Electronic Corner

Having gone on a journey of self-inquiry and discovery, one thing led to another and I found: Makossiri, and when I found Makossiri’s HÖR Berlin set online, I kinda flipped out, danced it out and listened to their set a million and one times over the past few months, it is so compelling: (https://soundcloud.com/bananapuddingrecords/femmedecks-x-hoer-berlin-08-3), which is a knock-yer-socks-off kinda set, and right up my Electronic Ally.

To me, Makossiri’s music feels composed, and intentionally sonically dense. And also a conversation between elements, rhythms and instruments. I find this to be more rare in electronic music outside of the ambient and now Euro-dub genres, than were these patterns to be played in say, an orchestra or tribal traditional drum circles. But that is what I think though, that MAKOSSIRI has an EP out, and off it the song Pepea is my new fave song, and of all the high production value tracks, it really stood out in the HÖR Berlin set MAKOSSIRI did for FEMME DECKS. I mean like along with the bass drum and other elements, it is Hardcore that is really balanced and listenable. Each time I listen, I hear new polyrhythms to understand how they affect the nuances of the way the instruments work together. To say it is tribal is simplistic, in reality MAKOSSIRI takes tradition and evolves it as a living, breathing artform, and for the curious, go read a featured article in this zine, where I get to interview them. That was fun!

I guess I can let it be known that my goal for Azarakh in 2025 is to continue to have local talent featured but also to highlight at least one person, from out of the region in residence currently. I intend on doing this to provide some perspective to our current worldview and more truly be globally minded and join a cadre of committed citizens of the world. People make the world a better place through the creation of, and the appreciation of, electronic music.

Nowadays, some electronic music has an orchestral way, and even classically trained musicians are making it. And as a whole to me it conveys the interplay between sounds, timing, and instruments. This reminds us humans that we create the world at the same time, we are in creation, an actively evolving consciousness and matter combination. Or in the words of Bruce Willis in one of the most iconic Sci-Fi Hollywood Blockbusters of all time, The Fifth Element, ‘I am a meat popsicle.’

I think about music like most things, a layering of things. In order to create a full experience, awareness and perception, for me, I see life as it comes, in waves, and the layering of experiences, sounds, actions, anything. Each instrument or voice is a layer, like a channel is the way I guess a sound engineer or producer would say. I have a 3D mind map of the vibrations the sounds make when I hear them, and in my visualization I can see colors and waves of light in different spectrums. Never tried before to articulate HOW I envision music, but there you have it, I create a mental 'picture' of what the sound makes me feel and see in my inner eye.

I hope that conveys some of the admiration I have for the DJ's interviewed in Azarakh, my love of music, and my passion for listening to it deeply, with or without lasers.

Boozedrome, I will go into this now, what it is, and how I began researching it by going down the rabbit hole of a lifetime. My childhood was spent on old computers, which back then, were new to the public market. I grew up with all kinds of computer hardware and technology, playing games by loading them onto a unix mainframe the way other kids turn on a tv.

Which is to say, WHY, I went bonkers to find out there is a global community of people who focus on music made with archaic computing technology, but the efficiant use of file space and programming software to make it - people who do this are in the Demoscene, and the pinnacle of these festival/gatherings is Assembly in Helsinki, Finland. Outside of this, in the hills outside of town, is the Boozedrome Compo. Boozedrome features Tracker Music, and has a RIDICULOUSLY low file size for songs that are submitted, like 2 MB!!!! Yes, you read that right, for a song up to 3 minutes long and up to eight channels, no more, at least not on the most common software tools and hardware mods for old Amiga’s, even Commodore. Impressive to say the least. A blast from the past in hardware, fresh to my ears and amazing in its complexity and musical dexterity, oh and with TONS of decay and messed up sound effects that sound lovely to my ear. Oh and the samples are fun, funny, and totally quirky.

Made using Amiga’s and Tracker software, Amigacore is my new fave genre. Is a technological and older processing technology that still sounds up to the (bpm) minute. The people who coagulate around this type of music are part of a Demoscene, a community of graphic visual artists who make demo’s for abstract art generated on the same old computers, and have file size restrictions based on old hardware. “The demoscene shares deep ties with tracker music and the hardcore music genre, especially in how they push the boundaries of audio production and innovation in underground communities”, as defined online. Few people know of my decade spent in tech, and childhood raised in and around computer labs. My mom is a graphic and visual artist/photographer who not only paid her way through grad school doing photography, but was also a single parent with a young kid in tow (me). She literally took me everywhere, and also managed to be a politically minded person with a way of working that utilized her keen eye for using tech efficiently and presenting the world with an amazing and creative output Some images of her original Amiga-created art are included with this article. Needless to say, my mother commands respect, as her keen insight is rapier sharp.

