Cascadeur
Having presented himself on his first album as a human octopus that would devour anything that came within reach of its tentacles, Cascadeur has now finished digesting all these sounds and is ready to metamorphose and reach even higher.
To do this he had to leave behind the disturbed characters he created on his first outing, like Walker, who would boil down his malaise into words as he roamed the streets. His goal now is to step out of the natural melancholy that has come to define him. Of course, a leopard cannot change its spots, and the lyrics on this second album still betray some of his recurring torments. Yet the fervour of the many people who applauded his live performances, and the choirs and orchestras that accompanied him through some of the 150 gigs on his first official tour seem to have warmed the cockles of his heart and inspired him to embark on this even more flamboyant musical opus. Cascadeur’s latest album ‘Ghost Surfer’ is a kaleidoscope of sound, a glittering rainbow opening a door into a parallel dimension. Our hero has never forgotten his childhood dreams and on this new album he plays a present-day Casper who can surf on clouds faster than the wind and goes wherever the fancy takes him. Now though, his musical spectrum is wider than ever, an eclectic array of inventions and beats. He still uses the same keyboards and machines, as if they were grafted to his fingertips, but Cascadeur has now gone one step further, creating more intense, complex arrangements that integrate acoustic instruments alongside their digital clones. Cascadeur is still fascinated by the idea of splitting and multiplying, and he proves it here by inviting some eminent musicians to help him push back the frontiers of his music. Sometimes their thoughts seem to colonise his mind, as though he were living the dream of stepping into their bodies and brains. The first surprise is a pretty big one, for we find Christophe making an unexpected solo (more or less) appearance in French (Collector);
- then backing vocals by Eric Pulido and Tim Smith from the American band Midlake (Casino, Visage Pale, White Space, Babylon, Babylone???),
- vocals by the founder of British band Tindersticks, Stuart A. Staples (The Crossing),
- Médéric Collignon’s magical cornet (White Space, The Crossing) and Tigran Hamasyan’s inspired piano-playing (Ladyday) represent the world of jazz,
- a bewitching appearance by Belgian soprano Anne-Catherine Gillet (Dark Passenger, Standalone, Visage Pale and Mohawk), and
- the devilish decks of Dj pFel (Ghost Surfer).
Not bad, eh? Each of these figures inspires a chapter of this lavish new adventure that is full of genius and emotion. It’s the cast of a road movie shot in CinemaScope, whose many scenes flash past at the speed of light, launching us into outer space to reach for the stars. Cascadeur still has the power to turn the world we thought we knew upside-down.
Boris Carloff
The musical style of Boris Carloff takes in flavours of jazz, guitar rock and electronic music. Boris comes from the Czech republic and has a classical education in the violin and has played as a musician in Norway, UK, Germany and Italy. His debut was on London based label Tracktion with project Palm Beat. Then he signed to Red Salamanda records as an artist and released Good Stuff EP. The EP was received well all around the world. Most notable were two airings of the track ‘First Joy‘ on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide BBC. Another track was released in Japan (NURO).
Boris was nominated for Best sound Czech Grammy 2006 for album Dreamer (band Sunshine). He also produced song Atentat (band Krystof) which won Czech Grammy in 2008 as The song of the year. The song was also the most played radio hit in 2008 on Czech radio stations. The same year the album ‚Laska jako oliva‘ (Ivan Hlas) was nominated in category Folk and Country.
In 2012 Boris released album The Escapist. The album won Czech music awards of czech music critics ‚Apollo‘ (Czech Mercury prize) as the best album of 2012. He was also nominated in 5 categories (best singer, best album, best video, best newcomer and best electronic album) for Andel – Czech Grammy. Finally Boris won 2 categories: The Best Video of The Year and The Best Electronic Album.
