Bridging gaps and bringing people, sounds and continents together. That’s what Arp Frique continues to do in his own relentless fashion on ‘The Seed’, his new album on Amsterdam based label Rush Hour, that features the combined talents of Mariseya, Americo Brito, The Scorpios and Orlando Julius. Taking off where he landed on his debutalbum ‘Welcome to the Colorful World of Arp Frique’, ‘The Seed’ is another highly energetic concoction of styles, taking in disco, synth boogie, funk, Caribbean, West-African and East-African flavors while broadening his sound as he goes along. Soukous, calypso and funaná (to name but a few) are all masterfully intertwined on ‘The Seed’, with the open-minded band always looking to expand their repertoire, flirting with South-African bubblegum on ‘Baba Love’ (a track that features the mighty Orlando Julius) and channeling Francis Bebey on ‘Oi Quem Q’eu Nos Oi’. It’s a never-ending quest that results in an increasingly hybrid sound that works just as good when it’s played live on stage in a venue or on a festival as it does when it’s fed to a discerning dancefloor at night. Seeds are planted left and right and great things are popping up in all directions in Arp Frique’s magical parallel universe. In his own words: “A seed is the basis of life: a tree, food, a baby, conception, a thought, an album, a band. A seed is growth from almost nothing to everything.”
The Arp Frique catalogue has drawn attention from DJs such as Gilles Peterson, Pegy Gou, Floating Points, Hunee, Antal and many more, bringing his music to the clubs around the world while simultaneously receiving airplay on the BBC, KCRW, NTS, to name a few. But Arp Frique himself prefers the live experience, presenting his music on stages worldwide together with his Family: Arp Frique & Family. The vibrant collective performed all throughout Europe and Asia, from the clubs to the big stages such as Lowlands, North Sea Jazz, Dekmantel, Transmusicales, Womad and beyond besides playing sessions for KEXP, Red Bull Music, Radio Nova and many other leading platforms.