‘We Are Stars’ “Intersecting the Solar System between Bowie & Kate Bush” Launch, Videos, Photos, Album Reviews + Experience it Live Once Again in April!
March 27, 2024 § Leave a comment
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An album is like a being,
it wants to tell its story,
it wants to reach out, it wants to tell the world what it has to offer.
An album is like a book, songs are its chapters,
the writers, the music workers
shape them into being
and gently lead them out through recordings
and live performances...
‘WE ARE STARS’ OUT NOW
Raf and O We Are Stars Album Launch, St Mark’s Regent’s Park, 21 October 2023 © Marcus Portée
Raf and O We Are Stars Album Launch, St Mark’s Regent’s Park, 21 October 2023. Captured by David Plaice
We’re immensely proud of this album, you can show your support by getting it HERE! We’re very grateful for such wonderful reviews, thank you to all respective writers and publications and to those who purchased the album; ‘We Are Stars’ launched in the beautiful settings of St Mark’s, Regents Park, thirty-two stars peeking down on us, an intimate show. Many thanks to all who came and captured the event, to dear friend Klarita Kaparte for promoting and hosting, Mal Robinson for filming and Marcus Portée who voyaged from Bruxelles to photograph Raf and O We Are Stars Album Launch. Plus, a BIG thanks as always to the Constellationists.
If you missed the launch or fancy some more ‘We Are Stars’ action, we are performing it live online, in two parts on Tuesday 16 April and 23 April 2024, 8pm UK time, tix + links below.
WE ARE STARS (PART 1)
WE ARE STARS (PART 2)
Working on new songs is now a regular happening, the songwriting container is getting drip fed and our Constellation Club is in full swing – the Constellationists are getting to hear these new songs in the making and of course you could be one too. Yearly membership on our Bandcamp merch page includes a handwritten conceptualised book for all the songs of ‘We Are Stars’, access to on going compositions and original art is in the mix too.
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WATCH ‘Still Sitting In Our Time Machines’ Official Video (premiered on God Is In The TV Zine)
WATCH ‘Andy Under Stars’ filmed Live by Mal Robinson at St Mark’s Regent’s Park. ‘Andy Under Stars’ is the story of a homeless character obsessed with Andy Warhol.
“Intersecting the solar system between Bowie & Kate Bush”
GOD IS IN THE TV ZINE
“Raf and O have been purveyors of effervescent, avant-garde pop since 2008 … from apocalyptic, electronica-hued mini-symphonies to elegant, left-field David Bowie covers. ‘We Are Stars’ brings a sense of playfulness … Mischievous and bewitching”
ELECTRONIC SOUND
“The most exquisite album yet from Raf and O…You may remember ‘Tommy Newton’ as David Bowie’s character in the SF masterpiece ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth – in the song Raf gives the perspective of Newton’s lover Mary-Lou…tapping into not only the film character but evoking Bowie himself…from the soulful glam-swagger of ‘Still Sitting in our Time Machines’, through the indie-folk vocal acrobatics of ‘Andy under Stars’ and torch-song delicacy of the title track, to the frenetic 80s synth onslaught of ‘Every Time It’s Bleak, We Dance’…The gorgeous closer, ‘Waterloo’ has the stately progression of a rock ‘n’ roll era ballad…it’s not as if Raf and O simply sound like either Bowie or Bush. As I said, they’ve long sounded like no-one but themselves. It’s what they take from them in attitude, fearlessness: the way Raf’s voice swoops and soars without apparent boundaries”
ARTMUSELONDON
“We Are Stars is an incredible album. Omnipresent throughout, there’s the angular, shredded and bended guitar of Scary Monsters era Robert Fripp and Carlos Alomar, and the strangely interesting progressions of the arty-pop and dress-up of that album. The titular song itself an alternative, stressful The Man Who Fell To Earth soundtrack, yet recalls the influence of Tricky and Portishead. Lou Reed meets Marianne Faithful, Kate Bush meets Jane Birkin, Lene Lovich meets Latin-flavoured Banshees …. Sublime.”
