‘We Are Stars’ Raf And O’s New Album is waiting in the wings, Shows Coming Up, Lyrics and Lab of Ideas, We Are All Stars and It Matters! Let’s Make It Work Together + as we wait, Raf Sings Kate
July 1, 2022 § Leave a comment
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LAB OF IDEAS, WE ARE ALL STARS AND IT MATTERS!
Raf and O live at Paper Dress Vintage 22 09 19. Photo from footage by Mal Robinson
As we’re setting ouselves one thousand and twenty ideas and only sixteen or so daily hours to see us through to the completion of some of those courses, we’re excitedly reaching out and let the rest of the world know about the title for our new album to be ‘We Are Stars’! One course is set for sure, we are all stars and it matters! Our super fans of course already knew, being avid participators of THE TOUR ONLINE and Inter-Pla-Net-live shows, during which we aired many live renditions of our new songs, as well as loving renditions of the songs of David Bowie and Kate Bush, we’re very thankful to them and I think they are our constellation club!!! I want everything to be out now but I’ll try to remain patient as this year advances, it will bring music, word, image and live engagements. Times are testing, the human road is littered with obstacles, set in a galaxy, part of our universe throbbing with storms, it’s so easy to lose one’s way, we can all do that, but let’s keep going…
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Raf and O live on Inter-Pla-Net-Live 15 01 22
Raf and O live on Inter-Pla-Net-Live 06 06 22
CONGRATULATIONS TO KATE BUSH
Congratulations to Kate Bush for her recent chart success, so lovely to hear her interview on the radio the other day. Of course it’s not so long ago that we played several shows celebrating her music, listening back to them, there are many songs I would like all of you to hear, I’m getting a few ideas, so now, as we wait for ‘We Are Stars’, I wish to share with you a couple of Kate’s songs performed by Raf and O Live on The Tour Online during May and June 2021. An excerpt from ‘Misty, a rough diamond as only a second run through but I love this song and ‘In The Warm Room’.
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Raf and O -‘Misty’ live 26 06 21 excerpt (Kate Bush Cover)
Raf and O – ‘In The Warm Room’ live 22 05 21 (Kate Bush Cover)
LET’S MAKE IT WORK TOGETHER
A few months ago I talked about shared air shows, this feels too ominous now – shows in venues feels about right. Truly looking forward to return to West Kirby Arts Centre, 11 11 22, (tickets on the LIVE page) a date now set late in the autumn: the show will see new Raf and O music, the song world of David Bowie with us as Children Of The Bewlay Brothers, on the road! We truly appreciate each one of you who come to our shows, I hope you won’t mind me suggesting, seen how difficult and demanding it is to make it all work, the purchase of early tickets whenever possible, you will not be disappointed and you will help to support independent music and grass root venues – let’s make it work together!
A special London show is finally in the planning stages and others will be announced as we go.
Our pedal boards shimmer in the dark and remind me, we’re on a mission.
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We’re taking bookings for the songs of KATE BUSH, DAVID BOWIE and Raf and O, I now draw / paint portraits (see our previous BLOG) and O and I are both teaching. HERE is one more portrait I did recently of my dear friend Klarita.
Reach us at: info@rafando.com
You can also reach us on social media, at online shows, at venues shows, come say hi, let’s make it work!
Do you want to be a star in our constellation?
We are all stars, they are all around. I want to share a lyric I wrote from the new album
With Love
Raf
and O ❤
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“Haunting And Compelling” Raf And O Review & Interview on Pennyblackmusic + London Live Show with Mally Harpaz and with TKI At West Kirby Arts Centre
September 18, 2019 § Leave a comment
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Raf and O Live t The Union Chapel, photo by Angelique Le Marchand at 3-Song Rule
Greetings! We have some exciting live news to announce and the latest from planet Raf and O!
Aside or probably more accurately orbiting around all current madness we’re seeking refuge in our music havens!
