Derek showed up to Los Angeles this past December rocking a Zulu love letter around his neck, his only belongings – a reproduction Klimt painting and a hard shell suitcase mostly full of journals. He’d been traveling via AmeriCorps since he, Frank and I all lived in LA together, in 2007.
Frank, (YES, this Frank, our very own Audio Muffin Frank) – Frank had been working on some Hip Hop / Indie Rap projects with our very best friends George, Drew, Patrick, Bregan and others from the KCF crew – and had enticed Derek to move in to work on a new sound together. I had been singing hooks for Frank from across the nation, but w/ serendipitous timing, got this sweet new job that had me packed and back in LA at the same time.
In February, after a night out, Derek came home and laid down some Kid Cudi Pursuit of Happiness lyrics on top of a previously sampled Iron & Wine and Sam Cook ditty that he & Frank had whipped up together….. and well – it blew up, took the Hype Machine and all of us by surprise, and garnered over 100 blog posts.
You’ve probably heard it, but just in case!!! Here’s the Barbara Pursuit of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover)
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The history of making the Robopopironica EP is rooted there. Most of the songs were composed, written, and recorded between December and March – all from a Mac that sat in the corner of the living room at Whole Dudes (the boy’s apartment behind the Whole Foods). Derek seemed to be an infinite well of awesome – we’d come home from work every day to some new song or sound that we all loved and we’d build upon it together. Frank would sit down and add the hip hop inspired beats that have become our signature, and much to my own honor and dismay – the boys let me sing some backup!! Derek went back to New Mexico and brought Jerrod back with him – for drumming up the live sound! Moving forward it’s the the four of us – We Are Barbara!!
Through my job at KCRW I connected with Rob Lafond. We all met together and decided to get serious about the songs we had created, we narrowed them down to a selection of 6 and got to work with Rob, re-recording vocals, mixing, mixing and mixing some more until we were all satisfied. At long long last!!! Here it is, the Barbara Robopopironica EP. our introductory selection of songs…. We hope you like them. Meanwhile, we’ll be busy working on the slew of other songs that are slowly morphing into what we hope will become a full length album!
It’s been really amazing to see the support and love from our friends, the blogs, and shiiiiiiiiitttt, a SHOUT OUT from KID CUDI’!! Yeah! Thanks to all of you!!
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Stay in touch with us! We have a brand new website: WeAreBarbara.com, Facebook, Twitter and all that Blog business…!
And, if you are so inclined,….. you can buy the full Robopopironica EP on iTunes or Amazon
So amped for you guys! And I know I’ve said it before, but man, ‘San Francisco’ is jaaaaaaaaaaam city.
I’m in love with your sound. Keep it coming.
YAY BARBARA!!!
(even though you cropped me out of that photo and replaced me with a lens flare)
haha! Dave! That’s true… shhh!
More West Coast loveliness – thanks!!
Superb Collection Barbara. Its really nice.
[...] one of your favorite music blogs! First there was the out-of-left-field but Kid Cudi approved cover of “Pursuit of Happiness” that was instantly refreshing. Then I got “Unicornica” in my inbox and instantly fell [...]