MONOLITH COCKTAIL
“Pop-xotica? Supernatural Folk? Post Prog Punk? One of 2023’s finest”
THE SOAP COMPANY
Come discover ‘WE ARE STARS’
Out on CD + all digital platforms
+
Look forward to perform for you live on
INTER-PLA-NET-LIVE
Love, Raf and O 🌟✨
Back to RAF AND O’S BLOG/ NEWS PAGE
‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ inspires Raf and O’s ’Tommy Newton’. The Tour Online is dead, long live The Tour! Constellation Club, Inter-Pla-Net-Live, Shared Air Shows and Art Is Calling
September 18, 2021 § Leave a comment
‘Cause if you think of what it’s all about, you probably find it’s about creating.
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Side One Of This Very Blog
GOODBYE TOUR ONLINE
Mission accomplished. 24 dates and one year later, Raf and O (aka Raf Mantelli and O Richard Smith) with our fans emerge from The Tour Online celebrating. Dependable, journeying together, ‘cause if you think of what it’s all about, you probably find it’s about creating.
Courageous and strong, varied and long, each show different from the next, The Metro’s newspaper featured Raf and O’s livestream shows among the best online. Punching through to the other side of the screen, interacting with the visuals we created for the shows, there were performances, tensions, drama, release, there were smiles, sounds, lots of sounds, live, smooth, edgy, dynamic. There were a lot of interactions with our fans. Intertwining interpretations of David Bowie songs (TMWSTW live video features on our previous blog) colliding with renditions, at time total revisions of the songs of Kate Bush, riding the collision through to the other side to meet Raf and O songs with a lot of the already released tracks freshly approached for the tour and a lot of the new, unheard and previewed for the eyes and the ears of the eager out there. O and I want to really say: A deep felt THANK YOU, you are the best fans and we are going to bring you more. You can find The Tour Online action shots album here
RAF AND O ‘TOMMY NEWTON’
INSPIRED BY ‘THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
“Intoxicating, reflective, artistic and dramatic”
God Is In The TV zine
“A spellbinding lamentable love song … sublime”
Monolith Cocktail
Amongst the new Raf and O songs, one in particular is close to our hearts: ‘Tommy Newton’, which will be part of our new album is inspired by ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’, the 1976 science fiction film based on the novel by Walter Davis directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring David Bowie in the role of Thomas Jerome Newton and Candy Clark in the one of Mary-Lou. It’s a love song I’ve written from the perspective of Mary-Lou, she’s talking to Tommy, but it’s really happening in her mind, she’s talking to herself and she’s talking to us. I loved the film all my life, just as I’ve loved Bowie. Performed for the first time ever on The Tour Online, the live video of this performance has been featured by the press and now is part of this blog too!
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Raf and O – ‘Tommy Newton’ Live on The Tour Online 12 June 2021
Side Two Of This Very Blog
Last month I published my stream of consciousness on social media.
“Some time we take our time to figure out where we may want to head out next. There is no clear path set, only the leading light of our imagination to determine our next steps. So, with that in mind, we’re at the end of the tour online and we may yet have to define what has to come up next, under the leading light of stars, some place afar.”
Raf Mantelli (2021)
So we’ve let our imagination flow and time has clearly grown, or has it compressed?
….. On the event horizon
2022
We’re launching two projects
INTER-PLA-NET-LIVE and CONSTELLATION CLUB
INTER-PLA-NET-LIVE
PHASE 1
5 shows
one every 5 weeks
like the points of a star
Starting January 2022
Building on the strength and success of The Tour Online, INTER-PLA-NET-LIVE will see Raf and O presenting new live shows in the ether, accessible from all parts of the world and who knows, the universe perhaps?
Reaching new territories – it’s in the DNA.
plus …..
CONSTELLATION CLUB
Are you a star in our galaxy?
A new club to see the birth of our NEW ALBUM.
Very excited. Details to be announced
plus …..
