Proper jabs
“Welcome to FDF Fight Night everyone, and welcome to the evening’s main event. It’s a four round bout featuring a great talent that’s new to the FDF world – the mysterious Octaedre, hailing from somewhere deep in Dub. Or maybe from somewhere in Central Siberia if the title of his first album gives us a clue.
I’m sitting here with my co-host and vinyl aficionado vonderheyde who will join me in commentating what promises to be an exciting match-up. Tell me – what are your expectations for tonight?”
“Good evening, Dub. It’s great to be here, and you know, this is Freund der Familie, so expectations are certainly riding high. They have a great way of keeping us guessing what they’ll do next, but keeping the quality of entertainment at a consistently high level. I guess tonight won’t make an exception.”
“I fully agree, and we can already sense the anticipation rising. But let’s talk about today’s main protagonist, Octaedre. Our research crew had a pretty hard time coming up with any kind of information. What’s your take on this side of the story?”
“That’s a tough question. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure. Keeping a certain amount of mystery? Preferring anonymity? Not wanting folks to discuss where you come from? Hard to say. Pretty new to the scene too, not a lot of history to dig into.”
“True. Popped up once, over at Space of Variants, a Russian outfit. Nine rounds in “Norilsk”.”
“Well, if that’s Octaedre’s home town, it’s a really tough one. They say it’s Russia’s dirtiest city. ‘Norilsk, no fun’, they say. But the nine pieces on “Norilsk” showed a lot of talent, and yes, you can feel the freezing vastness of Siberia as well as the industrial roughness. Promising debut, two and a half years ago now.”
“Good point. It’s been a while. Would you expect a similar performance today?”
“I don’t really think so. This is FDF, and the style we saw in “Norilsk” might be a little too murky and sluggish for our friends of the family. And artists evolve. I think we can hope for a few signature moves, a more refined style. Guess we’ll know after the final round…”
“Right on cue there, buddy, round one is about to begin. Here’s the bell…”
“Holy kamoley, this definitely isn’t Norilsk. Octaedre going straight to the point.”
“You got that right, sure ain’t sluggish. The footwork, the jabs, the speed – someone spent a lot of time at the gym, if you ask me.”
“And worked on technique too, this is a very refined style, super steady, hardly taking a breather. Could they have stripped it down even further? Wouldn’t think so.”
“Great first round! Escape from Norilsk, man, most definitely. Let’s see what the second one has in store.”
“You see me grinning?”
“Sure do, my friend, probably the same way I do. Octaedre not changing the strategy one iota. Keeps the jabs coming, relentlessly, keeps the speed up, and you know what I like most? This guy doesn’t even try to be fancy, doesn’t put on a big show, this is as focused as it gets.”
“I can already hear the folks pulling out the old Basic Channel comparisons. Not completely wrong though.”
“Especially here in round two. Just the bare essentials, jab, jab, jab, keep the feet moving. What do you think? Got the stamina to keep it going for two more?”
“Looks like it. Didn’t even sit down between rounds two and three. I am impressed. Polished performance. Who got him in shape?”
“Weisemann.”
“Ah, there we go, no wonder, the presence is unmistakable. The man knows what it takes. No worries regarding round four then, right?”
“You said it. Speeds it up even more. The punches! This is banging even for FDF standards. Look at the audience going berserk here, this is a peak time performance.”
“And a prime time transformation. Four round knock-out with tons of style. Respect.”
“I couldn’t have summarized it any better. Tune in next time when FDF Fight Night returns. To quote one of my favorite shows on MTV: Good fight, good night.”
Release for review:
OCTAEDRE – ROUNDS EP – FREUND DER FAMILIE – FDF OCTA 1
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