Raf and O are delighted to join Mally Harpaz on Tuesday September 24, an event presented by Blind Dog Studio at Paper Dress Vintage in London with Echo Wants Her Voice Back. There will also be some special guests.
Mally, multi instrumentalist with Anna Calvi, will be performing songs from her new album, Raf and O will perform songs from the new album ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ and on the bill also singer songwriter Echo. Looking forward to this very special concert! Not to be missed!
Get your TICKETS HERE!
FB EVENT
On Friday, November 8, we are heading to the northwest, precisely to West Kirby Arts Centre, where we’ll be presenting both a long set by The Kick Inside with lots of beautiful early songs by Kate Bush and a specially selected Raf and O set.
TICKETS on sale now!
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Raf and O Live at The Union Chapel, photo by Angelique Le Marchand at 3-Song Rule
The Kick Inside – The Songs of Kate Bush at The Penny Theatre, photo by Phill Morgan
Since the release of our new album ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ which garnered some fantastic reviews, (see our previous blog) we were reviewed and interviewed in Pennyblackmusic Magazine, where both O and I talked to John Clarkson about our new album, the influence of David Bowie, The Kick Inside and Kate Bush, Scott Walker, Raf and O live, where are we from? And a few other things.
Read the whole interview here
“Raf and O are 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 compelling”
PENNYBLACKMUSIC
This year marks 50 years of the Moon landing, 50 years of Space Oddity and 50 years since David Bowie performed at the Growth Beckenham Free Festival on the bandstand that has just received its Grade II Listing, the same bandstand appearing on the cover of our second album Time Machine and where we recorded ‘Echoes’ live (featuring on our ‘Portal’ album) at MOAFF in 2014. Proud to have played this festival three times since the remake back in 2013 and of course we celebrated in our own way, by releasing ‘A Bow To Bowie’ our song dedicated to David featuring on the new album and receiving wonderful support from the likes of Electronic Sound, God Is In The TV Zine, Joe Muggs, Monolith Cocktail, Pennyblackmusic and Adrian Specs, a big thank you! And thanks to the Soap Company for inclusion on their best albums.
Don’t miss the upcoming concerts!
Spread the news!
With love
Raf and O X
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“From the poignant to the provocative to the playful” Electronic Sound and More Reviews for Raf and O’s New Album ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ Out Now! ‘A Bow To Bowie’ Official Video + Live Video from the Launch
June 5, 2019 § Leave a comment
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Raf and O’s New Album ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ (CD/Digital) is out now!! Watch ‘A Bow To Bowie’ Official Video above, which was premiered on God Is In The TV Zine and a Live Video from the Launch! Reviews keep coming and are just incredible, a big thank you to all, excited to let the album out into the world! Spread the word and get it here!
The two covers are included on our CD, iTunes and other digital stores.
Buy Digital Album on iTunes
Buy CD Album on Bandcamp
“From the poignant to the provocative to the playful ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ is wonderfully theatrical and, unless you’re made of stone, quite irresistible .. It begins with ‘A Bow To Bowie’ an enthralling tribute to one of Raf & O’s main inspirations .. The intensity is off the scale”
ELECTRONIC SOUND
“Stark 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 Raf’s almost otherworldly almost jazz-like vocals spiral across the upper register with echoes of Kate Bush at her most avant-garde”
GOD IS IN THE TV ZINE
“This is a strange and luscious album”
JOE MUGGS
“Sublime 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
Thank you to Joe Muggs for featuring us on his radio show “The Wonderful Raf and O”! Thank you to Dexter Bentley for continued support, thank you to Bowie Wonderworld and thank you to all who made the Launch at Servant Jazz Quarters, it felt like an intimate and very special party. Hosted by dear friend Klarita from Kaparte Promotions, the event was filmed by Mal Robinson (watch the live video above) and photographed by Junko Rathmell (featured photo below) capturing the spirit of the night! Meanwhile The Kick Inside, our side project as interpretations of early Kate Bush, went down a storm in Birmingham, you can read about it on social media, keep in touch with the latest live appearances on The Kick Inside FB page and of course Raf and O ‘s page! We’re also on Instagram, twitter, youtube, you name it!
