Archives
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THE SPACE BETWEEN
NOTHING AND DESIRE
BUY CD Album HEREāThe intensity is off the scale. It begins with āA Bow To Bowieā an enthralling tribute to one of Raf & Oās main inspirations.. while the charming āUnderwater Blueā will go down in pop history as the track that launched the snorkelectro scene..From the poignant to the provocative to the playful āThe Space Between Nothing And Desireā is wonderfully theatrical and, unless youāre made of stone, quite irresistible.”
ELECTRONIC SOUND
āStark and otherworldly, a haunting ode, subtle swelling bricolage of ghostly synths, tumbling acoustic notes and a bass drum that thuds like a heartbeat throughout. While Rafās almost otherworldly almost jazz-like vocals spiral across the upper register with echoes of Kate Bush at her most avant-gardeā
GOD IS IN THE TV ZINE
āThis is a strange and luscious albumā
JOE MUGGS
“A defiantly original act, one which one can listen to time over and still find something new, and with ‘The Space Between Nothing and Desire’ they have created an album that is as daring as it is compellingā
PENNYBLACKMUSIC
āSublime in execution, subtle but with a real depth and levity, TSBNAD is an astonishing piece of new romantic, avant-theater pop and electronica that dares to unlock the mind and fathom emotion..a masterclass of pulchritude magnificence. Imbued by both the musicality and spirit of David Bowie, Scott Walker, David Sylvian (both as a solo artist and with the fey romantics Japan), Kate Bush and in their most avant-garde mode, Bjork, the South London based duo of Raf (Raf Mantelli) and O (Richard Smith) occupy the perimeters of alternative art-rock and experimental electronica as the true inheritors of those cerebral inspirations”
MONOLITH COCKTAIL
“An audio voyage that seems to bridge the gap between cosmos and earth as the record develops.’A Bow to Bowie’ gazes explicitly heavenward, combining respectful, open sincerity with sheer intelligence and wit, absorbing musical and lyrical references to the song’s subject into a structure all their own. The title track is almost a battery-operated torch song, Raf’s sensual, almost swinging vocal conjuring up a kind of electronic chanson.”
ADRIAN SPECS
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PORTAL ALBUM LAUNCH is PENNYBLACK MUSIC GIG OF THE YEAR 2016 picked by John Clarkson
“Raf and O specialise in floaty and delicate musical paintings. Raf’s dreamy vocals leading the way but more often than not melting into the instrumentation. The highlights include a track based on the words of Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 62’ and a version of David Bowie’s ‘Win’ which is almost unrecognisable and utterly charming. All in all, this is beautiful stuff.”
Push, ELECTRONIC SOUND
“Raf and O are a band of kaleidoscopic, unusual ideas, and, with āPortalā, they have created a remarkable record. There is a celestial, otherworldly element to themā¦they are totally unique”
PENNYBLACKMUSIC MAGAZINE
“A further voyage into their adventurous musical dreams, spliced with the literary influences of William Seward Burroughs and Shakespeare.ā
GOD IS IN THE TV ZINE
“The sublime new album by Raf and O is called ‘Portal’.
It’s very difficult to choose highlights from such a consistently winning record”ADRIAN SPECS
“Raf and Oās gothic and magical references are twisted to conjure up ominous visions, to a backing track of free-spirited avant-jazz drumming, trip-hop and contorted machine music ā¦from esoteric Italian to plague originated nursery rhyme English, on āDrunkā, to channeling a smoky bar room Scott Walker vibe, on āNeuronsā⦠Paying homage once again to their biggest inspiration, David Bowie, the duo transforms the original into a beautifully melting, strung-out plucked love recital. Brilliantly shimmering with an affectionate, ruminating and heart-aching vocal ⦠the album cementing the partnershipās unique narratives and poetic views of a machine age and cybernetic world”
MONOLITH COCKTAIL
āI was at the QEH for a Burroughs night, where I saw Raf Mantelli and O Richard Smith, aka Raf and O, deliver a superb if too short set to the large and appreciative audience they really deserve.ā
DAVID STUBBS
“If you are looking for instant gratification in a busy world, try listening to āThe Deadliest Flowerā or āMagicā to give you an insight into just one window pane of their diverse work”
HUMAN DYNAMICS
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BUY SONNET 62/ INK EP – OUT NOW
‘Seductive and alien…Aboard a haunted freighter in the deepest reaches of deep spaceā¦soothes and coos like a cross between Beth Gibbons and a female David Sylvian…It is both equally seductive and alien, a machine driven twitchy gallop into the ether. Creeping into the dense hallucinatory environment of āA Reason To Tryā, the trio stir untethered in a strange soup of churned up beats and solar tidal wavesā
MONOLITH COCKTAIL
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BUY TIME MACHINE CD Album HERE
FACT magazine Top 10 album of 2014 picked by Joe Muggs
“The excellentĀ Time MachineĀ represents the very antithesis of EDM ..There is a butterfly, acoustic delicacy about tracks like ‘Mad And Brilliant’, and yet also the deceptive, steel strength of spider silk in their complex weaving –Ā Raf’s vocal ranges far and wide in her emotional and lyrical foragingsā¦Freeze-frame any given second of this album and it’ll reveal a hive of pixellated, analogue activity…As withĀ Time MachineĀ as a whole, it’s an approach you’d do well to take up, if you know what’s good for you.”
DAVID STUBBS, THE QUIETUS
“One of the more memorable events of the Beckenham Festival in September 2013 was RAF AND Oās haunting performance of David Bowieās Lady Grinning Soul”
DAVID BOWIE OFFICIAL
“A beguiling slice of noir-pop…a total treat”
THE GIRLS ARE
“Tripped-out hypnotic Raf and O embody the exploratory art school/mime period Bowie. Their sound springs from a conjuncture of Aladdin Sane and The Man Who Fell To Earth, but with an added allure of trip-hop…Tender and diaphanous, from bent out of shape Air meets folkloric avant-noir to ESG and Radioheadās Hail To The Thief”
MONOLITH COCKTAIL
“Whispering their song like tomorrow’s cautionary lullabies sent backward to today as an omen of intrigue.”
IMPOSE MAGAZINE
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BUY TIME MACHINE EP HERE
āInterstellar spaciousnessāEXCLAIM MAGAZINE
“Four versions of the leading āTime Machineā journey beyond the stratosphere, kooky, mysterious and breathy, attracting an impressive trio of sonic cosmonauts”
MONOLITH COCKTAIL
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BUY LADY GRINNING SOUL/ THE FOG HERE
āVery creative. I enjoyed it a lotāMIKE GARSON
āRaf and O caress BowieāBOWIE WONDERWORLD
āA moving Avant ā Bizarre version of Lady Grinning Soulā
GOD IS IN THE TV ZINE
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