BLUFRANK

MID(s) is a Hot new track from Egyptian electro-house producer, BLUFRANK

Show him some love! -

Where Will Your Favourite Artist’s Money Come From If They Get Cancer?; Plus: BLUFRANK


I’ve stumbled on all sorts of good things online last week, which may account for the absence of posts on ANBAD.

These have been namely: The World’s Greatest Rave Video, The Most In-Depth Prècis of Warren G‘s Regulate Ever, and then – most importantly – the trailer to a documentary called Unsound, which spells out the impact of the new music business model on actual artists.

You know: the people who make the music.

I’m taking the rare step of posting a video on ANBAD, because this trailer contains more thought-provoking sentiments than anything else I have seen, heard or read on this topic, and that anyone who cares about music will intuitively feel too.



Perhaps the most important issue here is that we just don’t know where the music industry is going – and is still making up its own rules.

The kicker is that at the moment the status quo is not just as it ever was (big biz making the $$$, artists getting a rough deal) but now, when we have the opportunity to spread the dough around a bit, the realistic options for an artist to make decent money might be slimmer than ever.

Only making money from gigs is simply not enough, assuming we consumers want to enjoy music as we have done for decades.

Yes, you can make money playing live – but it’s just the old model’s final hurrah: it works on exclusivity alone.

The supply of the product is limited (you have to be in a certain place to experience the gig), just as the supply of recorded music used to be limited (you had to buy a CD to listen to it).

Now there are a zillion technological ways of making/distributing cash, or at least potential ways: micro-transactions, crowd-funding, et al are pretty bog-standard ideas now.

Are there other ways that could help make artists money for the amazing music they make?

Ways that are more direct (i.e fewer slices taken out of the money en route to the artist), less heavy on the purchaser (i.e.: no-one is going to pay £15 for an LP any more – what feels right? £5?) and enabling (i.e. the artist is not compelled to live under the fear of what happens if they cannot play live)

Either we change and start coughing up in new, interesting, this-feels-right ways, or less music gets made. Because when the artist you love can’t, for some reason, perform any more, and thus can’t make money, you can bet your/their bottom dollar that they will choose to put food on the table first.


And their music will fall by the wayside. And that third LP that would have been a true artistic revolution won’t get made. And you won’t hear it. And your life will be poorer. And so on.

Oh, here’s BLUFRANK, by the way, who is buried beneath all this, and is here for two reasons.




Firstly: because he is making the kind of trashy disco quirk-pop that is unpretentious, fun and can hold your attention in a way that, say, a song by any number of buzz-bands can’t, and secondly, because he is apparently from Egypt – and I haven’t featured a band from Egypt before.

I guess that BLUFRANK doesn’t perform live all that much. I wonder if he makes much money from music? -

Disco, house et pyramides : c'est BLUFRANK aux premiers abords. Ses morceaux sont un vrai délice, entre sable fin, et soleil couchant derrière le doux roulis des vagues. On se voit bien chiller et danser dessus quand le soleil viendra. Mais en réalité, derrière tout ça, y a un mec qui aimerait faire bouger les choses, les faire changer et les faire passer à un autre niveau, dans une Egypte qui ne suit pas son rythme. Voilà toutes les choses intéressantes qu'il a à dire.


J'ai toujours vécu en Egypte, actuellement, l'Egypte néglige l'art. Mais des jeunes comme nous essayent de changer cette situation de merde. La culture est plus ou moins perdue, on est devenu un mélange hétéroclite de choses complètement nulles, à cause de la désinformation des médias et de la société. Mais je pense que les choses changeront dans le futur. J'espère que tout ce que fait permettra de changer les choses. Je peux discuter ou travailler avec des gens qui veulent faire évoluer notre situation, mais c'est vraiment dur de trouver des personnes qui veulent faire quelque chose de créatif et qui sort de l'ordinaire. Ici, les gens ont peur du changement, ils ont peur qu'on rigole d'eux. Mais vouloir que les gens soient plus inventifs, créatifs et tout ça, c'est comme vouloir que tout le monde soit riche, ça n'a pas de sens. J'espère juste que les gens essayeront d'accomplir des choses plutôt que de dire qu'ils ne peuvent pas le faire.
J'aimerai travailler avec d'autres personnes, mais d'abord je dois atteindre le même niveau de respect qu'ils ont, je veux pas gâcher tout ce qu'une autre personne aura fait en travaillant avec elle.

Je déteste les scènes musicales, parce que les gens se concentrent sur le fait d'être dans le truc, et oublient la musique en elle-même, le fondement du style est important dans les scènes musicales.
Internet c'est cool et tout et ça t'aide à te faire connaître de manière indépendante, mais en même temps, y a beaucoup de conneries sur internet, ce qui fait que les musiciens indépendants se perdent au milieu de gens vraiment nuls, du coup on se dit que t'es mauvais avant même de cliquer sur les liens que tu partages. Actuellement, internet est le meilleur endroit pour partager ce que je fais, mais je dois affirmer ma place ici en faisant des shows.

