Raf of the incredible 2 Bears has just revealed his track from Radio 1 DJ Gemma Cairney’s Body Of Songs Collection and now a awesome sickly animation video to go with it.
Raf’s track investigates The Appendix with an infectious groove in “(Ooh Ah) Carolina”, swamping in with an electro dirt funk straight from the realms of somewhere deep within…like your appendix.
NME premiered and hosted the video, it’s a masterpiece:
Raf investigated the appendix with help from pathologist Dr Ian Proctor of University College London Hospital, surgeon Dr Andrew Williams of Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital, and Dr William Parker of Duke University, Carolina, USA. The resulting track has an infectious groove and swamps in with an electro dirt funk straight from the realms of somewhere deep within, like your appendix.
Raf says: “It’s a bit of an obtuse choice but I was genuinely interested in the idea of it. There’s all these amazing, complex, crucial organs in the body. The appendix is surplus to requirements and according to most of the clinicians I spoke to, worse than useless. An accident waiting to happen. I thought it would be an interesting starting point for a song. I spoke to a very smart man called Dr.William Parker from Duke University in Carolina USA. He was the first person who really had anything good to say about the poor old appendix. According to him it’s been rendered useless by the super-santised world we live in now. It was originally there to repopulate the gut with good bacteria but in “hygenic” societies there’s nothing much for it to do. Appendicitis is something to do with auto-immunity apparently. Anyways the good Dr compared the appendix to a bored teenager with nothing to do. I really liked this idea and took it as a starting point.”
About Body Of Songs
Body of Songs is a groundbreaking music and science experiment that brings together Britain’s most talented musicians to create a remarkable collection of songs, inspired by our inner workings – the mysterious organs of the body.
These are the 8th and 9th tracks to be revealed from the collection due for release in Autumn 2015. So far you can hear: Bat For Lashes (Skin), Goldie (Brain), Ghostpoet (Liver), Mara Carlyle & Max De Wardener (Kidneys), Dave Okumu (Heart), Afrikan Boy (Blood), Scrufizzer (Larynx).
Through incredible access to specialist clinicians and scientists, making observations in the operating theatre, meeting with alternative health experts and patients at varying stages of illness and ogling body parts in special museum collections – each artist has developed a knowledge and feel for their chosen organ. This is then transformed into an original composition to reflect both their experiences and personal relationship to these hidden parts of the body.
The artists’ scientific journeys have been guided with help from inspirational clinician, Professor Hugh Montgomery and Dr Alistair Connell.
With a line-up of incredible artists, curated by Gemma Cairney (BBC Radio 1), Llywelyn Ap Myrrdin (composer) and Beth Clayton the remaining three songs and body organs from musicians at the peak of their creative powers will be released ahead of the final album in Autumn 2015.
Body Of Songs is supported by the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England. With special thanks to University College London Hospital and the NHS.
The Body of Songs project album is coming out on 27th November and culminates a whole year of work by contributing artists including Afrikan Boy, Ghostpoet, Bat For Lashes, Goldie, Sam Lee and more.
The Planet Of Sound 