Blarf, “Banana” (Stones Throw)
Eric Andre is one of the funniest mofos in America. He is also a serious musician who studied double bass at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. However, in his undercover guise as Blarf, he largely dispenses with all that high-falutin’ learnin’. Instead, Blarf sounds like a combination of J Dilla and Squarepusher—on a fistful of Adderall. For proof, check out his sampladelic splatterfest of a debut album, Cease & Desist. As I wrote in a feature on Andre in September, “Its nine tracks assault you with grotesquely manipulated samples, splenetic beats, noise bombs, R&B parodies, and snippets of spoken-word dialogue. It bears similarities to hip-hop and the crazier end of EDM, but run through a series of fun-house mirrors until all semblance to musical reality descends into recursive madness.”
“Banana” is actually one of the least crazy tracks on Cease & Desist, but it’s still plenty delirious. Coming off like a Cubist, sample-happy deconstruction by American avant-gardist Carl Stone, “Banana” starts with a riotous Latin rhythm discombobulation, like a Fania All-Stars song put into a blender. Then the Hollywood string section barges in, against all logic, followed by those spastic Squarepusher-esque beats. The baffling coda features Andre (or some other clown) crying over a triumphant fanfare of horns and Lightning Bolt-style drum mayhem. Against conventional wisdom, Blarf proves that comedy—and comedians—belong in music. Listen below
