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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Emika - "Pretend"


There's two things we don't like here at Red Cup, bringing gender into music and people who say "I told you so"...and we're about to do both: we told you Emika was THE female electronic music recording artist of this year back in our all time most popular post from the exquisite live version of her still upcoming single "Pretend", alongside the Brandt Bauer Frick Ensemble.  Now we can finally hear a clip from the original version of that track to be featured on her upcoming self-titled album releasing on Ninja Tune on October 3rd and which you can pre-order here.  

On "Pretend" Emika accomplishes perhaps the most successful fusion of a stripped back techno aesthetic with a meaningful lyric-based vocal we've ever heard.  This unorthodox combination seemed impossible in the pre-Emika period and even unholy in purist techno circles...apparently the only 'acceptable' vocals in techno have long been the staple pitched down words of gibberish referring to the effects of the music on ones mind --- think about it.  Yet Emika's own take on the genre seems completely natural, as if it always made sense, and this is most probably due to her deep knowledge and respect for that scene and her willingness to experiment.  Not to mention the rare instance of a person having both uncanny technical skills with a voice texture that is so suited for her sound it's scary.  If techno could sing, this is what it would sound like:
  

  Pretend // Professional Loving : Released 5 Sept [Ninja Tune] by emika

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