It takes a brave soul to try and soup up a modern R鈥檔鈥橞 classic, as Chet Faker did with Blackstreet鈥檚 No Diggety in 2011. He stripped out the rhythmic engine room that was put in by Dr Dre and replaced it with ambient scrapes and clanks, while very much keeping the song to the fore. But then if Nicholas Murphy wasn鈥檛 used to taking bold decisions, he would never have attempted a career making swooshy electronica with a distinctly low-fi, human voice at its heart.
That voice is key. Nicholas gave himself the stage name Chet Faker as a nod to the jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, whose bruised voice and hushed delivery he much admires, and occasionally emulates. And it鈥檚 that cross-genre open-mindedness that has taken him from pop star status in his native Australia onto the playlists of Lauren Laverne, Annie Mac, Fearne Cotton, Tom Robinson and Monki, for whom he recorded a sparkling Maida Vale session at the beginning of May. Glastonbury is surely his spiritual home.
It takes a brave soul to try and soup up a modern R鈥檔鈥橞 classic, as Chet Faker did with Blackstreet鈥檚 No Diggety in 2011. He stripped out the rhythmic engine room that was put in by Dr Dre and replaced it with ambient scrapes and clanks, while very much keeping the song to the fore. But then if Nicholas Murphy wasn鈥檛 used to taking bold decisions, he would never have attempted a career making swooshy electronica with a distinctly low-fi, human voice at its heart.
That voice is key. Nicholas gave himself the stage name Chet Faker as a nod to the jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, whose bruised voice and hushed delivery he much admires, and occasionally emulates. And it鈥檚 that cross-genre open-mindedness that has taken him from pop star status in his native Australia onto the playlists of Lauren Laverne, Annie Mac, Fearne Cotton, Tom Robinson and Monki, for whom he recorded a sparkling Maida Vale session at the beginning of May. Glastonbury is surely his spiritual home.
