Hailing from Chicago and London, and now living in Heidelberg, Germany, dynamic duo Faded Ranger — Nick Maurer and Neville Attree — are on a mission to put their own personal stamp on electronic music. Meeting serendipitously while at a professional crossroads — Maurer once fronted Chicago’s Greenskeepers and Attree co-owned LoFi Stereo before launching Gumption Recordings in 2005 — they bonded as DJs, later deciding to take their chemistry into the studio to see what happens.
Faded Ranger’s sinewy debut single, “Be On The Lookout,” shows that their partnership is off to blazing start as they put the finishing touches on their forthcoming full-length debut, Mechanical Tonight. In addition to boasting a stylish music video for the tune, there’s also a spate of cracking remixes from the likes of Vincenzo, LOPAZZ & Willis Haltom and Ed Davenport.
We talked to the Rangers about their unusual moniker and exclusive Big Shot Guest Mix, of which they both forged their own deliriously funky and highly personalized sets.
Faded Ranger’s “Be On The Lookout” is out now on hfn music.
Big Shot Guest Mix: Neville Attree of Faded Ranger by Big Shot Magazine on Mixcloud
Big Shot Guest Mix: Neville Attree of Faded Ranger
1. Dobb Meep – Luca Lozano, Mr Ho (Disc Over Music)
2. Live at Palladium – Phil Weeks (Robsoul Recordings)
3. Hachinoko – Simian Mobile Disco, Roman Flugel (Deliacies 2013)
4. Little Helpers 24-1 – Lee Walker (Little Helpers)
5. QD – Hotel Lauer (Live At Robert Johnson)
6. Mission 1 – Split Secs (Kompakt)
7. Hoes before Bros (Genius of Time) – Michael & Mattis (Hivern Disc)
8. Deceive feat. Sune Rose Wagner (Trentemoller Club Mix) – Trentemoller (In My Room)
9. Ausio – John Roberts (Dial Records)
10. Sky (Scuba Remix) – Audion (Spectral Sound)
11. Trommer Og Bass – Andre Bratton (Correspondant)
12. Free Floating (Matt Walsh Remix) – Daniel Avery (Phantasy)
13. Why Go To War? – William Onyeabor, J D Twitch (Luaka)
Big Shot Guest Mix: Nick Maurer of Faded Ranger by Big Shot Magazine on Mixcloud
Big Shot Guest Mix: Nick Maurer of Faded Ranger
1. Tensnake feat. Syron – Mainline (Mainline Dub) – Defected
2. Sonny Fodera, Wally Callerio, Mikey V – Tell Me – Cajual Records
3. Panos & Sentenza, J. Expo – French 75 feat J. Expo – Off Recordings
4. Joey Negro Presents Jakatta – American Dream (Andre Crom & Chi Thanh Remix) – Z Records
5. Roland Nights – The Push (Tim Bareskoamp & Simon Joannson Remix) – U-Man Recordings
6. Copy Past Soul feat Jody Barr – Monday (Audiojack Remix) – Gruuv
7. Jacob Bech – Seconds Away – Large Music
8. Kevin Griffiths – Oh Yeah – Tsuba Records
9. Breach – Artis – Aus Music
10. Andi Rivera & Robert Owens – To Be A Lister – Deep8Recordings
11. Ejeca – Alone (David Jach Remix) – Moda Black
12. Faded Ranger – Be On The Lookout (Vincenzo Remix) – HFN Disco
What is a Faded Ranger?
Nick: [Laughs] Faded Ranger is a nickname I gave Nev a couple years ago. There’s a story behind it that includes some sports and drug references…so we’ll leave it alone for now. Somewhere along the line we decided to use it for the project. As far as band names go, I think it’s pretty damn cool.
Neville: …we’re also not as shiny as we used to be.
What inspired this mix?
Nick: Unless I get a request to go in a certain direction, new music is what inspires me. That’s what happened here, I went through my favorite tracks from the past couple of months and mixed them up with some older stuff. I also included new Faded Ranger material to insure that Big Shot followers are exposed to and infected by the FR virus.
Neville: Mine was inspired by a recent live showcase we did at Pik Dame in Frankfurt. It’s actually an old strip club with all the original red velvet fittings and loads of memorabilia on the walls. A great venue for a really great night. The mix is essentially a condensed version of the set I played before our live performance, which definitely got the place moving.
Summer is here. What are your plans?
Nick: As you might expect, Faded Ranger will be logging more than their fair share of studio time this summer. We already have new single material in the works, and we’ll start gathering ideas for the next Faded Ranger album. We’re also really excited about touring and supporting Mechanical Tonight, our first full length release on HFN Music. First things first though, we want to work on our table tennis skills. Nev’s got a serve that’s straight up illegal!
Any new releases in the pipeline?
Nick: Oh yeah! The “Be On The Lookout” Remixes (hafendisko) turned out really great and are already out on vinyl. The full digital release will be happening soon. We also got unbelievable remixes for our track “Get Together (Right Now)” from Charles Webster, Luke Solomon and Silky Raven. That’ll be released in a month or so. Other than that, I did a crazy track with Luke Solomon called “Acid Games” that’s coming out on his Classic label in July.
Neville: …not forgetting the Faded Ranger LP, which should see the light of day in October.
Any final thoughts?
Thanks for the feature and support! Hope all you Big Shots have a good summer.