seen from Russia
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#133 / DYNOMAN
BIZAARBAZAAR · #133/ DYNOMAN Tracklist: Dynoman - Beams Dynoman - Encrypted Dynoman - Suspended Animation Dynoman - Never Ending Dynoman - Faded Signal Dynoman - Secure Link Dynoman - Unreleased Dynoman - Total Mind Control Dynoman - Unreleased Dynoman - Unreleased Dynoman - Unreleased Dynoman - Amplified Connection Dynoman - Grounded Self Dynoman - Unreleased Dynoman -…
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PREMIERE: DYNOMAN - DEPLOY
PREMIERE: DYNOMAN – DEPLOY
Artwork by Sidra Ahmed
written by: @dynoman release date: June 18th, 2020 label: self released mastered by: @dj-swisha link: dynoman.bandcamp.com/album/resume-transmi…
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Bilal Nasir Khan (aka Rudoh / BNK)
Karachi label Forever South is one of our favourite imprints around right now, and having featured Dynoman last month, we now want to draw your attention towards his FXS co-founder Rudoh (real name Bilal Nasir Khan).
With a sound informed by the jazzy sounds of the LA beat scene and his own background as a drummer, Rudoh has recently been uploading tracks tagged with a new moniker based on his initials, BNK. One of our favourite cuts from this fresh material is ‘anti-toxic people repellent’ – something we could all do with on occasion, especially when it sounds like this…
Keep your eye on Bilal’s SoundCloud for more BNK-flavoured treats…
Dynoman
Co-founder of Pakistan’s Foreversouth collective, who played a key part in the Karachi Files project we covered last year, Haamid ‘Dynoman’ Rahim is now enjoying post-grad life in New York while maintaining his musical production line.
Rahim is now a resident DJ on New York internet station Halfmoon BK. Every first and third Wednesday of the month from 19:00-21:00 Eastern Time USA he’ll be bringing listeners a range of euphoric and funky house. For those of you who don’t typically head out on a midweek night, the mixes will be uploaded to Halfmoon BK’s Mixcloud stream. Check out the latest one below.
Photo: Humayun M.
Exploring the Karachi Files
“We’re going to play some musical sounds, some sound sounds, some human sounds, some organic analogue sounds, and some digital sounds,” so Gebrüder Teichmann (formed of Andi and Hannes Teichmann) introduce their performance session in Karachi from mid-2015. Recorded during a period where a handful of European artists travelled to Pakistan’s most populous city to collaborate with internationally under-celebrated local talent, it’s also the most direct description of the resulting album, this year’s subtly effective Karachi Files.
The Berlin-based brothers have been involved in the German capital’s electronic music scene since the late 90s, having originally formed a punk band in their pre-teens around the time of the fall of the Wall. As they explained to me:
“We grew up in times when Berlin still was a playground for an improvised DIY scene. Clubs occupied temporary spaces and moved from one place to the other. Music tried to push borders as well. One thing that many people of the early days say about the scene is that it was the first space where young people from east and west Germany met and created something together. A lot of our inspiration comes from that and we tried to scale it with this project [Soundcamp], onto a global level. We see a strong energy and need to unite people.” They explain this need both as an attempt to soften effects of divide and rule from political and economic factors, alongside a continued effort to add old-school spontaneity against a backdrop of “globally franchised culture and entertainment.”
Musically the record is the sum of its parts; elements of leftfield electronica are apparent in the use of atmosphere-building samples, while squeals of experimental wizardry add sirens of colour to the otherwise minimalist aesthetic. The more visceral element of dance music – direct from the club environment – intermittently weaves its way into the audio landscapes. The record creates intensive atmospheres which eventually give way to heartfelt vocals and splashes of euphoria.
Steady beats pulsate in groove-orientated highlights such as ‘Good Morning Karachi’ (a track from Taprikk Sweezee, Gebr. Teichmann, Natasha Humera and Rudoh, that namechecks a 2012 Pakistan-produced feature film). Penultimate track ‘Pablos Jam’ comes courtesy of the Karachi-based Tollcrane, Maldivian producer Menimal and Pablo Lauf, the Berlin photographer who took the portrait that forms the cover art for the release (his photo series from the trip is available for viewing via Instagram).
Gebr. Teichmann initiated the project alongside the Goethe Institute for the inaugural 2012 ‘Soundcamp’ in Sri Lanka. Initially blocked from working in Pakistan at all, they were interested in finding a creative scene to work with in the country, even after a few disheartening warnings that electronic music just doesn’t exist there. They eventually met Amman Mushtaq (aka SMAX) online, and from there discovered the hip-hop and sampling-inspired scene in the city.
