‘So, you think electric music is boring? You think it’s stupid? You think it’s repetitive? Well, it is repetitive.’
There aren’t many nominees from the global Institution of Chemical Engineers who moonlight as MCs for cutting-edge ‘electronic chamber music’ groups. Actually, there aren’t many ‘electronic chamber music’ groups. MC Ssegamic, with a gorgeously unusual voice, is an undeniably sexy ‘lovely man’ in ‘chinos’, who fronts six-piece set Clean Bandit, previously seen at lesser known alternative music venue Christ Church Commemoration Ball. Their second single Mozart’s House went on sale on iTunes earlier this week, and is an absolute delight. Warner Brothers and Mercury Records have both given them enthusiastic nods, but been eschewed in favour of more songwriting time, and the development of their own production label, Incredible Industries.
The six-piece set (for whom Jesus College, Cambridge is alma mater) boasts between them five to seven Cambridge degrees, excellent balance (see the second half of the ‘Telephone Banking’ video) and a fascinating blend of classical strings, electronica and hip-hop. It sounds like a recipe for disaster – and indeed, it definitely should be – but somehow, they pull it off with a great deal of style. This is hip-hop with intelligent design.
Born of four-piece strings group ‘The Chatto Quartet’, with a background in everything from Russian to Architecture to alternative-fuel research; Clean Bandit could be misconstrued as being a little highbrow. Fortunately, their sound is fresh and easy to listen to, with a real sense of fun. The video for Telephone Banking, their first single reflects as much, with an infinite number of Japanese schoolchildren providing background sounds on both cellos and Sega Game Gears.
So, what’s it like? Nothing, really – and it’s so much the better for it.
The video for ‘Telephone Banking’ can be found here.
