Wallpaper to release Doodoo Face

This summer has been the hottest on record for Oakland's club destroyers, Wallpaper. Following the remix of Das Racist's "Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell" (which Pitchfork and Village Voice both proclaimed the "Summer Jam of '09"), and a wildly controversial mashup of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and "Death of Autotune" that RCRDLBL heralded "dadaist genius" and MTV News declared "an instant favorite," its safe to say there are no signs of cooling down.

With the days growing long and the nights even longer, Wallpaper. has found themselves at the heart of another summer track, this time a collaboration with Jacob Safari of The Mae Shi and Kid Static from Chicago. "Me and Jacob from The Mae Shi had been playing grab ass for a few months about collaborating on some music.

So he finally sent me this freaky glitch reggaeton thing. I was in the studio late on a Saturday night chalk full of Red Bull and self loathing, wishing I was on top of the Standard Hotel LA gettin’ my ugly dude on. So I wrote 'Pool Party.'"

Wallpaper.'s debut LP Doodoo Face drops September 22nd.

Wallpaper tour dates
8.21 - THE CASBAH, SAN DIEGO
8.22 - BLOW UP LA 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (venue TBA)

Wallpaper biography
Partway through recording his debut LP as Wallpaper., Eric Frederic lost his shit. The Oakland artist was neck-deep in a series of isolated studio all-nighters to put him in the mood, when the song “Doodoo Face” pushed him into the beyond. Boxed in by layers of percussive funk, dark synthesizer blurt and crushing bass, Frederic lost himself inside of Ricky Reed, the character he’d long ago conceived as Wallpaper.’s frontman. He gave in to Ricky’s rampant narcissism, love for party and supreme indifference, and as a result, discovered the guiding duality behind Doodoo Face, the album: There’s sadness inside all that celebration. A little madness too.

When first we met Wallpaper. in 2005, the project was Frederic’s way of making earnest, artful music while satirizing the lack of genuine sentiment in mainstream pop. Then, the music was composed on computers and the lyrics were delivered strictly in Auto-Tune (almost unheard of at the time), further emphasizing the sterility of hackneyed song themes. In the four years since, as Wallpaper.’s become a genuine phenomenon via three well-loved EPs and an unforgettable live show, Auto-Tune has fittingly become one of the most widespread and maligned facets of modern radio. Frederic understands the subtlety of this point; Ricky Reed, who still modifies his voice, basks in such infamy.

At a certain point in the making of Doodoo Face, Frederic regained some sanity. He stopped trying to figure Ricky out, and focused his mental efforts on production. The music of Doodoo Face is a significant step forward for Wallpaper. As established by his recent “live-band remixes” for Passion Pit and Das Racist, Frederic’s become ace at merging the organic into the electronic. This time, the drums are live courtesy of band member Arjun Singh, Darondo sideman Brian Switzer plays trumpet, and Frederic’s own guitar graces many tracks. These are huge beats with infinite intricacy – the perfect tribute to Frederic’s oldest influences: P-Funk, Afrobeat, and the panoply of Bay Area rap. You’ll hear strains of Justice too, in the seething bass of “Celebrity,” and even Eno in the minimalist pop of “Fine GF.” Furthermore, “Frk Scn” not only features female vocals, but a distinct live Ghanaian rhythm known as “Ewe,” while on “Gettin’ Drip,” Frederic handcrafts his own “chipmunk soul” sample to accompany the chorus.

But one needn’t know any of this to “get” Wallpaper. Just as it thrives under scrutiny, Doodoo Face bangs at face value, and the record’s title is a reference to that: a contorted expression inspired by discovering something unbelievably funky. From the cavernous thump and honking sax of opener “Indecent” to the warped hyphy of “ddd” to “Doodoo Face” itself, this is dark, nasty, load-bearing booty funk of the Oakland house party variety. It’s the part of Wallpaper. that Frederic and his flashier alter ego almost see eye-to-eye on. Is it satire? Sincerity? Something in between? Doodoo Face invites you to decide.



"Doodoo Face" by Wallpaper - release date: 09/22/09..