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Music

Meet the Cartoon Animals Making Diplo-Approved Pop Music

The next in line in the trend of internet-led music scenes comes from a collective that, essentially, consists of Pokémon and sounds like The Weeknd in 2020.

Music, like any art form, finds inspiration in strange places. Yeezus was inspired by the architectural work of Swiss-French pioneer Le Corbuiser, Macaulay Culkin must have seen something relevant inside the deep-pan Hawaiian he ordered the night Lou Reed passed, and Lil Wayne has written over 102 lines about bowel movements.

But the above are anomalies - reference points specific to each artist. In today’s world – where artists with no albums get thousands of Soundcloud plays – musicians are increasingly becoming inspired by technology, both its past and future.

Take a look at PC Music. You don’t even need to know who the people behind it are - the name alone suggests they create music that sounds like a club night put on by the Paperclip in Windows 95. When he isn’t rapping about “getting [his] balls licked by a Zooey Deschanel look-alike”, Yung Lean ghostrides smart cars. A song exists that is literally about uploading GIFs on to Blogger.

Music keeps moving and as it does, the things that inspire it get stranger. The next in line in the trend of internet-led music scenes comes from a collective that, essentially, consists of Pokémon and cartoon animals.

Led by a guy called Trippy Turtle, the first is a gang known as FoFoFadi, which sounds like one of those bizarre names people give their genitals when they don’t want to say cunt in public. Trippy Turtle’s music sounds like future sex jams – he’s owning 2020 in the same way The Weeknd owned 2010.

The FoFoFadi crew is made up of a bunch of other animal-based artists: names like Girly Gorilla, Booty Beaver and Drippy Dolphin. Drippy is one of the best, creating endearing music that puts you in the strange middle ground between feeling pilled up to the eyeballs and possibly just needing an Ibuprofen and a nap. His track “Craaazy” mashes up 90s pop munchkin Aaron Carter, the Vengaboys, and machine guns.

Trippy has recently been signed to Mad Decent imprint Jeffrees, a suggestion that there’s a place for this sort of music outside Soundcloud. The crew are associated with Cashmere Cat, too – who makes tracks that bounce from trap-heavy basslines to the kind of music you imagine J-Pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu listens to while her advisors apply her makeup.

I wanted to talk to Trippy Turtle to understand more about the scene but was told he doesn’t do interviews because he’s a turtle. Fair enough. So I spoke to an unnamed FoFoFadi board member instead.

Noisey: Hi unnamed person on the internet. What is the FoFoFadi and what does it mean?

FoFoFadi is a collective of creative animals working together on artistic projects. What it means is a philosophical question.

Where could this movement end up?

World peace.

Who are the prominent members of the crew?

Artists scheduled for musical releases at the moment are: Trippy Turtle - Cashmere Cat - Drippy Dolphin - Booty Beaver - Girly Gorilla - Faded Fox - Wasted Whale - Epileptic Elephant and Disco Duck.

The FoFoFadi crew are perhaps the biggest musical crew with animal names - but they’re not alone. With their rise has come an offshoot that call themselves the Pokecrew; a similar concept but rather than basing themselves on animals, they keep the late 90s Gameboy dream alive and create through the eyes of Pokémon. Led by artists like Bubbly Bulbasaur and Dope Diglett, the movement is still in its infancy but is every bit as intriguing as FoFoFadi.

One of pertinent things about the FoFoFadi movement is that the influence of cartoons, video games, and Japanese culture on today’s pop soundscape cannot be understated. Ryan Hemsworth – a self confessed Pokemon addict – has said his gigs are filled with “music nerds, people who are obsessed with video games and Pokemon, hot girls, and gay dudes”. Hemsworth frequently mixes ultra-pop with rap music (by way of Danny Brown and Yoshino Yoshikawa) and British producer SOPHIE is collaborating with the aforementioned Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. These collectives feel like the next step on from this.

The interesting thing about the FoFoFadi movement - and the other polarising scenes that've popped up over the past year, (the Sadboys and PC Music) - is that they inhabit their own universe. This is a good thing and important to their longevity. Pop music should be an escape from reality - whether that be Miley Cyrus straddling a giant dog with laser eyes, Katy Perry shooting whipped cream from her tits or, now, an animated turtle doing a remix of Ludacris. Pop stars are characters, and while we’re not saying that the FoFoFadi are quite up to Bowie or Prince levels of enigma, there’s a certain playfulness that lays within their heart.

This music is not for everyone – and at certain times I can’t bring myself to listen to yet another gunshot / Spice Girls mash-up. But at the end of the day I would rather spend five minutes with a cartoon beatmaker called Epileptic Elephant than have to hear a Clean Bandit song ever again. And, if nothing else, they’re having fun. Which is much more than you can say for alt-J or whatever other bunch of ‘real musicians’ you want to choose in 2014.

Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PatoMills

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