GAHR
San Francisco, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2009 | INDIE
Music
Press
After many years in The Bay—where the sun is always halfway out and kids with funny monikers make ethereal music—and a stint in Berlin, Matthew "Safety Scissors" Curry moved his operations (and his keyboard-playing cat) to Brooklyn. And when he's not DJing cool techno sets and getting nifty asymmetrical haircuts around the hood, Mr. Safety has found time to put the finishing touches on his third album of avant-pop and house sounds.
In anticipation of In A Manner of Sleeping, his full-length album for Ellen Allien's BPitch Control (due out May 31), Safety gives us this exclusive remix from fellow San Franciscan Tender Buttons, which pairs nicely with sunshine and umbrella'd cocktails.
Safety Scissors will be playing alongside Ellen Allien, Camea and Thomas Mullen on May 24th at the wicked NYC underground techno party ReSolute, at a location that must be too cool to announce yet. - Thump (Vice)
We don’t like to be too biased toward local acts, but when we hear something truly marvelous we have no choice but to represent our roots! The latest batch of San Francisco magic comes from dream-pop duo Symbols of the West, whose terrific debut LP A Thousand Lights dropped back in February for indie label Rock Shock It! Records. While the vibe of their standout single Spirit Canoe lands somewhere between The Postal Service and Peaking Lights, it was actually the remix by newcomer Tender Buttons that caught our attention, who has reinterpreted the track into a pseudo-tribal and totally hypnotic journey that was seemingly designed for night walks through empty cities. Heavy distortion and patient bass guide the duo’s interweaving vocals, as an air of disorientation shifts midway through the track’s eight minutes to deliver a very organic and uplifting celebration. Tender Buttons also does a killer job of repurposing the original’s snappy percussion hits and guitar plucks, which come through to guide the chugging beat out of otherwise shadowy terrain. Be sure to check out the remainder of the remix package, as well as the video for Spirit Canoe, a tribute to the group’s native Montana and a triumph in it’s own right! - Caveman Sound
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
GAHR (formerly known as Tender Buttons), is a San Francisco-based producer, DJ and obsessive musical omnivore. As a producer, his work skews left-of-center, inspired by the boundary pushing sounds of early Warp and Ninja Tune artists, like Amon Tobin, Boards of Canada and Clark. Combine that with elements absorbed from years of listening to hip-hop and psychedelic rock and a sonic palette that references modern electronic pioneers like Flying Lotus, Jon Hopkins and Andy Stott and, in GAHR, you've got an emerging Bay Area talent staking his own claim in the realm of off-kilter beeps, beats and blips. Also an accomplished remixer, GAHR has reworked tracks for the likes of Safety Scissors, Symbols of the West and rising LA siren Gavin Turek. As a DJ, Tender Buttons' sets can be adventurously eclectic, ranging from banging dance sets full of deep house and minimal techno to slightly more subdued affairs featuring heavy soul cuts, Afrobeat and hip-hop. The beauty is, you never know what you’re going to get when Buttons is on the buttons, but you can bet that it will always get the people moving.
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