not only has she rebelled against the ordinary in her homeland China, but when the realisation that spreading her musical wings wasn’t going to happen there, she took the bald step of relocating to somewhere she could really emerge. And since, she has with sublime songs such as ‘Only If I Knew’ and ‘Next Pursuit’. Bred on MAZZY STAR and COCTEAU TWINS, the dainty songstress has been developing her own ethereal, eerie style, with the incorporation of some magnificent electronica, to challenge many of her contemporaries.

None other than YELLO invited her to tour and perform with them, and the Oriental Beauty has been going from strength to strength since with her multiple single releases.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is catching up with FIFI RONG just in time for her latest release ‘The One’.

The last time ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK chatted to you, you were embarking upon your YELLO adventure and since then, there have been live events with the guys themselves!

Yes! Last year I did 4 sold out shows at Kraftwerk Berlin with YELLO. They were their first-ever shows so it was intense and I loved it. And this year we are doing different dates, and much more spread-out.

The Montreux festival was a lot of fun. Geneva was very beautiful. And I’m looking forward to the upcoming arena shows in Germany, Switzerland and Austria too.

‘The Same Road’ took your followers as surprise with a faster tempo and a clear nod towards the poppier side of things?

Yes. I like challenging myself and I like experimenting. I know I can do moody downtempo all day long, but I like to explore the uptempo side of me too while staying undeviated from who I am.

Are we to expect for ‘The One’ to usher more changes which will define your creations for a while, or is the organic process of your music making never ceasing to evolve?

I think ‘The One’ is more holistic and conclusive, from what I was in the very early days to what I am now. It happened as a simple bassline, I had no intention for it to become a so-called dub reggae vibe. I’m not aware of these things, I thought it was interesting, that’s all. So who knows what will be the next bits of excitement that are coming my way 🙂

Having released some fantastic singles, are we to expect a long player to follow?

Yes. I’m making an EP first, and this is likely to be followed by the album sometime next year. I know I have been warming up for a while. But I hope it’s worth the wait as I have been writing so much. Basically I’m being patient and I only want to release the best tracks, rather than 5 mediocre albums with some good tracks. I’m in no rush. Quality comes first.

The Pledge Music campaigns have really worked for you…

Yes, I’m very fortunate to have a small group of loyal followers who believe in me as an artist, a person, and a spirit behind all this. And they support and stay open minded to grow with me and accept my changes and evolution.

You have travelled extensively over the last few months. Any highlights?

Yes! Geneva was paradise! So in love with the lake and the mountains there. But I only got to stay there for one day. Texas was lovely. Beautiful and generous sun shine… Spain, where I escaped to on my working holiday, where I went on a solo adventure into the mountains and to the sea. You get the pattern. I like sunny places with clear water. But ironically I’m attached to London. Like a complicated love hate relationship:)

Is China still shutting you out, or are they warming to your creations? Have you any thoughts about how popular music is developing there?

Haven’t had many thoughts or attention towards it. If there was another Fifi, I’d delegate her to have a scan of what’s going on. Otherwise, London is my home, regardless of how it perceives me 🙂

Any new hardware or software in your studio you’d like to share your excitement about?

Oh yeah lots!! I got my Maschine2 with Komplete and a new system. I absolutely exhausted my old set up with the previous version of Logic X and my own samplers. So I’m exploring the new systems, very slowly.

I’m a bit like a dog with a bone type of person when it comes to music technology. A bit thick but I eventually get my teeth into it and won’t let go 🙂

Would you say this year marks a milestone in your career so far?

I would say it’s been nice and steady and I like the pace of my development as a songwriter, performer and producer. All these things take time and craft from the insider perspective. And the outside result is simply what it looks from the outside. I don’t think about it too much 🙂

What does the future hold for FIFI RONG as 2018 approaches?