Je suis à l'université en ce moment. J'espère pouvoir vivre de la musique et rester indépendant, parce que je ne rejoindrai pas un label qui essayerait de changer la direction que je veux prendre. Je veux traduire ce que je ressens dans la musique. J'essaye de faire passer aux gens les visions que j'ai, les images que je m'imagine, les histoires que je veux raconter, les secrets que je garde pour moi. BLUFRANK, c'est moi, en plus fort. Il n'y a pas de place pour ceux qui essayent d'exprimer les choses de manière vivace et authentique dans la réalité. Je m'exprime à travers la musique. Je dis pas ça pour être cliché, mais quand je compose des morceaux, j'ai pas pour but de faire un hit. Pour moi, un hit, c'est quand tout ce que je compose touche la corde sensible chez moi. J'ai plusieurs directions sur une ligne.
La musique et l'art visuel sont le meilleur moyen d'exprimer les choses pour moi. Je suis pas très bavard en général, je peux pas tout décrire avec des mots. Y a certaines émotions, des sons et des images que je peux pas exprimer autrement.

Pour mes concerts, je compte pas faire tourner les platines ou faire un mix. Je ferais un truc comme un film, quelque chose de très riche visuellement, pas juste avec un écran avec des photos complètement débiles. Un vrai show quoi. Tu te souviens quand les shows présentaient de vraies histoires et de vrais concepts ?
Maintenant, les shows c'est surtout pour pouvoir se faire plus d'argent, et le public est juste là pour boire, fumer, et ne tiennent même pas compte de ce que fait le musicien. Moi, je créerai un lien avec le public grâce à l'ambiance. Et j'espère que ce sera possible de le faire au Caire. -

BLUFRANK revient, un peu plus posé qu'à l'habitude. Avec son dernier morceau "I Fell In Love Without You", on se voit bien, la nuit dans le calme le plus total, en solitaire avec les étoiles et des flashbacks qui défilent rapidement plein la tête. En quelques minutes, il pose deux ambiances, différentes, mais qu'il arrive à faire marcher très bien ensemble, et, nous prouve, encore une fois qu'il arrive à faire de très bonnes choses en assemblant ingénieusement et astucieusement des petits bouts de plein de choses. -

This double header furnished by, Egyptian producer, Blufrank, “My Sweet Darling”, and “MID(s)”, are perfect examples of Blufrank’s ability to make any day a bit brighter with his easy breezy, smooth style and graceful beats. You can’t help but smile a bit wider, dream a bit bolder, and bump these tracks a bit louder. -

We came across Blufrank, a 20 year old Electronic producer from Egypt, after one of his tracks, TR-808 & A Babe, was featured on prominent online magazine Dummy; a publication shining a light on all things cool and alternative happening in the global music scene. It was a bit of surprise because we assume we know everything happening here but it just goes to show that there are talented and original producers making beats in all sorts of dark corners of Egypt's underground scene. What else took us by surprise was that, 30 seconds into the track, what was building up to a very average House track turned into a scattershot sampled monster of a Groove, underlined by that warm synth sound that stands out in most of his productions. It’s hard to quite put your finger on what kind of direction Blufrank is going for but if we had to take a shot, we'd say he lives somewhere in between 70s Disco, Funk and Minimal House. Either way, we stopped making guesses about the mystery producer and got in touch...

When and how did you get into producing?

Hmmm, I can't tell you when exactly because I went through several phases but I started taking it seriously last summer.

I guess what sparked the idea of me being a producer is the visuals and sounds that I have in my mind, the feelings that I have, the feelings that I want to express, the stories that I’ve lived and the things that I want to do ...

What do you use to produce?

My laptop.

Have you played live anywhere yet? Do you DJ as well?

Nope, not yet, but I will soon and no I don't DJ.

What do you think is the specific element that makes one of your productions a Blufrank track and not just another House or Funk track?

A friend of mine, who knows who I am in real life, told me that when a track of mine gets played he feels like he is seeing everything from an old Polaroid camera. The same friend, and he is the only close friend of mine who knows who I am, told me that my music is music that he can chill and dance to, too. A local illustrator that I know told me that it isn’t just Dance music for clubs, it's music that he can listen to at home. Another friend of mine who is into mainstream music said that my music sounds weird but dance-y.

That’s their opinions and maybe it's true. My opinion is simply putting your own soul in what you make; it sounds like a conventional clichéd answer but, really, if people understand what it means to put yourself in something you make, they will understand what I mean.

From the technical point of view, I don't have a certain "ripped off a tutorial" working flow, so my sounds always have certain mixing and mastering. Plus, I always have my own theme on. Like, you won't find me making a Brostep track all of a sudden because that's what’s trending now. Add to that that I don't treat a track like a filler track, every track I make is a HIT to me, so if I don’t have an idea, I won't be trying to roll up anything for the listeners.

