Noise Tech Collective: Friends With Robots Brings Together Best & Brightest In Boston Area Scene
–Written by Kevin Madert
The travels and trials of the local DJ hardly make it an enviable occupation. From making pennies to play opening sets for the barbacks and bouncers to slaving away for weeks on a track that ends up with a few hundred plays on Soundcloud months after the fact, the passion dumped in often far outweighs the visible returns. The worst part is watching wholly talentless “musicians” play to thousands of fans – “musicians” who quite possibly did nothing but fork out considerable cash to gain their recognition.
With these kind of odds, local performers need all the support they can get, and that’s why here at Alternate Frequency we hope to do everything we can to lend said support. Friends With Robots is a Boston-area collective made up of a plethora of talented and under-recognized producers and DJs who want nothing more than to disseminate their music to the masses with smiles on their faces and a bounce in their beats. Their debut mixtape (FWR01, for easy cataloging and reference) features 8 songs ranging from the future-bass trip-hoppy beats of “Bob Ross” to the almost disco-house “Imparati.” It’s a forward-thinking collection of tunes from a forward-thinking collection of tunemakers, and it should find its way into your ears posthaste.
Must-hear tracks: “WindKnock” features a perfect meshing of industrial wobbles and synth keys; “FuckWhatUHeard” utilizes catchy, unique instrumentation and earns bonus points for a non-big room house application of wood blocks; “Gold Everything” plays with dynamics to great effect and features an endearing atonality that recalls Amon Tobin.
You can stream FWR01 below, and grab a free download via the official Friends With Robots Facebook page.
Friends With Robots is:
Aychre*
Co. Co.
Bill Dess
Duncan James*
Eli Dawson*
Emoji Boi
FSR*
Inval3d
TwoFaceBuddha*
Jill Blutt
MichvelAngelo*
Stel Leo*
Truro Crooks*
Tunesquad
Wessanders** denotes appearance on “FWR01