The space between nothing and desire is already evolving … lots of new ideas are flourishing but for now, we are so proud to unleash into the world…
The new album!
Come and get it we truly value your support!
More images below.
Love
Raf and O X
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Raf and O ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ Album Launch. Photo © Junko Rathmell
Still from the Album Launch live footage by Mal Robinson.
Review of Raf and O’s New Album ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ in Electronic Sound
‘A Bow To Bowie’ Is Here and ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ Launches 26052019 + More Live Outings
April 2, 2019 § Leave a comment
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Raf and O – A Bow To Bowie
He sang himself to Earth…
A Bow To Bowie Is here!
Truly excited to share this with you!
‘A Bow To Bowie’ and ‘A Mechanical Ride’ are available now together with pre-orders of The Space Between Nothing And Desire on Telephone Records.
Pre-Order Digital Album on iTunes
Pre-Order CD Album on Bandcamp
The Album Launch will be on Sunday 26th May in the intimate and elegant space of SJQ, Servant Jazz Quarters, London, promoted by long time dear friend Klarita from Kaparte Promotions. We’re incredibly excited to be able to bring ’The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ live to you!
Tickets are on sale now!
Facebook Event
Over the years Raf and O have expressed their affinity with Bowie and took on the task to reinterpret some of his songs, including ‘The London Boys’ which is part of the new album.
September saw the announcement of ABTB and on January 8th it was revealed to be ‘A Bow To Bowie’, written in December 2016.
“I really wanted to write a song for David after his passing, but it took me a few months before I felt I could tackle it” Raf Mantelli
With ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’ Raf and O go in search of a new quest: where, or, what is the space between nothing and desire? The primal concept that makes the world go round, desire, is abstract and yet so tangible, juxtaposed to nothing, equally as baffling, as to truly imagine it, it is impossible. With these parameters forming their chart, the latest album captures the duo navigating a journey into the senses, into the longing and the belonging.
Below the album tracklist:
1. A Bow To Bowie
2. The Space Between Nothing And Desire
3. Underwater Blue
4. Anger
5. Your Gazing Stare
6. A Mechanical Ride
7. Such A Small Love
8. With Fatzer
9. The Windmill
10. The London Boys
11. Haunted
‘Such A Small Love’ is a cover of Scott Walker recorded in September 2016.
Raf and O paid tribute to Walker last week as the news broke of his departure. Read here
Lovingly mastered at Trace. Big thanks to Mark Beazley.
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Raf and O live, Pennyblackmusic 20th anniversary at The Water Rats. Photo © Peter Tainsh
In February we were celebrating the latest live achievements which saw Raf and O in the latter part of 2018 alongside our other selves The Kick Inside, performing selective shows along the East Coast of England and surroundings including Manor House and theatre shows, as well as live appearances at the Klinker, Bethnal Green Working Mens Club and at the mighty PennyblackMusic 20th Anniversary held in the Water Rats quarters; the latter was John Clarkson’ s favourite show of 2018 whilst Raf and O as The Kick Inside – The Songs Of Kate Bush is in Adrian Ainsworth round-up of favourite live music of 2018.
“…An entrancing set of slanted, left-field songs that work their hazy magic on a drunken summer day. Comparisons to Broadcast, Stereolab, and even – yes – Kate Bush might help, but in reality Raf and O exist in their own, idiosyncratic universe, with a deeply unique sound that everyone should fall into for a while” Dominic Simpson, Pennyblackmusic.
UPCOMING
7th April – Birmingham, Fletchers Bar – TICKETS
18th May – West Kirby, The Wirral, West Kirby Arts Centre – TICKETS
26th May – London, Servant Jazz Quarters – TICKETS
Live performances will also bring us to Birmingham on 7th April at Fletchers Bar with TKI and at West Kirby Arts Centre where we will perform both as TKI and Raf and O on Saturday 18th May. More info and events on Raf and O and The Kick Inside FB pages.
