Fresh from two monumental sold-out CHROMA takeovers in London’s Finsbury Park and the iconic setting of Brighton Beach, Bicep have today unveiled “CHROMA 005 A.L.O.E” the latest release on their ongoing CHROMA project — which comprises a record label, a series of curated events, a brand new and constantly evolving Bicep AV/DJ show, and a unique visual identity created in collaboration with David Rudnick and his Terrain studio.
The track, which has been part of the Bicep Live shows since the end of 2022, follows their recent standout “ROLA” single, and their continuing CHROMA AV/DJ tour which has taken in headline slots at Glastonbury’s IICON stage, Coachella, and Wilderness festival. With upcoming shows at MIRA — Barcelona’s Digital Arts Festival — in November, a run of US dates including Portola, CRSSD, Making Time and a huge, as-yet-unannounced London show in the Autumn – see below for more information!
Reuniting with fellow electronic producer and stalwart of the UK/ Berlin techno scene Benjamin Damage under their B.D.B alias, “CHROMA 005 A.L.O.E” is their second collaboration for the label following previous single “CHROMA 002 L.A.V.A”
“This track came together in our London studio when Ben was over visiting,” explain the duo. “Whenever Ben’s in town we always experiment with something new, and in this case it was a custom setup with a Cirklon sequencer. The beauty of that is you can only really capture live takes, and never really return to a specific pattern again. We really love this one, and included it in our final run of live shows in 2022, so we’re really happy to get this one finally out there.”
Though billed as an AV/DJ performance, the ‘Bicep present CHROMA’ shows are actually more of a hybrid between DJ and live. The pair have several pedals and a drum machine they can use on stage, and there is a connection between the decks and the visuals team which allows the latter to see what is being played in real-time adapting their visuals accordingly. This in turn gives Bicep the freedom to experiment with each performance, keeping the visuals and music working in tandem, no matter the direction they decide to take things.
“A.L.O.E” marks the fifth release in the CHROMA label series, and follows the recent Bicep release “ROLA”; “Bi83”, released under their DOVE alias; their previous collaboration with Benjamin Damage titled “L.A.V.A”; and inaugural Bicep CHROMA single “HELIUM”.
Bicep recently took a deep dive into the CHROMA project and their career to date as part of Resident Advisor’s long-running “Exchange” podcast series – listen to that here. Support for CHROMA has also come from The Observer, Guardian, Resident Advisor, Billboard, MTV, FADER, Wonderland, NME, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Stereogum, Notion, Paste, The Line Of Best Fit, PopMatters, Brooklyn Vegan and many more, with Bicep also appearing on the cover of Disco Pogo’s April Issue.
“CHROMA 005 A.L.O.E” is out now on CHROMA.
Bicep Tour Dates:
AUGUST 25 – CREAMFIELDS, DARESBURY UK
SEPTEMBER 20 – OFF PIKNIC, MONTREAL CA
SEPTEMBER 22 – MAKING TIME B2B OPTIMO, PHILADELPHIA US
SEPTEMBER 26 – BROOKLYN MIRAGE, NYC US
SEPTEMBER 28 – PORTOLA FESTIVAL, SAN FRANCISCO US
SEPTEMBER 29 – CRSSD FESTIVAL, SAN DIEGO US
NOVEMBER 2 – C2C FESTIVAL, TURIN IT
NOVEMBER 8 – MIRA FESTIVAL, BARCELONA ES
MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED…