A new EP and album as I mentioned earlier. It means lots of hard work on songwriting, recording and production 🙂

So basically it’s a case of just putting my head down, as I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface of my creativity…

‘The One’ is available now via AWAL through the usual digital outlets

FIFI RONG plays London Archspace on 19th October 2017

http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

https://twitter.com/fifirong

Text and Interview by Monika Izabela Trigwell
18th October 2017

FIFI RONG The Same Road

24 May 2017 /

Beijing-born songstress FIFI RONG pulls off a surprise with her latest single ‘The Same Road’.

More uptempo than she has even been before with a driving nocturnal resonance, ‘The Same Road’ is accessible while still retaining the airy mystery of her previous work. The synthy soundscape is particularly enticing along with Rong’s distinctive vocal interplay, while the rhythmic guitar and reverbed drum sound adds some of the Trans-Atlantic vibe that CHVRCHES successfully adopted on their second album ‘Every Open Eye’.

Mixed by Max Dingel whose credits have included THE KILLERS, WHITE LIES, MUSE and GOLDFRAPP, ‘The Same Road’ is the possibly the most pop that FIFI RONG has ever been with the latter’s ‘Head First’ looming over it.

While the single sees FIFI RONG move away from her more artful downtempo roots, she says “‘The Same Road’ falls into one of my recurring themes of such inherent paradox and emotional cocktail of vulnerability and strengths.”

Directed by her regular visual collaborator Paris Seawell, the video for ‘The Same Road’ sees Rong in enigmatic dance motion choreographed by Dam Van Huynh, with the hazy effect enhanced by striking UV glow make-up…

Following the success of her previous campaigns, FIFI RONG begins a new Pledge Music project for her next two single releases. One of the options available is the possibility of her recording a cover version of your choice, while also available are the usual opportunities for private gigs, personalised lyric sheets and a signed limited edition compilation vinyl LP of her career to date.

With appearances at SXSW 2017 and The Great Escape, along with her noted collaboration with Swiss electronic pioneers YELLO, FIFI RONG is undoubtedly on an upward trajectory with her brand of world futurism.

‘The Same Road’ is released on 16th June 2017 via AWAL through the usual digital outlets

FIFI RONG launches ‘The Same Road’ with a live show at The Waiting Room in London’s Stoke Newington on 13th June 2017

Information on FIFI RONG’s current Pledge Music campaign can be viewed at: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/fifirong-2singles

http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

https://twitter.com/fifirong

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Paris Seawell
24th May 2017

FIFI RONG Future Never Comes

2 November 2016 /

London based FIFI RONG, who fled her birthplace Beijing having been perceived as “weird” and totally misunderstood in her musical endeavours, has been busy polishing her unusual sound for a few years now.

Coagulating her Chinese folk influences with styles of artists such as MAZZY STAR and COCTEAU TWINS, Rong has been creating her own electronica hybrid with such devotion and conscience, that none other than Boris Blank of YELLO noticed her unparalleled distinctive expression.

The fruits of their collaboration can be heard on no less than three tracks on YELLO’s ‘Toy’ album. Furthermore, Rong performed live alongside the Swiss masters during their recent Berlin shows.

Her latest EP, ‘Forbidden Desire’ caused a stir within the more arty lovers of high end electronica, showcasing the songstress’ “snapshot of (her) latest development”. The filigree vocals meander through the plethora of fascinating sounds, creating an aura of mysteriousness and uncertainty, which to Rong is “very individual and intimate language that I speak, with unfiltered and naked feelings of my own, for those who want to join me and listen to something real”.

And now the ‘Future Never Comes’…

Co-written and produced by long-time fan Mark Rose via the PledgeMusic campaign, Rong showcases the sound of an artist at top of her game.

Indeed, the dainty Chinese electro princess admits that: ”’Future Never Comes’ is by far the most epic-sounding track I’ve made, with a lyrical theme going back to my initial breakthrough of the fear for pursuing my dream and answering my calling. Making this track as a collaboration feels like taking a glorious vacation away from being immersed building my own island”

‘Future Never Comes’ is available via the usual digital outlets

FIFI RONG plays London’s Century Club on 4th November 2016

http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
2nd November 2016

YELLO Toy

26 September 2016 /

Recorded in Zurich, Swiss electro pioneers YELLO deliver ‘Toy’, their first album since 2009.