Join us for the launch, it will be a very special night in London!
‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’… don’t miss!
Love
Raf and O xx
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Raf and O – ABTB 4 Letters for 4 Words + Mini Tour Coming Up!
September 12, 2018 § Leave a comment
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Raf and O – ABTB
Greetings! we are very happy to announce that our next single is almost here!
ABTB, 4 letters for 4 words. To be revealed and to be unleashed as the days shorten … we are very excited!
And we are taking shows up and down the country, road testing some new pieces along the way. Raf and O and The Kick Inside are about to embark on a few gigs, crossing paths at times, like ships in the night! Kicking off at The Water Rats, London celebrating Pennyblackmusic magazine 20th Anniversary!
Tickets are on sale now, all details here below!
RAF AND O
15th September – London, The Water Rats – TICKETS
22nd September – Sedgefield, Manor House – TICKETS
13th October – Lowestoft, The Seagull Theatre – TICKETS
20th October – Ealing, House Concert
THE KICK INSIDE
22nd September – Sedgefield, Manor House – TICKETS
13th October – Lowestoft, The Seagull Theatre – TICKETS
26th October – Canterbury, The Penny Theatre – TICKETS
Facebook events can be found on our pages
Raf and O and The Kick Inside – The Songs Of Kate Bush
There’s an article on The Northern Echo for the upcoming show in County Durham and in view of this Saturday’s celebration, here’s an interview we did for Pennyblackmusic 2 years ago. And big thank you to The Pheasantry (Pizza Express Live) for hosting us last June, loved the Steinway!
Last month, it was very sad to learn about the passing of Lindsay Kemp. I feel very honoured to have met him two years ago and in chatting to him amongst other things how I spent a big part of my life in England just like he spent a good length of his time in Italy. A wonderful unique artist full of poetry and charm, also mentor to some of the best …David Bowie, Kate Bush… He’ll be sorely missed. (See on FB).
We’re both very much looking forward to perform and to bring you our latest efforts throughout the next few months!
See you at the shows!
Raf and O X
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Gazing Ahead to The Space Between Nothing And Desire + Celebrating Kate Bush with The Kick Inside Launch and a Live Session on the DeXter Bentley Show
February 11, 2018 § Leave a comment
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It’s 2018 and we’re kicking off with live activities again!
Kate Bush has given music lovers something to treasure: a great musician and producer, a brilliant composer and an amazing most unique voice. This year and month marks the 40th anniversary of Kate and her debut album. Adopting their name from this album,TKI or The Kick Inside, a tribute to Kate Bush by Raf and O (see previous blog), perform tracks from her early albums fully live, elegantly and stylishly capturing the energy, excitement and fragility of Kate’s music on vocals, piano and double bass. Celebrating Kate, The Kick Inside Launch, promoted by the always excellent Kaparte, is in London at Bar & Co, the club on a boat, Temple Pier, on Sunday 25th February. It is also O Richard’s birthday and Raf, will keep celebration on hold till then.
‘We’ll be playing a full show of Kate’s beautiful songs from the early part of her career. Triple celebration. Come!’
The launch is also featured on Kate Bush News and TKI has been described as:
’Strikingly individual’ Kate Bush News
And to kick start it all off, The Kick Inside will be playing live in session on the mighty deXter Bentley Show on London’s Resonance 104.4 FM, Saturday 17th February, 12pm which is the date marking Kate’s debut album 40 years ago!
We’re now gazing ahead to … and we’re very excited to introduce ‘The Space Between Nothing And Desire’. That is the title of Raf and O’s new album and it’s set to be released later this year!
A slice from the album was aired yesterday for the very first time on the deXter Bentley Show: an edit preview of a brand new Raf and O song, ‘Your Gazing Stare’. The album will also include our version of David Bowie’s ’The London Boys’. We can’t say too much more at this stage, but keep your ears and eyes peeled, social media is always the quicker way to get fresh news!
