A: "Hey all - AAKAARA here. I’m a producer working within industrial techno, dark metal ambient (“angrient”, coined by a sweet boy named Tape Ghost), EBM, and power electronics. I am also an architectural designer and audiovisual artist, currently doing my Master’s of Architecture at the University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture, in the B-Pro Program."
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juuzgaamXXk A: "I have followed Zone since around 2012, after hearing Mikron’s first release (Zone 8 - Sink EP). The label’s output is so incredibly consistent; diverse but disarmingly powerful in its central attitude and motto: “No Introduction, No Conclusion, Just Substance.” The latest release from The Populists embodies that motto, conducting a triptych exercise in ultra-tight programming and clever, razor sharp hooks. “Pan-Pan” saunters forward with pure attitude, precision, slyness, and charm. The vocal gasps that come in at 3:03 (lol) literally breathe new life into the track halfway through and give it a certain cyborgian sultriness that evokes sweat, ice, and black leather."
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeV9eEh4ryQ A: "Jensen Interceptor has undoubtedly become a household name in electro now. In the flurry of 2018 releases, one stands above the rest for me: “Battery Assault”. The first 30 seconds set up a fantastic kick, and a perfectly metallic 606 short-room reverb snare pattern, but at around 0:28 the syncopated, sludgier kick with longer decay from distortion transforms a crisp electro palette into a lurching, genre-pushing track. The main riff is phenomenally menacing, and the call and response introduced at 2:05, along with the stratospheric reverb throw at 2:18 balance the track into perfection."
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V3NJmLllfQ A: "This is my favorite electro track of all time. It came out in 2015, and I had already been big fans of Mikron through their two releases on Zone (2012 - Zone 8 EP, 2014 - Zone 16: No Correlation), so naturally I was really looking forward to their first release on CPU. “Dry Sense II” is an absolute masterwork in sound design and song structure. The sonic palette ranges from the most distant icy winds to sinister ultra-fat electro bass staccatos, beautifully accented hi-hat programming. A swirling vortex of an interlude mid way through the track builds to a guttural call-and-response section punctuated by hard hitting electro drums and the main riff. The last minute and a half of the track engages a slow descent into a downtempo version of itself, sparse drums, winds, and staccato bass muscles the track forward into the tundra, where it disappears from sight. I have listened to this track nearly every day for the past 4 years, and I’m still completely obsessed with it."
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh2UCZEr5Ow
A: "Since becoming (quickly) obsessed with Perc Trax, I’ve scoured the roster and their discographies. In the past few years, a recent repeat-offender has featured on the label: Ghost In The Machine, a duo of DJs who primarily made and spun hardcore, but have an industrial techno project together. The production on “Hold My Drink” nothing short of alchemic- headbanging simplicity seamlessly masked through precise calibrations of complex kicks, noise, distant swells of melody, and masterful EQing. I’m fairly certain I walk at 134 BPM when I listen to it so I don’t ever need to go to the gym."
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oBz9tVTTsY A: "Last but not least, Tymon’s remix of Perc’s “Hyperlink”. The kick is the melody, the other layers are infrastructural- efficiently interlocking supports in service of that kick. Tymon’s ability to devastate is matched only by Perc’s ability to construct a relentless yet fresh structure, ready to be remixed. Clever kick syncopations, EQ cuts, and filter switchups all propel the chainsaw masterwork farther and farther into the depths of hell."
Keep up to date with AAKAARA's music by following him on SoundCloud.