- Side A -
01 - Intro 引
02 - Gu Dong Gu Dong 咕咚咕咚
03 - The Planet Called Earth 这个叫地球的行星 (Feat.BMD龙)
04 - Ripples 荡漾
- Side B -
01 - Tribal Gathering 部落的聚会
02 - Dancing Spirits 神仙起舞
03 - To The East 向东
04 - Celestial Landscape 天上的山水
Originally from Guangzhou, the Xiamen-based DJ began his musical exploration as a part of the earliest Chinese underground hip-hop collectives/movement Deearna and Dumdue. While running Thank You Café in Xiamen, a creative hub that has connected countless souls, DFU also captures listeners’ ears with his onliest improvised performing approach using sampler, loop station, turntable manipulating collected sounds, melodies, and rhythms across the globe. Besides working with the local electronic trio 44, DFU has also been collaborating with many prominent creators to break boundaries, ranging from sculpturer Sheng Jiang to fashion brand SANKUANZ.
In 2019, the Shanghai-based artist Nathan Zhou held his exhibition "Nathan’s Road" in Guangzhou. As the guest sound curator and Nathan’s long-term collaborator, DFU offered us a daydream with his unique music style and improvised performance. The 3-hour recording was later edited into the 8-track album "Water Live".
Sampled from an audio book for children from the1970s, the repeated vocal sample "Water" appears throughout the entire album. Within this journey guided by DFU, ethereal sounds and voices collide and communicate with each other. Different elements are blended like flowing water and poured out through the artist’s body creating a resonance with audience. The progression of subtle percussive rhythms delivers a vivid image slowly soaked by water droplets. Samples and melodies are twisted and reconstructed with loop station and hazy effects, feels like the breath of all things at dawn. Deliberately deviated from the atmosphere of the nowadays society, DFU's soundscape leads the likeminded ears into a state of deep relaxation. The appearance of eastern musical instruments is like the whisper of a troubadour, full of emotion and energy. The sounds of udu, shakuhachi, and gambang kayu outline the trajectory of our history and cultures. With futuristic sound effects shuttle through each mysterious melody, climaxing one after another, DFU transcend the shackles of the past and the present bridging the East and the West.
credits
released January 14, 2022
Recorded and produced by DFU
Arranged by Guohan Zeng
Mixed by Eric Lau
Mastered by John Paul 'JP' Braddock
Design: Cotton
Cover Photograph: Thomas Sauvin (Beijing Silvermine)
Vinyl Photograph: Xiaodong Xu (XDstudio)
Logo: Stan Ro
A collaborative effort between the Connecticut drone duo and the Philadelphia-based songwriter, steeped in the ritualistic avant-garde. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 26, 2022