Last November we even got to say thank you in person for the support Mike Garson had given to our version of Bowie’s Lady Grinning Soul back in 2013 after he played a magical show at the Camden Underworld!
Raf and O are now on Instagram too and we have unveiled a new logo, a moon-light reworking from our previous. Come and follow our new Instagram page here and here
See you down at THE KICK INSIDE LAUNCH. Come!
Raf and O Xx
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The Kick Inside – Kate Bush Tribute Live Outfit and Raf and O Tour in the pipeline
July 10, 2017 § Leave a comment
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The Kick Inside – Kate Bush Tribute (TKI)
Promo Shot and Still from Video – ‘Wuthering Heights’ ‘Wow’ & Teasers Live in the Warm Room
July greetings from Raf and O!
This year we’ve been very busy getting a new project off the ground:
The Kick Inside (TKI)!
This is an entirely separate music outfit, named after Kate Bush’s first album and it’s a tribute to the artist herself!
We’ve also been busy with Raf and O and you can read more on the latter part of this blog.
I’ve been doing a lot of piano playing recently on the latest and beautiful addition to the instrument roster: a lovingly converted piano keyboard by O featuring f holes!
Last May we announced it on our facebook page – As well as cracking on with writing material for our 4th album, and reinterpreting favourite artists, mainly David Bowie interpretations, I’m starting a tribute to the music of Kate Bush, where I will sing and play piano extensively, focusing on the early part of Kate’s career and this time, keeping faithful to the original pieces.
Since then we’ve got a new TKI page up and running and just over a week ago we released our very first video, recorded live in The Warm Room, which received a great reception.
Monolith Cocktail writes:
“Raf Mantelli one half of our favourite avant-garde and frayed experimentalist duo Raf and O adds her idiosyncratic, enchanting signature to the music of Kate Bush on her latest project, The Kick Inside. Concentrating on Bush’s early career, the focus being on her ‘core essence as a pianist singer songwriter’, The Kick Inside tribute band will soon be announcing dates for a number of performances. In the meantime, here’s a teaser” Monolith Cocktail
The Kick Inside, as well as the solo show, will also perform as a duo and here, O will be alongside me but in a role that may be a surprise for many amongst you.
THE KICK INSIDE LINKS
TKI page
TKI Facebook
TKI Twitter
TKI Youtube Channel
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In the meantime…
Raf and O will return to Italy to play a small series of shows and look forward to go back to some favourite places during the tour! We will debut some new material and there will be a few surprises along the way too! Already looking forward to seeing friends old and new and very excited about the set we will be playing!
As well as developing the TKI project we’ve been also writing material toward a new album; this has been keeping us focused in the studio, so it was lucky if you managed to catch Raf and O playing earlier this year including the legendary experimental Klinker Club and a charity show to raise awareness on mental health for Punk4MentalHealth at the UnderDog Gallery.
Our own cover interpretation of David Bowie’s ‘The London Boys’ received radio play on the latest Chaos Theory Radio Show where Kunal was joined by Alan Pride for a selection of cool tunes! It was also aired on the Dexter Bentley Show Resonance FM and our Bowie’s cover of ‘Win’ was aired, again on Dexter’s ‘The Day Before’ , a tribute to David which also featured an extract from Mary Finnigan’s book ‘Psychedelic Suburbia: David Bowie and the Beckenham Arts Lab’ plus an interview with her; we were deeply touched by Mary’s words for Raf and O who introduced us on the show. And lastly, Raf and O’s Magic from our latest album Portal that was mastered at Cage studios is included in a new free to download compilation ‘Cage 24’ by Martin Bowes from Attrition, pioneers of darker electronica.
For fresh up to date news join our Raf and O social media pages, FB and Twitter and watch this space!
Raf and O xx
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Raf and O 
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