CFCF

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CFCF is the moniker of Mike Silver, an indie electronic producer from Montreal, Canada, who established himself as an inventive remixer before making his commercial production debut in 2008. A self-taught musician, Silver's style has evolved and matured throughout the years, ranging from his earliest hip-hop production experiments to chiptunes, progressing to the Balearic disco of debut full-length Continent (2009) and ambient/new age explorations like 2015's The Colours of Life. Throughout much of his work during the 2010s, Silver has exhibited a sincere appreciation for "uncool" genres such as soft rock and smooth jazz. He is also co-credited with developing the concept of "night bus," an Internet-spawned movement that encompasses feelings rather than specific genres of music. CFCF was nominated for Best Remixed Recording at the 2015 Grammy Awards, for his remix of <a href="spotify:artist:2VZNmg4vCnew4Pavo8zDdW">Max Richter</a>'s "Berlin by Overnight." His subsequent work has explored his formative influences, with 2019's Liquid Colours re-creating the commercial side of atmospheric drum'n'bass and 2021's Memoryland evoking several styles of electronica and alternative rock. A music-maker since age 12, Silver first made a name for himself as CFCF with a series of unofficial remixes in 2007 that included <a href="spotify:artist:7K3zpFXBvPcvzhj7zlGJdO">Crystal Castles</a>' "Air War," <a href="spotify:artist:1gR0gsQYfi6joyO1dlp76N">Justice</a>'s "Phantom," and <a href="spotify:artist:27FGXRNruFoOdf1vP8dqcH">Cassie</a>'s "Me & U." These bootleg remixes circulated exclusively online, and their popularity led to a series of commercially available remixes in 2008 that included <a href="spotify:artist:6FfjnGXMhxSsJTuGLWBDth">Health</a>'s "Triceratops," <a href="spotify:artist:0Guuvi7P0R6ZuX2DeL1m9M">Sally Shapiro</a>'s "Time to Let Go," and <a href="spotify:artist:3iW3xACztLZanYgwCXSYAx">Heartsrevolution</a>'s "Choose Your Own Adventure." Having established himself sufficiently as an inventive remixer, Silver made his production debut as CFCF in 2009 with a 7" single on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ac%C3%A9phale%22">Acéphale</a> label, You Hear Colours. Limited to 500 copies on white vinyl, You Hear Colours was widely circulated in the music blogosphere and drummed up plenty of anticipation for Panesian Nights (2009), a video game-inspired seven-track EP released on the fashionable Toronto-based label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Paper+Bag+Records%22">Paper Bag Records</a>. One of the EP's tracks, "The Explorers," was remade with guest vocals by <a href="spotify:artist:0Guuvi7P0R6ZuX2DeL1m9M">Sally Shapiro</a> and released as a four-track single. CFCF's first full-length album, Continent, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Paper+Bag%22">Paper Bag</a> in November of that same year. The record was a remarkably mature effort, distilling Silver's many influences (including Italo-disco, piano house, <a href="spotify:artist:08GQAI4eElDnROBrJRGE0X">Fleetwood Mac</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:39x9e2QDpAxK8xTuJDwRqR">Junior Boys</a>) into a cohesive, expressive sound. This was followed by Drifts, a six-track remix EP featuring Continent tracks reworked by <a href="spotify:artist:39x9e2QDpAxK8xTuJDwRqR">Junior Boys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0T1n7Qbe4vwYIu42mB6qXe">Memoryhouse</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5xfJLyvC5UElVSiMuLt1ss">Young Galaxy</a> (whose former drummer Andrea Silver is Mike's sister), and others. In 2010, CFCF began garnering attention for his innovative online mixtapes that seamlessly blended numerous genres of music (from melancholic R&B and hip-hop to ambient and Krautrock to soft rock), particularly Do U Like Night Bus?, one of the defining mixes of the moody "night bus" genre. His original music began to shift further away from dance music, with influences such as <a href="spotify:artist:1tcgfoMTT1szjUeaikxRjA">Ryuichi Sakamoto</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7Fo8TAyGJr4VmhE68QamMf">Talk Talk</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2oyWkw7sq99yqj12hVUHtw">David Sylvian</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7C4sUpWGlTy7IANjruj02I">Peter Gabriel</a> playing a major part in shaping his sound. New York City-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rvng+Intl.%22">Rvng Intl.</a> released The River, an EP heavily inspired by <a href="spotify:artist:5zeiqAaIiDrjiDch33A2lT">Popol Vuh</a>'s scores for Werner Herzog's films. CFCF also issued a more house/garage-influenced EP, Cometrue, on the New York-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22UNO%22">UNO</a> label in 2011. In 2012, Silver launched a series of EPs that aimed to explore "the lighter side of our relationship with our surroundings." The health-minded Exercises (which featured a <a href="spotify:artist:2oyWkw7sq99yqj12hVUHtw">David Sylvian</a> cover) introduced the series that year, with Music for Objects following in 2013. Silver took a different tack on his second full-length, Outside; arriving in October 2013, the album featured more atmospheric tracks dominated by vocals. Silver declared the "death of night bus" with his Night Bus 3 mix, released online toward the end of 2014. Surprisingly, his remix of <a href="spotify:artist:2VZNmg4vCnew4Pavo8zDdW">Max Richter</a>'s "Berlin by Overnight" was nominated for Best Remixed Recording at the 2015 Grammy Awards. In late July 2015, CFCF released Radiance & Submission, an LP inspired by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Windham+Hill%22">Windham Hill</a> artists such as <a href="spotify:artist:3IqoFUpoJi1qvebL8Vi2aK">Michael Hedges</a>, on Spanish label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Driftless+Recordings%22">Driftless Recordings</a>. Two weeks later, the Canadian label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%221080p%22">1080p</a> released The Colours of Life, a more synth pop-influenced CFCF album that was recorded in 2011. The more acoustic On Vacation appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22International+Feel%22">International Feel</a> in 2016. In 2017, CFCF collaborated with Montreal-based pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2uHlq6ERoXk8dqRZmq2OEr">Jean-Michel Blais</a> on an EP titled Cascades. Released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Arts+%26+Crafts%22">Arts & Crafts</a>, the set included an interpretation of <a href="spotify:artist:1Z3fF5lZdCM0ZHugkGoH8s">John Cage</a>'s "In a Landscape." Self Service, a three-song EP of lush, atmospheric dance tracks, was issued by SOBO in 2018. Liquid Colours, a continuous suite of ambient jungle tracks, was released through Silver's own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BGM+Solutions%22">BGM Solutions</a> imprint in 2019. Memoryland, which arrived in 2021, channeled many of Silver's early influences, from <a href="spotify:artist:1PXHzxRDiLnjqNrRn2Xbsa">Underworld</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4YrKBkKSVeqDamzBPWVnSJ">Basement Jaxx</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:40Yq4vzPs9VNUrIBG5Jr2i">Smashing Pumpkins</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5UqTO8smerMvxHYA5xsXb6">Sonic Youth</a>. Memoryland Enhanced, its 2022 companion release, consisted of remixes, alternate versions, and additional tracks. ~ Jason Birchmeier & Paul Simpson, Rovi