The return of SHARED AIR SHOWS
We have a new name for those shows in the flesh, you know, the ones where we share the same physical space as the audience. ‘Shared Air Shows’, that’s how we will refer to them from now on. Alongside INTER-PLA-NET-LIVE (our future live online shows) we are testing the atmosphere soon to be leaving the capsule. Yes we will back wherever possible, performing in the flesh too, so look out for Shared Air Shows by Raf and O from soon into the future …
THEATRES, PROMOTERS, FESTIVALS, RAF AND O HAVE THREE EVER EXPANDING LIVE SHOWS TO BRING TO YOU!
THE SONGS OF RAF AND O
(Tommy Newton Live Video)
THE KICK INSIDE – THE SONGS OF KATE BUSH
(Babooshka Live Video)
CHILDREN OF THE BEWLAY BROTHERS
(TO DAVID BOWIE WITH LOVE)
(The Man Who Sold The World Live Video)
For bookings and more info email: info@rafando.com
plus …..
ART IS CALLING
The rekindling of another passion of mine – ART.
After years of making music and writing songs I’m making art again, I see them working like a seesaw. Maintaining a visual connection through album artwork creation, video visions, visuals and performance, this is only a step away, or the gestures of a hand. Below a couple of portraits, you may recognise the subjects.
Watch out for work and it will take different forms, from now into the future …
Commissions are of course welcome – info@rafando.com
plus …..
There is more, but you know… it can wait for now!
2022 will see us busy …. Raf and O ❤
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To be kept up to date with the latest follow us here:
WORDPRESS
BANDCAMP
STAGEIT
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
YOUTUBE
Back to RAF AND O’S BLOG/ NEWS PAGE
This is The Tour Online, now mid voyage, come aboard! Raf and O play Underwater Blue and Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World: live videos
March 22, 2021 § Leave a comment
Six months ago we started The Tour Online and the performances brought in the press. We are very grateful
“Stunning” Pennyblackmusic
“It’s going to haunt my dreams” Joe Muggs
“Greatly strung out on heavens high as always.
Love it” Monolith Cocktail
Untrapping (can we do this?) our way out of this global overhanging shadow, with hope in sight we are still battling. Envisaging new ways to bring live shows to our fans, we embarked on one year long virtual tour, where we launched Children Of The Bewlay Brothers (to David Bowie with Love), a project to bring you renditions and interpretations of ‘the man who sang himself to Earth’ alongside The Kick Inside – The Songs of Kate Bush and the songs of Raf and O. We’ve been visually and sonically bathing in monochrome and colour hues, reticulations, guitars. and atmos, piano and upright strings and lots and lots of vocals down those internet cables, while the light of a century old moon bass drum overlooked unsuspectingly. (Continues below)
Fifteen shows down the line we have been performing live to our fans in front of the camera on the other side of the screen, a big big thank you to them, they have been exploring with us a new way we can perform. Some stills from the virtual tour are HERE , follow us on STAGEIT, the platform we use to perform.
Below, a couple of live videos showing a glimpse of The Tour Online, a peep hole, a key that you can turn, to come inside you must come on board or continue the journey with us. Each performance lasts almost an hour, always new surprises, the audience interact live with us through the power of the written word aka live chat, we, on the other hand interact with the spoken word and live sound & vision. You can find our remaining dates on our LIVE page. We are waiting for you!
Tickets are now on sale for the following shows:
Mar 27 – The Kick Inside The Songs Of Kate Bush – TICKETS
Apr 10 – The Songs Of Raf and O – TICKETS
Apr 24 – The Kick Inside The Songs Of Kate Bush – TICKETS
May 08 – Children Of The Bewlay Brothers – TICKETS
(to David Bowie with Love)
We have also relaunched our sisters FB and TWITTER pages as Raf and O play Bush & Bowie: The Kick Inside and Children Of The Bewlay Brothers. Give them a like and a follow and of course our main social media pages have journaled all stages of our tour so far – you can catch all updates HERE and HERE! See you soon on The Tour Online, in fact we’re back this Saturday with The Kick Inside – The Songs Of Kate Bush at this link. Totally looking forward to unleash some more surprises. https://stageit.com/raf-and-o/95673
With love and renewed energy
Raf and O XxX
Back to RAF AND O’S BLOG/ NEWS PAGE
Raf and O 
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