Dieter Meier and Boris Blank had made a recorded return earlier in the year with the moody ‘Why This, Why That & Why?’, a track in collaboration with JEAN-MICHEL JARRE as part of his ‘Electronica 2: The Heart Of Noise’ album.

Despite 37 years of making music together, the sound of YELLO remains intriguing and distinctly European.

The deluxe 17 track variant of ‘Toy’ starts with the delightful intro piece ‘Frau Tonium’, a short collage of bending synths and machine drones.

But the album begins proper with ‘Limbo’, a classic YELLO single laced with electronic effects and percussive mantras. Meier gives his distinctive drawl over a big metronomic beat syncopated by rhythm guitar for some suitably racey music.

The Moroder gone Latin Jazz lilt of ‘30,000 Days’ is appropriately moody, with brushes complimenting the vibrant but unimposing rhythmics before the superb ‘Electrified II’; with Meier’s mind blown by the velvet voice of Malia, this could be Shirley Bassey indulging in some seductive energetic electro-cabaret as she exclaims “Life’s a bitch and I’m no witch”.

Malia continues her soulful seduction on ‘Cold Flame’ which exploits the importance of grooves working in unison with fat driving beats. It shows exactly what club music at sunset should be.

Beijing-born chanteuse Fifi Rong makes her first vocal appearance on ‘Kiss The Cloud’, a slice of dreamy elegance over a drum loop that wouldn’t sound of place on one of her own recordings.

Malia returns for a gorgeous duet with Meier entitled ‘Starlight Scene’; as the man himself says, she is “out of this world” and with Blank’s bursts of vibratoed synth, this is a continental torch song that does its thing in just over three minutes. What is apparent about many of these new YELLO songs is how short they are, so they never outstay their welcome.

The pace picks up for ‘Tool Of Love’ with Blank’s crunchy electronics offsetting the inherent jive, while on the Malia-voiced ‘Give You The World’, a 6/8 pulse takes ‘Toy’ into another direction. The steadily pulsating ‘Dialectical Kid’ sees Meier’s robotised voice pair up with yet another female vocalist Heidi Happy, whose eerie overtones suit the track’s more obviously mechanical backbone.

The haunting ‘Dark Side’ sees the return of Fifi Rong where both Meier and Rong’s voices help create a wonderful filmic atmosphere alongside Blank’s layered voice samples. A instrumental interlude ‘Pacific AM’ does exactly what it says on the tin, conjuring images of sunsets over a hypnotic rhythmical motif before the sunny Balearic flavoured ‘Blue Biscuit’.

Featuring some great acoustic guitar from Jeremy Baer who contributes all the fret work on ‘Toy’, Boris Blank takes his turn on vocals and using all manner of layered voice treatments, weirdly tells the object of his desire “you never know how much I love you”. Taking its lead from the classic percussive snap of KRAFTWERK but with an added Latin flavour, ‘Lost In Motion’ with Fifi Rong sees her on an uptempo number for a change, with her angelic breathy tones offsetting the slightly fiercer electronic action.

With the song part of the deluxe variant of ‘Toy’ now over, the album concludes with three experimental pieces. The oddball voice sample ambience of ‘Magma’, while well-intended, sadly spoils the flow of the album. Whether in standard or deluxe versions, this strangely sits on both formats while ‘Electrified II’ and ‘Lost In Motion’ feature on the deluxe only. Much better though is ‘Toy Square’, a more frantic instrumental that explores LEFTFIELD territory. A full-length reprise of ‘Fran Tonium’ ends both editions of ‘Toy’ with a collage of drones and bleeps, but unfortunately outstays its welcome.