Do you have any techniques or effects you love to use when producing?

I love sampling and I love micro-sampling. I love sampling to the degree that I can compose a whole track without using a sample then add some samples just to feel that I sampled something, to the degree that I sample myself sometimes orI sample any noise made by my friends without their knowing. I sample the street noise sometimes, plus some out of key samples or compositions.

I do not produce well polished tracks because I always felt that the academically perfect studio mastering is really boring and repetitive, it makes the tracks sound like they are full of plastic, so I tend to make Lo-Fi music but really I don't like being called a Lo-Fi artist. I am just mastering and mixing in an unorthodox way, that's all.

Who are your favourite artists/DJs/Bands at the moment?

The Beatles.

Who are your favourite local artists?

Now? No one really, all my local musical heroes turned out to be assholes and that's sad. Faced with the harsh life we are living in Egypt, they bent their beliefs for more exposure. Selling out breaks my heart...

Do you have a musical background, play any instruments?

Nope, but my father was a Synth Pop/Disco/Funk/New-Wave/Soft Rock/Pop Rock/Pop fan. You should have seen him with his swagged up Afro and his 70s clothes (including those wide-legged pants). Anyway, he's got a huge ass library full of lots of bands' discographies, lots of cassettes from the 70s and 80s, lots of movies from that era too on VHS, and my father was the one who made the playlist in the car or at home, he was the one who choose the movies that we watched, so that was the musical background to me. With regards to playing instruments, I am currently working on teaching myself keyboard and piano skills.

Why the name Blufrank?

I wanted something original and unheard of ... I wanted something that sounds like a new product, like a name that represents something but you don't know what it is. The mystery behind the name since it's composed of known words but an unknown meaning.

What inspires you outside of music?

Photography, films, relationships, my life, women in general, driving, night-life, good times, experimental ideas, fashion, beaches, the ring-road. When you spend lots of time in traffic, specially on that road, you start to think a lot about your status in life and the things that you want to do.

What do you think of the music scene here?

Fucked up, gang-banged to death… boring, and you always get the feeling that Egypt only has one singer that's making all this muthafuckin’ Habibi/Garahteeny music and of course we won't talk about the bar, which is really low. Add to that the standards are fucked. It's really shameful but I can see some artists are trying to give life back to music.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

In Egypt, doing my thing, being raw as fuck, then leaving it to God. -

It might just be me (but then again if ONE person does it then it's probably quite likely that another person or multiple people will also do the same thing) but I like a song title or artist name or whatever kind of thing that requires you to look further into what exactly it is. Being the innocent mind that I am, I had to google 'TR-808' – and what fun! It's short for The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, "one of the first programmable drum machines" (thanks Wikipedia) and "TR" is an acronym of "Transistor Rhythm". There may be some of you out there thinking, "omg what stupid is this guy! HA ha!!" but to others who were wondering what BLUFRANK's song title meant, there you go.
Hang on, wait—what? Who's BLUFRANK? Don't worry. BLUFRANK is a producer from Cairo, Egypt, who makes mostly house (to use a very general and very useful term) music. The stuff about the TR-808 refers to this song, titled 'TR-808 & A Babe' – I can only imagine or guess that this was a fun time. It has to have been, surely? Sorry for being male. -

You know a song is going to be good if they use a Tycho sample, and Egyptian producer, BLUFRANK did just that in his song Never Ending Summer! When I close my eyes and hear the song it takes me back to a time over the past summer. I was on the beach of a big lake in Arkansas. I was sitting there with my feet in the water watching the sun go down. A summer sunset is quite a bittersweet feeling. While you know there is another day of summer to come, you are saddened because the day you had is gone. Check the track out and see what summer memory it takes you back to! -

BLUFRANK - TR-808 & A Babe
Illicit, dimly lit house music from the Cairo-based producer.
Inspired by "the 60's, 70's, 80's, Cairo nightlife, love, dance­floors, bars, summertime, beaches, fashion, minimalism, experimental ideas, relationships, things i want, personal stuff, visuals and some movies," Cairo producer BLUFRANK's music is undeniably rich. His latest track, TR­808 & A Babe – perhaps describing his ideal night ­in? – is a great example. It's minimalist house that's been draped with a lo-­fi aesthetic in the form of smart, jaunty synth leads that pluck out a melody over retro­futurist soft and airy chords. Here, the subby kicks are what stay with you, like the tenderly exciting smell of a nightclub as you walk home along illicit, dimly lit streets, or the satisfying deafness that comes with dancing near a speaker all night. -

If a tune could build you up… Make you feel sexy and dump you. All at the same time we suggest you take a listen to this track. BLUEFRANK’s Mid(s). -