Files at the time she made them were so large on the late eighties’ Amiga computers - that there was no way to save and store the working files for these pictures, so the photos you see are all that remain. And now they have come full circle and are digital again after being printed then scanned, lol. On that note, I have been computer savvy my whole life so this Amigacore, it is everything I want from my music today, because it is old, and new at the same time. Because I never really explored Noisecore or Gabber, and it is a current curiosity of mine seen through the lens of the Demoscene and Amigacore, is in my idea the next step of my musical journey, which is to learn more about this Protracker and its’ use. By making music utilizing old hardware and software, one embodies all the ‘flavor’ of the past and creatively applies it to the current moment.

The brain, or at least mine, moves me to want to travel the musical world, and go to places like Boozedrome, who’s in? Well you are in luck! They are having a virtual Boozedrome this coming February, online on their You Tube website, go here for details. February 22, 2025, at 2 PM EEST (3 AM PST). Go here for details: https://www.youtube.com/@dekadencedemo

What is Tracker music and why is it so ridiculously awesome you ask? WELL! It is brilliant because file sizes are ridiculously small and that plus the efficient use of both sounds and storage space plus ways to modulate sounds using the most basic of computer programs. In other words, geekery for the likes of me, and about .01% of techno lovers world-wide. The definition of the software: “'ProTracker' is a popular music tracker to sequence music on a Commodore Amiga machine.”

Helsinki, Finland - Boozedrome VII, here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1L_623Plq-I. And also recorded by the Internet Podcast ‘Electric Byways’ (shout out to fellow hardcore lover Tuomas!) His participant’s view of the Boozedrome VII Compo is here: https://youtu.be/xx8baFvbr2M.

I love these places where types of music that are unique and out of the public eye have evolved into a fascinating subgenre of old people who remember the tech the first time around, and younger folks who have a sincere appreciation for electronic hardware from past era’s, even, (gasp!) from the dawn of personal computing. There, artists, fans, and producers gather, and compare (sound;) notes. Then they have a contest for the best song!

Originally, the Makossiri x Electric Byway interview (YouTube: https://youtu.be/m4wS5HUY5-k) led me to a Finnish festival in the hills outside their annual computer arts conference in Helsinki annually. Now this group of hardcore and gabber lovers relish on old school technology and a whopping 8 channels of sound from samples or files, and make tracks built out on old hardware such as the Amiga 500 and 1200.

Speaking of old technology, my fave new Amigacore music producer KONEY makes a song called OLD TECHNOLOGY. He is from Venice, Italy, and is kind enough to put this awesome track on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZFSq4OjZIYI so you can see the Tracker software running on an old Amiga computer AND he gives away his music online: http://www.koney.org/content-13/downloads.html. Check him out at http://www.koney.org/.

Stay tuned for more Amiga related news in my life as I set out to delve deep into this genre. For the absolute dork, here is the Ultimate Amiga Computer Talk: rahra: The Ultimate Amiga 500 TalkYouTube · media.ccc.de Dec 27, 2015.

And also for the deep-diver who wants to learn ProTracker or an emulator on Mac or PC or even on original hardware, a tutorial: https://youtu.be/S1yE2qL8UcY. And the ProTracker Emulator Software: ProTracker 2 (v2.3D) clone16-bits.org https://16-bits.org › … or the web version online, Bassoon Tracker! http://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/

I will state that in older goth, synthwave, industrial, and punk - all had similar ethos, of pain and suffering seen through the lens of music that has subtle or shocking impact. Strong sounds, heavy bass, loud music full of softer soothing sounds offset by chaos. That is how I would describe hardcore to the uninitiated, and you have to be into polyrhythms to enjoy it.

Ayouni, and Ishkur, Sairé and Sylon - each add to the discussion of Darkwave and Dark Techno: Ayouni’s Soundcloud artist’s profile: https://on.soundcloud.com/UckEteb5uUxTxzYp8. And Ishkur (yes of Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music - https://music.ishkur.com/) is also on the train to Darkville, with his mix Darkwave Depression here: darkwave-depression (Mixcloud). Sairé’s Dark and Dirty Techno set here: https://on.soundcloud.com/AjCNiJ2AbcrPmVkg8. Sylon - Hard hitting music by a German producer. Intense and moody - with melodic and minimal within atmospheric techno: https://soundcloud.com/user-806830881

~Aryana Farsai

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