Rainbow Arabia is an electronic duo based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

consisting of Future Pigeon and

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Danny Preston and Tiffany Preston. The married couple perform a brand of electronic music that combines elements of Arabic, North African, and Asian musical styles fused with American avant-garde dance pop. They released two EPs on

Manimal Vinyl Manimal Vinyl is a Los Angeles-based record label founded in 2006 by film/TV producer, composer and former fashion editor Paul Gebser-Beahan. History The label was started out of Beahan's living room in late 2006 in the historical Hancock Park ...

records since forming in early 2008: ''The Basta'' (2008) and ''Kabukimono'' (2009). They have also released the full-length album ''

Boys and Diamonds Boys and Diamonds is the debut studio album by husband-and-wife electronica duo Rainbow Arabia. It was released on German electronic record label Kompakt on February 28, 2011, and on March 1, 2011, in the United States. Critical reception ''Boys a ...

'' (2011) on the

Kompakt Kompakt ( Labelcode: LC 12012) is a Cologne-based electronic music independent record label and vinyl/CD distributor, owned by Wolfgang Voigt, Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape. They specialize in microhouse and minimal techno, and are known fo ...

label. Rainbow Arabia have toured the US with bands like

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and

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and played shows in Europe with

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and

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). ...

. They cite the label

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and Syrian singer

Omar Souleyman Omar Souleyman ( ar, عمر سليمان) is a Syrian Arab (Timestamp-Minute 1:00) Singer from the village of Ra's al-'Ayn near the Syria–Turkey border but grew up in the city of Tell Tamer. He started his career as a part-time wedding singer ...

as influences. Their

Kabukimono or were gangs of samurai in feudal Japan. First appearing in the Azuchi–Momoyama period (between the end of the Muromachi period in 1573 and the beginning of the Edo period in 1603) as the turbulent Sengoku period drew to a close, were e ...

EP found critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2011, Rainbow Arabia shifted their focus towards into more cosmic territory aligning with the venerable

Records who released their first full-length album Boys And Diamonds. In 2013, Rainbow Arabia return with their 2nd LP, FM Sushi, further expanding their cosmic sound by adding multi-instrumentalist Dylan Ryan (

Icy Demons Icy Demons is an experimental music project started by Bablicon's Griffin Rodriguez (credited as Blue Hawaii) and Man Man / Need New Body's Christopher Powell (Pow Pow). A project of various Chicago musicians, they have released three albums, ''Fi ...

, Sand) into the mix. Rainbow Arabia continue creating songs that are hard to describe but easy to love. In FM Sushi, they take a decidedly different direction for the group stripping away much of the tropical rhythms in favor exploring a more pulsing, immersive sound that combines krautrock's rolling synthscapes with their signature mercurial pop. The newest album, L.A. Heartbreak, is out Nov 11, 2016 on the Time No Place Label. This album is dreamy, melodic pop that takes cues from Tangerine Dream, OMD, Moroder and Jan Hammer - confidently painting with bolder strokes with leaner, brighter production and infectious hooks evoking 80s radio pop that skew more towards Madonna and Cyndi Lauper rather than darker post-punk influences referenced on Rainbow Arabia's earlier albums.

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (

, 2011) *'' FM Sushi'' ( Time No Place/

, 2013) *'' L.A. Heartbreak'' (

, 2016)

EPs

*''The Basta'' EP (

2008) *''Kabukimono'' EP (

2009)

External links

Official Rainbow Arabia Bandcamp siteTime No Place WebsiteRainbow Arabia Facebook

Rainbow Arabia 'FM Sushi' Pitchfork ReviewRainbow Arabia SoundcloudLA Times Article feat. Rainbow ArabiaRainbow Arabia Kompakt Page

References

{{Authority control Electronic music groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 2008