Prince Rama at the Cobalt, Vancouver, April 2 2016. Kirk Chantraine photo.

Photos - Prince Rama at the Cobalt, Vancouver, April 2 2016

– photos by Kirk Chantraine

Prince Rama on tour in Vancouver for their new album Xtreme Now. The album is out on Carpark Records and features the single “Bahia“. Captured Tracks artist Dinner, aka Danish producer and singer Anders Rhedin, opened the show, playing tracks from his new album Psychic Lovers.

The Brooklyn psych-dance duo is comprised of sisters Taraka and Niami Larson. Joining the sisters on tour is Ryan Sciaino on guitar.

According to a media release, “Xtreme Now is an album themed around extreme sports; its adrenaline-high songs reflect what it’s like to dance on the edge of mortality.” To back this up, the band is selling its own energy drink (100% PURE XTREME NOW NRG, according to the Prince Rama Facebook page) along with records and CDs on the tour.

According to another media release, “Writing for Xtreme Now began while the Larson sisters were living on a black metal utopian commune on VÈ«rmsi, a remote island off the coast of Estonia during the summer of 2012. There, Taraka had a near death experience inside an ancient Viking ruin which sparked a recurring sense of time-schizophrenia, or the physical sensation of existing in multiple time periods simultaneously. In this case, she experienced a joint-existence in both the medieval ages and the year 2067. In one of her prophetic visions she describes, ‘In the year 2067, I witnessed an aesthetic landscape where art museums are sponsored by energy drink beverages and beauty is determined by speed. I saw a vision of ancient tapestries stretched across half-pipes and people base-jumping off planes with the Mona Lisa smiling up from their parachutes. I saw art merge with extreme sports to form a new aesthetic language of “Speed Art.” I realized that time travel was possible via the gateway of extreme sports, and I wanted to make music that would provide the score.'”

On the Prince Rama Wiki page, the group is described as “a two-piece ‘now age’ psych-dance band based in Brooklyn, New York” and says that it was “discovered by Animal Collective‘s Avey Tare in a Texas dive bar in 2010.”

Prince Rama have released six albums since 2008’s Threshold Dances.

Critical response:

“Of all the genre experiments Prince Rama has dove into over the years, their latest move in ‘Bahia’ is refreshingly relatable. While they claim to be pushing towards a sped-up future in Xtreme Now, ‘Bahia’ is a clever homage to their pop predecessors.” – Pitchfork

“Buoyant and electrifying.” – Interview

“[‘Bahia’] is a major twist on the adrenaline junkie aesthetic; synthesizers blare over drum pads as Taraka does a airy call-in-response with screwed vocals. This isn’t the soundtrack to the X Games; it’s an introduction to Prince Rama’s prophesied future.” – Consequence of Sound

“[S]howcase[s] their intuitive grasp of self-aware pop-sensibilities and knack for crafting psychedelic bangers.” – AdHoc

“Prince Rama’s new album, Xtreme Now, is a lot of fun, ranging from fizzy dancepop, to punky rockers, to swaying arms anthems. All of it’s got Prince Rama’s pixie dust on it (it might just be glitter)…. Slip Into Nevermore”… sounds like something from an ’80s fantasy film where flowing-haired maidens ride horseback, racing across a rocky coastline.” – Brooklyn Vegan

“[‘Bahia’] pops immediately into the air and pulls off a few strange twists, going from ski-movie score to disco groove to early-’90s jock jam in a seamless run. With the Point Break remake on the horizon, 2016 just may be the year we all start wearing day glo again.” – Flood

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