This last trio of instrumentals ultimately confuse the album, but will probably come fully into context at YELLO’s upcoming live shows with lashings of visuals and volume.

A danceable electronic record that is not built around the predictable beats and drops of EDM, ‘Toy’ is a mature and atmospheric statement, yet great fun. It loses it with the closing instrumental indulgences, but this album will not disappoint the eager YELLO faithful.

‘Toy’ is released via Polydor / Universal Music on 30th September 2016, available as a CD, deluxe CD, double LP and digital download

YELLO appear at Kraftwerk Berlin on 26th, 28th, 29th and 30th October 2016

http://yello.com

https://www.facebook.com/yello.ch/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th September 2016

YELLO Interview

17 September 2016 /

Boris Blank founded YELLO at the end of the 1970s, together with Carlos Perón.

They were soon joined by singer Dieter Meier, and the Swiss group became one of the most respected and influential electronic acts in the world. Reduced to a duo after Perón left for a solo career in 1983, YELLO’s best-known songs include ‘Oh Yeah’, which featured in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, and ‘The Race’, which was a Top 10 hit in the UK.

YELLO recently thrilled fans by announcing live Shows in Berlin in October. Boris Blank took a few minutes to speak with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the shows and YELLO’s new studio album, ‘Toy’.

The upcoming shows in Berlin are being billed as YELLO’s first live gigs, so how are they different from 1983’s ‘Live at The Roxy’?

The Roxy was more of a twenty minute gig, which was not a full live concert as we are playing now in Berlin – fully 90 minutes. It was very well prepared at the time with the Fairlight sampling machine. A few little things were live – and Dieter’s voice, of course, was live – but the rest was from this media.

yellology-yello

This time, in Berlin, the richest track, ‘Tied Up’, will have fourteen people together with me and Dieter on stage. So, there will be some real live musicians on stage, as well – that is the difference between New York and today. People ask, after 38 years – the hardcore fans of YELLO – why don’t you do this for us? So I think it is time to share our music and our visuals with our YELLO fans.

Will you be playing some of the classic material? Will we, for example, get to hear ‘Domingo’ live?

‘Domingo’ is not on the list – no, I am sorry. There will be more famous tracks – ‘Oh Yeah’, of course. There will be other tracks like ‘The Evening’s Young’ and many other tracks from our old list of YELLO music. There will be ‘Tied Up’ – a very wild track. There will be bits of ‘Liquid Lies’. There will be some old tracks, of course, as well as the new YELLO tracks – and hopefully they will also become classic tracks in the next 25 years.

‘Toy’ has the classic YELLO sound, but it also feels more mature and refined. In the studio, did you have a vision of how you wanted the album to sound?

When making the music for YELLO, I never think about a certain aesthetic or a certain kind of concept. It just comes out. When you work every day, like I do in my studio, more as a painter than like a traditional musician, then things come up that I never knew before. I just make music for fun, of course – it should be fun all the time. At the end, that is the result, reflecting more or less my fantasy from the past months and years that I’ve been working on those tracks.

What is interesting and makes me very happy – it is sort of a compliment – is when people say, “You know, Boris, I can say after three bars that this is your music or this is YELLO music”. That is still, I think, the case with this album, as well. You can feel it or hear the characteristics.

boris-blank-fairlight

You mentioned the Fairlight, and your use of it is famous. Your old machine currently lives in Australia. Is it right that the lucky owner inherited your library of sound files?

The reason is that the hard drive didn’t work anymore, so I sent the whole Fairlight to Australia to have the system fixed. They played out all of my old library, which was immense – it is a huge library – and sent it back to me on two or three hard disks.

It is very nice going back into those sounds. I’m not using them for this album, but the next time that I find some space, I would like to recover or recycle those sounds with the newest technology for sampling and go deeper – like with a microscope, going deeper into the molecules of all those sounds – and make new sounds.

