‘Mad Magic’ is the latest track from the concept album, ‘Future Former Self’, by New York band, CHAPPO.
The Brooklyn quartet centres around Baton Rouge native, Alex Chappo (vox, guitar, and songwriting) and Seattle-born keyboardist, Chris Olson. Also including drummer Zac Colwell and guitarist Dave Feddock, CHAPPO formed in East Village, New York in 2009, and released their debut EP, ‘Plastique Universe’ in 2010. This was followed by ‘Plastique Universe II: Pisces Princess’ the following year.
Releasing their first full length album, ‘Moonwater’ in 2012, through Majordomo Records, they then went on to release two further EPs in 2013, ‘Petite Plastique’ (clearly they have a thing for this word…) and ‘Nothing To Sell Ya’, which featured covers of songs from Beck, Caveman, Jefferson Airplane and Kenny Rogers.
Tours followed, including some headliners, and CHAPPO signed with Votiv Records in 2014, and commemorated this with the appropriately named, ‘Celebrate’ EP, which was issued in December that year.
CHAPPO’s latest album, ‘Future Former Self’, is a space-imbued concept album, taking inspiration from Bowie, Beck, Tame Impala, and Neil Young, among others. ‘Mad Magic’ is the second single from the album, and both it and ‘Future Former Self’ came out in the UK on January 22nd. It’s a funky track, more Jamiroquai than Jefferson Airplane. Another stand out is lead track, ‘Hello’, which starts out with a fun, falsetto and a jolly whistle, before setting the scene for the album. We also enjoyed the last song, ‘Ghetto Weekend’, and the penultimate, ‘Orange Afternoon’, which starts out sounding like a cross between AC/DCs ‘TNT’ and Amii Stewart’s ‘Knock On Wood’ but ends up sounding more like the product of whatever trip Major Tom was on.
To accompany ‘Future Former Self’, CHAPPO have put together a six-part video story, ‘The Singularity’, chronicling the journey of (fictional) astronaut, Rene Cogito to and from a black hole. Earth is dying, and it’s Cogito’s job to save the planet. Music and sound featured in the videos are provided by the album. Watch epsiode 1:
You can see the remaining 5 episodes on their Youtube channel.
‘Future Former Self’, including ‘Mad Magic’, is available on iTunes.
Find CHAPPO online on their website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
