User:Repoman62/sandbox

 Overview 

Brandan_Dangerchris is an experimental electronic/hip-hop duo from Auckland, New Zealand, formed in 2016. The project consists of Nathan Cairns, known by his stage name as Dangerchris, and Buster Darragh-Major, known by his stage name as Brandan. Both are thought to collaborate in making the beats and vocal recording, but the group has taken many measures to ensure much of the production made in secrecy. No images of the duo or the band are known to exist. The band has collaborated with artists such as Merzbow, Captain Beefheart and Kanye West. Brandan_Dangerchis’s output is characterised by drawing from elements of Hip-Hop, industrial, noise, vapourwave and ambient music, and in 2016, their mate referred to them as “The most important band of the decade.”

The group released their first mixtape B.Rad Rhymes in 2016, and their debut studio album Grim of Fire later in the same year, both to varying levels of critical acclaim. After signing to fucking no one, the group underwent their first major tour of the kebab shop near their local University, where Nathan Cairns was reportedly scammed of $5.00. The group then took a year long hiatus, with no social media activity of any kind or 14 months, until, in 2016 they released knowledge||network as a digital download, much to the surprise of their fans, and was rated Pitchforks ‘number 1 album of 2016’.

History

2016: Formation and B.Rad Rhymes

Brandan_Dangerchris was formed in Auckland University in August of 2016 by co-founders Nathan Cairns and Buster Darragh-Major. On the day of their formation the group made their first two album covers, one of which would later appear on their debut mixtape B.Rad Rhymes. The groups first project was released later that year as a free download on bandcamp, and was heavily influenced by their muse known only as Brad, found deep in the lyrics of the album. To this day, the group continues to draw inspiration from this mystery figure, although nothing is known about his origins or backstory as a character. It has been rumoured on online underground music forums that the figure seen on the cover of the mixtape is Brad himself, although no statement has come directly from the band regarding the identity of the person seen on the artwork.

B. Rad Rhymes would see the group attempt to find and solidify their own unique sound, as they drew and eclectic combination of sounds originating from predominantly hip-hop, harsh noise, and industrial. Online music reviewer Anthony Fantano was quoted as calling the album “-a breath of fresh air in a music industry saturated with weak af harsh noise artists.” Also going on to say; “Take a good look, these guys are kinda Death Grips but like, better, oi.” The album did not register on the New Zealand Billboard.

The album produced one single: Ode to Brad (The Song of the Seminal Saxophonist)

2016: Grim of Fire

Later in the same year of B.Rad Rhymes, the band released their debut studio album Grim of Fire to much unexpected commercial success. The album was said to be a “highly developed and mature sounding work, taking the foundations B.Rad Rhymes (had) laid down and painstakingly yet methodically moulding something beautiful.” The music found on Grim of Fire marked a somewhat transitional period for the group, the lyrics seeming to focus on increasingly broader and more meaningful content in comparison to those found on B.Rad Rhymes. Although character Brad was still a prominent figure in the lyrical and thematic content of the album, Grim of Fire saw the band reach out and also incorporate additional characters Chris, and Udaya.

It is thought that the new direction the album took was inspired by musical genius Kanye West, with whom the band collaborated with for the title track Grim of Fire. Kanye was impressed with Nathan Cairns and Buster Darragh-Major’s work ethic when working on the project, and was quoted as saying in an interview with Time Magazine; “Mayne Idah, Idah know mayne ah-aigh I finna reckon them, mayn aigh finna, agh aigh just dunno mayne they just so goddamn tight mayn aigh gotta just say this one thing, hol’ up lemme say just this one thing aight just, agh mayne lemme just, ugh aight hol’ up mayne they finna, aigh you feel me they finna, they, they finna make the greatest album of all time.” The album produced three singles. The title track, Grim of Fire was released 3 days prior to the album’s release, and was followed swiftly by songs Views from the Owen G., and I’ll Tell You Why I Said Hello.

The albums cover is notable as it is an image of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, and drew criticism from weak ass plebs, being labelled as “distasteful” by some. An alternate album cover was released, and featured an image of the same explosion but from a different angle, in response to the backlash.

2016-2016: Hiatus and knowledge||network

Not long after the release of Grim of Fire Brandan_Dangerchris announced on Piazza the group would be undertaking an indefinite hiatus, and urged fans to “Stay Brad” in their absence. Rumours circulated through various social media platforms as for the reason of the temporary breakup. It was then revealed through and anonymous source who was “close to the band” that Buster Darragh-Major had received a 6/10 on his Matlab test, citing the likely reason for the break in activity. Various trends appeared on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter demanding the band answer to growing impatience from fans. The hashtag #staybrad spent a record 13 consecutive weeks in the top five most popular tags, as well as the bands website being hacked by serial hacker Peter Bier who said he “wanted to see if they were hiding any shitty Pentatonix covers of their songs.”

After 14 months of total silence, the band posted an image of a cropped screeshot of an a e s t h e t i c formatted matlab command window with no caption. After just 2 hours, knowledge||network was released as a digital download on the bands bandcamp.

Fans and critics alike were quick to praise the album for its totally new direction and feel from the comparatively accessible offerings of the band’s first two projects. knowledge||network stood out in the way it incorporated new elements of spectralism, deep ocean hydrophone recordings, extrasolar magnetic waves, sonorism, psychically induced aural stimulation, and field recordings of owls. The album is generally considered one of the greatest albums of all time. The release of the album was rather unconventional in most ways. At $40.00 USD for a digital copy, there was outrage amongst some fans that the bands seemingly anti-capitalist stand on the music industry was being forgotten. Furthermore, the only physical copies of the album are the limited 200 cassettes originally made for release, as well as 2 vinyl copies, estimated to be worth approximately $40,000 each. With each cassette came a complimentary floppy disk, the contents of which had a file containing a further 6 unreleased tracks from the knowledge||network recording sessions, protected by password that only the user was given. The files would reportedly self-corrupt after one listen or if they were attempted to be copied or moved. No original files are known to still exist, although bootleg downloads can be found throughout the internet.

knowledge||network peaked at the top of the Billboard Album Sales Chart for 6 weeks, the only album to ever achieve such a feat with no singles in the modern era.