It is a tragedy for me, because there was a lot of heart and sweat in those old samples. I recorded everything at the time. I threw a snowball at the studio wall and worked it into a bass drum in the end – things like this. It is nice to go back and see, in retrospect, how I worked at the time; how my mind and my feeling for sounds today has changed. It is a funny kind of history – a documentary for myself – to dig out all those old sounds and recover or recycle them.


Do you work more these days with computers or do you prefer hardware synthesizers?

I do have, for sentimental reasons, still, the ARP Odyssey and a few other ones, but I hardly work with them because I am not an emotional or sentimental person. I work today with the newest plug-ins which are available.

Of course, it keeps my mind and my brain in a good condition. I think that, if I want to have a really dirty Moog type of sound, I can do this as well using some tricks. So, I am not a traditionalist – I am looking to the future.

We know you are a fan of THE NORMAL’s ‘Warm Leatherette’ / ’TVOD.’ Are you also a fan of FAD GADGET or other early electronic artists?

FAD GADGET, of course! I am also a fan of musique concrète. I am a big fan of Pierre Boulez, of course, György Ligeti, and even some parts from Karlheinz Stockhausen and Raymond Scott. They are real pioneers in using electronic music. They are big influences for my own music, as well. They gave me the original kick to start making electronic music.

At the shows in Berlin, Dieter will be front and centre, but is there a chance that we will get to see some of your collaborators – perhaps Malia and Fifi Rong?

Fifi Rong and Malia will be live there. Fifi will sing two tracks, Malia one track and two tracks in a duet or collaboration with Dieter. We are looking forward to keep them happy, of course!


You worked with Malia on another project, ahead of the YELLO album. How did you come together?

It is kind of a long story, because friends of Malia came to me and asked a few times whether I would like to collaborate with her to produce four or five demo tracks that she could use to get a new contract. Finally, we started working between YELLO works, over about two years.

It was not enough doing four tracks – why don’t we do a whole album? On and off, she came to the studio and we worked together for at least two years. She is still a good friend of YELLO, of course, so that is her voice – it fits well on our new album.

In the past, you have worked with Shirley Bassey and Billy Mackenzie, who are two of the great vocalists of the last century. Malia’s voice sounds just as rich.

Yes, she has a special touch in her voice. It is not a colour which you find every day on this planet. She has a really special characteristic to her voice. She is one of the most respected Nina Simone interpreters; so, yes, she has a great voice. She has something alive and emotional in this voice, which is very unusual.

You recently collaborated with Jean-Michel Jarre, what was that experience like?

The experience with Jean-Michel Jarre was, if you compare it to chess players, like if you send a move to your friend in Stockholm or Tokyo. He was in Los Angeles and he sent me the track which he would like to collaborate on with YELLO for his album. As our move, Dieter and I sent him back some voices and a story, which Dieter came up with, and a few rhythmic and sound ideas from myself.

We haven’t met so far, but it was a nice experience and I admire his musical life a lot. I remember ‘Oxygene’. When I was very young, l thought “Wow, this is a whole other world of electronic music” – you know, it had the characteristic that Krautrock, all the German electronics, had at the time.

It was a pleasure and a big honour for us to be on this album, in such great company, with MASSIVE ATTACK and all these great people involved in the project.

YELLO released a music-making app called the Yellofier. Do you think you could see YELLO making a commercial track using that technology?

There are some sounds – some parts, some fragments – on the new album which I had done with the Yellofier. Also, we are developing some more effects or features for the Yellofier quite soon. I would like to get in a collaboration to build some hardware or a sampling machine that has the architecture I wish to work with – an expanded version of the Yellofier – just limited somehow. But that is an idea for the future.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Boris Blank

Special thanks to Duncan Clark at 9PR

‘Toy’ is released via Polydor / Universal Music on 30th September 2016, available as a CD, deluxe CD, double LP and digital download

YELLO appear at Kraftwerk Berlin on 26th, 28th, 29th and 30th October 2016

http://yello.com

https://www.facebook.com/yello.ch/

Text and Interview by Simon Helm
17th September 2016

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