FUR Puts Its Live Show In Focus

FUR‘s Bryce Isbell is a prolific producer. Even hearing him recite the list of releases he’s had since early 2008 is a bit shocking.

2010, however, seems to be the year where all the work is beginning to pay off. The addition of Gray Saint Germain Gideon, a regular contributor to all of FUR’s albums, has turned FUR into a duo, and one whose production savvy has increased substantially.

“I’ll take lots of ideas and concepts and create the beats on Reason,” Isbell says. “Then I’ll meet with Gray and run it through him, almost like he was a filter.”

The pair agrees that Isbell is the more conceptual, melodically inclined of the two, while Gideon plays a more technical role in the group.

In FUR, Sacramento’s Waaga Records seems to have found an act that is legitimately positioned to make a splash both nationally and internationally. Recent Pitchfork and Guardian reviews have caught the attention of booking companies and fans worldwide.

“I’ve been on Pitchfork six or seven times in two months, which is kind of retarded,” Isbell says. The site also recently featured the video for “Clears Throat,” a track off FUR’s Lackadaisical EP. FUR’s forthcoming Waaga release, slated for a May 10 release, will be the first EP that FUR has recorded as a duo, and will consist of about six tracks. Isbell says the album takes his deep- and micro-house influences and mixes then with the hip-hop and wonky elements brought by Gideon.

Labelmates Florene also have an upcoming Waaga release called Homemade Extacy, with a scheduled June 8 release date.

On July 16 at the Granada Theater, both acts will open for headliner The Octopus Project—a nice fit for two groups whose music focuses more on sound textures and acoustic landscapes than producing the next dancefloor banger.

For Isbell and Gideon, it will be their first live attempt at transitioning their computer music into a live environment.

All those booking companies, surely, will be paying attention.p>