Staff Reviews

Rainbow Arabia - Boys and Diamonds

Review by Robert Cooke

The promise of the duo’s diverse influences isn’t met.»

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los angeles based duo newly signed to kompakt. 'boys and diamonds' is unmistakably a pop album but also one that comfortably fits in with kompakt's long-standing lineage of genre-refracting releases. you will be hard up find another record that cohesively brings to mind siouxsie sioux rubbing elbows with shabba ranks, giorgio moroder sipping daiquiris in bali, desmond dekker envisioned through skittering footwork, tom tom club sitting in with congotronics, even early madonna produced by chris and cosey. unlikely as all of that sounds, rainbow arabia makes it sound easy. averse to any easy classification, rainbow arabia's continent-trekking, kaleidoscope pop is rooted in no particular time or place, employing modern technological processes to an array of musical cultures and eras. the los angeles duo began with the purchase of a lebanese casio that played microtonal scales and eastern beats, with which they quickly recorded their propulsive first ep, the basta, synthesizing bossa nova and industrial post-punk with heavy middle eastern vibes. digging deeper for inspiration from the worldly found sounds of sublime frequencies compilations, their follow-up ep, kabukimono, expanded the colour palette of their 'fourth world' pop with dark, arabic disco-dancehall jams sitting alongside sunnier moments with caribbean and african flourishes. mostly recorded at their home studio in echo park, muppet palace, boys and diamonds was written and produced by the couple with help from their friends in los angeles and beyond. drummer / producer extraordinaire butchy fuego (pit er pat, boredoms, mia) contributes arrangements and beats in places, and icy demons' dylan ryan plays on the percussion-heavy island shuffle 'nothin gonna be undone'.
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