By Vanessa Carr
With feral vocals, shattering guitar riffs, and a collection of microtonal keyboards ordered off of a Lebanese Web site, Rainbow Arabia combines Middle Eastern beats and modes with the vibrant energy of Los Angeles' experimental punk/dance scene. The result is a hypnotic neo-tribal, hipster-dub sound that falls somewhere in the vicinity of post-punk spiritualists Gang Gang Dance and These Are Powers. Rainbow Arabia plays at Cellspace on Aug. 16 before embarking on a cross-country tour with Gangi and Hecuba in October.
The band is composed of Danny and Tiffany Preston, both 36. The husband and wife duo were married for more than three years before they started playing music together and recording in their basement in early 2008. Before Rainbow Arabia, Danny played in punk-dub outfit Future Pigeon and Tiffany in Licorice Piglet.
"It's definitely tested us, being in a band together. But the great thing is that when things are going really well, you get to share it together," Tiffany told the Guardian.
Their interest in Middle Eastern music evolved separately. For Danny, it was the obscure Arabic songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s that he heard via Seattle record label Sublime Frequencies – and later, the line of microtonal keyboards with Middle Eastern beat programming capabilities that he found online. For Tiffany, it was a Middle Eastern guitar class she took as part of a formal musical training. Their interests converged, and Rainbow Arabia was born.
For an American band so inspired by the musical traditions of the Middle East, Rainbow Arabia's choice of artwork is curiously charged – and just flippant enough to risk allegations of hipster vacuity. Their main press photo, for example, showcases the duo in a mock-"terrorist" pose, with pseudo-desert garb, fake machine guns, and a rainbow bandoleer. The cover art for their new EP, The Basta (Tiny Man/Manimal Vinyl), due to be released Aug. 23, is a drawing of a man with strong features, a dark beard, and a rainbow-hued turban.
"Our desire to do Middle Eastern music really has nothing to do with politics, but the love of the music," said Tiffany when asked about the intentions behind the artwork. "I'm drawn to these strong symbols that do have political charge. Sometimes with our music, we do like to push it, especially with our video," she added, referring to the music video from which their press photo was drawn, which will be released on Pitchfork in the next few weeks.
"There were some things I wanted to do that were really crossing the line that we didn't end up doing," she continued. "It's not meant to be offensive."
The Prestons talk passionately about LA's emerging "anti-scene scene," as they call it jokingly, which consists of a loosely-knit group of musical peers - bands such as Lucky Dragons and Gangi, as well as Manimal Vinyl label-mates Hecuba, We Are the World, and Weave!.
"I've lived in LA forever and I really feel something happening down here that I've never felt, ever," Danny said. "For LA, we get people to dance – because people do not dance here at all. They just stand. It's a tough crowd here, actually. There seems to be an anti-scene of people who are freer to dance."
One thing that stands out about their corner of the city's music scene, the twosome said, is that each act has a unique sound and voice, and yet there is cohesion. "It's the same message, but totally different music," explained Tiffany.
"Everyone is being so themselves," Danny observed. "Just pure what they are."
Free download: "Omar K" mp3
RAINBOW ARABIA
Red is Blue Magazine event includes bands (Divine Feud and Light Leaks), poetry, and visual art
Sat/16, 8 p.m., $10
Cellspace
2050 Bryant, SF
(415) 648-7562
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