Rare it remains for music to encompass the murky search for truth within emotion -- yet simultaneously induce euphoria. Within the space of a few beats, the composite of opposites known as DJ Limbs & Butter manage to soothe souls with the milky and cerebral trip-hop that's become their calling card, while welcoming disillusion. A 27-year-old hip-hop DJ/producer hailing from Chicago, by way of the Philippines and Switzerland, who's steeped in gadget wizardry and yet remains a vinyl purist, creating music with a 60-year-old Brazilian songbird - preened by the analog world on "real instruments" - a Jive Records singer-songwriter that had the opportunity to work at Battery Studios on sessions with artists such as R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige and Smashing Pumpkins: this motley duo of Victor Carreon and Ruth Varella is your new red pill.
On their first full-length collaboration - the nine-track "Fake Rubies" EP - Carreon and Varella continue where 2010's globally well-received "Mad Jazz Noodle" 7-inch single left off, with its downtempo beats, drum 'n' bass interplay and EDM contortions. The new collection is a concept album concerning authenticity and the journey to self, including tracks such as "Church," an electro romp positing joy as true religion; "I Kiss," an '80s-inspired synth-and-guitar elegy to inspiration; and the opening track "The Birds," a trip-hop odyssey floating atop Varella's dark caramel vocals. Adding the talents of guitarist Gabrielle Zanetti, the EP sweeps listeners from energetic and youthful sex, to the dusty laments of the weathered and wise, to pure dance-floor viscera. A blend of the organic and synthetic remains strong.
