This music profile is a particular favourite: Dicepeople is a progressive audiovisual collaboration between Matt Brock and Rafael Filomeno. Brock plays and produces the music, and Rafael is the visual artist.
Dicepeople was originally set up in London, UK in the mid 1990s as an electronic side project when Brock was more heavily involved with industrial acts Noise Union and Replikator. In 2008, however, Brock transformed Dicepeople into his primary musical project and, with it, aimed to go beyond pure electronic music.
Dicepeople – Promo video from Dicepeople on Vimeo.
The tagline for Dicepeople is “dark electronica for the body and mind” because the aim is to create music which combines driving beats with evocative and emotionally engaging harmonies and melodies. The music has an electronic foundation with industrial and EBM components, and it mixes real instruments and voices with synthesisers to add cinematic depth and intensity.
Rafael joined in 2013 as a visual artist to take Dicepeople forward into the audiovisual realm that was always intended for it. The epic, visceral visuals produced by Rafael perfectly complement the powerful filmic soundscapes from Brock.
Dicepeople were nominated for consideration for the 2014 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition shortlist by the judge Mark Muldoon, who said: “I’m nominating this dark electro-gothy outfit mainly for their full Soundcloud collection of 19 songs; there’s a remarkably high standard being maintained here”.
Dicepeople are currently working on a new studio album which will be released shortly.
The name “Dicepeople” is taken from the book The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart, and the comparison to diceliving is reflected in the wide range of influences and schizophrenic moments found in the music and visuals. Dicepeople recordings and performances incorporate a large variety of styles and genres; but the mood, intensity and dark atmosphere provide the necessary coherence and consistency to bind them together.
Dicepeople influences cover a very broad range of musicians, filmmakers and visionaries including Art of Noise, Black Sabbath, Can, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Depeche Mode, The Doors, Front 242, The Future Sound of London, Hoodlum Priest, John Barry, John Carpenter, KMFDM, Marshall McLuhan, Massive Attack, Mike Figgis, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Nine Inch Nails, Oliver Stone, Pink Floyd, The Prodigy, Quentin Tarantino, Siouxsie Sioux, Tangerine Dream and Underworld.