Arling & Cameron are obsessively pan-eclectic. They are so post-everything that they're not even a band. After years of toiling in acclaimed obscurity providing mutant soundtracks to the lives of the hipper dance floors and denizens of this world, their solid songs have now officially entered global consciousness through extensive use in some mighty mass Media. They remain the Netherlands' pride and joy even though their latest release, Hi-Fi Underground, is their first album in five years. But as separate entities, Gerry and Richard remained highly productive. Both composed film and TV soundtracks--real ones and no longer imaginary ones. Gerry also collaborated with his brother on a multimedia theatre show for children and a website (www.gerryenharry.com). Meanwhile Richard, after recovering from a broken back, made an appropriately-titled singer/songwriter solo album, Back (for a listen go to www.mrandmrscameron.com). He also infiltrated the dance scene with Fluffy Target (www.fluffytarget.com), a collaboration with Achim Treu (ex- Dauerfish and Der Plan). Together with his wife Karin he formed the revolutionary playback act Terrorgruppe Schwarzenraben and released the highly acclaimed 7" 'Revolution/I'm o.k., you're o.k.¹ in 2005. And with Cowgum, Cameron partnered up with DJ Joost van Bellen to produce the singles 'Filthy and Raw' (released in 2005 with remixes by Larry Tee, Glimmers, Aardvark, Mark Verbos and many others) and 'Rollercoaster Rodeo' (to be released summer 2006 with remixes by, to begin with, by DJ's Are Not Rockstars). Interviews may suggest a conflict ridden relationship where songs erupt from the twanging tensions between conceptual artist Richard 'Ying' Cameron's DJ-tuned concerns with the 'now' and the impeccably trained musician Gerry 'Yang' Arling's ingrained respect for the sanctity of the genres they plunder. But in actual fact--as both beasts who like to show many faces--all distinctions blur once they are in their natural habitat of a studio where any friction dissolves into an exhilarating fusion of two unique pop sensibilities. The magic was there from the beginning... Under the moniker of Popcorn (with Eddy de Clercq), they pumped out the infectiously perky 'Tap-moi-la!' (1994) single and the Stereo Showcase (1995) album which both oozed an already refined savvy at fusing the past and the present into a soothing yet hip-grinding vision of the future-one that harmonized nicely with the clubpop scene then erupting in Tokyo. Their official debut as a duo, the All-in (1997) album, showed them absorbing yet more genres and beats into their pan-eclectic approach. With acclaim followed a flurry of international collaborations with the honorable likes of cartoonist/illustrator Joost Swaart, Brazilian musical royalty Bebel Gilberto, and such Japanese kindred spirits as Pizzicato Five and Cornelius. Further momentum was gained when 'Bachelor Pad', a song which Cameron recorded with Fantastic Plastic Machine, was employed for arch effect in the film and trailer of Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me. Both Hollywood and the advertising world began to regard the All-in album as a rich treasure trove of tunes that they could plunder for such movies as Gun Shy (with Sandra Bullock and Liam Neeson) and such commercials as for GapKids, Acura, Fujitsu, Audi, Samsung and many others. Other All-in compositions filtered into prime time via such television drama series as Popular (Warner Channel), and Sopranos (HBO). And this is an abridged list... Their next project, Music for Imaginary Films (2000), was a true Œconcept¹ album where not only the music but the whole presentation, that included film posters and extensive liner notes, worked to re-invent the history of film soundtrack music. While not being anal about authenticity, they composed each track as a theme song meant to evoke a recognizable film 'type'--may it be Sci-Fi, Musical, Psychological, Documentary, Bollywood or Nouvellevaguexploitation. The lush orchestration reflected Arling's growing prowess as arranger. As direct result of this project, Arling & Cameron won the prestigious Dutch 'Big Pop Prize' and were commissioned by the American SciFi channel to write the original score for their 12-part Sciography documentary. Arling & Cameron's next full-length release--and official follow-up to the All-in album--was called We are A&C (2001) and saw them continuing down their self-honed path of wild pan-eclecticism. As part of this project, they commissioned the programming of virtual versions of themselves, AC/3D, in the hopes of eventually liberating themselves from some of the more tedious tasks associated with a music career (photo shoots, touring, interviews, writing hit singles...). Employing AI's bleeding edge of self-learning and pattern-recognition applications, AC/3D were designed as cyber-savants wired to absorb--and play with--all things musical. They were born to rock and had a potential that seemed limitless. But before AC/3D proved more successful that their humanoid prototypes, reality hit and five years passed. And now it's all about keeping it real--and the real story is now called Hi-Fi Underground. Steve Korver