Haamid Rahim, who performs under the Dynoman pseudonym, is one of the Karachi producers who was involved in the project. Enterprises such as these, where artists from European cities travel to locations further East (on the map) to sample or work with local artists, are regularly met with claims of gentrification and/or profiteering. I asked Rahim what his thoughts on best practice in these scenarios are, namely how to make collaborative projects non-exploitative:
“The essence of true collaboration would be for the music to tell a story, especially in a cross-cultural sense. The Karachi Files embodies this perfectly and is the perfect example of cross border collaboration in my opinion. This is because we had a house full of Europeans living in Karachi like Karachites, eating Karachi Sindhi food, visiting markets, eating at local restaurants, hearing the sound of the street, feeling our problems, experiencing power cuts that could last six hours a time, experiencing carnage – they were here during the Safoora Goth Massacre – and truly feeling the city.”
rRoxymore is a French producer and DJ who’s now based in Berlin and appears throughout the Files. “Before getting there I was a bit nervous to be honest. I mean spending two weeks with ten people that you don’t know […] it could be magical but also could have been not so easy,” she says, ”but the magic happened, we got along on a human level, and even better we managed to meet through the music.”
“One of the first places we were shown in Karachi was The Second Floor 2TF. It is a small project space, coffee and bookshop,” Gebr. Teichmann continues, “the founder Sabeen Mahmoud played a focal role for the local art and music scene as well as for political and social discussion as she provided space and supported a free thinking scene in Karachi. The Forever South Crew planned a Jam session for welcoming all Soundcamp musicians there, but one week before we arrived in Karachi Sabeen was murdered, after hosting a discussion about Balochistan [a southwestern province of Pakistan]. That was a hard shock for all. At first none of the Karachi musicians wanted to talk about it, but during our time together at the Soundcamp they slowly opened up to talk about the situation in Pakistan. Those intense talks are definitely an integral part of a Soundcamp.”
The relationship between art and society is constantly up for debate and the view that art can be used to instigate change seems to be picking up support again. The Teichmann brothers have been focusing on socially conscious projects for more than a decade now, and Berlin in general has an eye on internationalist projects, notably through the likes of the CTM Festival. “Art and music have, in my opinion, strong responsibilities with challenging dogmas in the society and also in their respective fields,” says rRoxymore. Teichmann explains, “we’ve always been fascinated about club culture as a link; where artists, musicians, social communities meet and create common spaces. A place for experiments, new ideas, but at the same time a place for fun.”
For Karachi, the emergence of electronic music may be more a sign of the times than an instigator of them. Rahim first started the Forever South collective alongside Bilal Nasir Khan (Rudoh) and Talha Asim Wynne (Tollcrane) after conversations with them via Facebook. These producers are heavily influenced by hip-hop’s sampling techniques. The technique of reusing sounds continues to empower artists who may not have access to more traditional means of recording and producing, over forty years since the idea was first devised. As Rahim explains, “it allows a generation to tell their story derived from inspiration from the past.”
Since the Forever South group first emerged, Pakistan has found itself with many more small, collectivised creative networks working on various projects. Forever South themselves have now collaborated with countless other groups and individuals from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. I asked Rahim about the atmosphere in Karachi and the current artistic scene:
“It can be extremely frustrating as you really have to work the ‘system’, especially as a musician, and learn that friends you went to highschool with have such bigoted views of the world you just don’t understand how you went through the same socialisation system. However, I have a lot of love for Karachi and think of it as an amazing place, making me the person I am today, allowing me to express myself as a musician, I would be nowhere without it […] Karachi breeds collaboration. Karachi has a lot to offer and lots of secrets.”
Over twenty local artists and musicians assisted with ‘Karachi Bound’, a 2014 event which he cites as one of the city’s most memorable, and spaces such as Yousuf Bashir Qureshi’s Commune Artist Colony continue to give room to the arts.
Currently, Berlin is in the throes of being one of the most popular destinations for party-goers. Gebr. Teichmann muse that “the situation changed in the last twenty years here in Berlin. Electronic music became a mainstream phenomena. There are only a few spaces left which really provide artistic freedom, most of the clubs are managed like any other business in the global market, the result is a lack of diversity, in the programming, but also in the crowd. Bookers want to be safe, no one is taking a risk.”
When I ask Rahim about his personal feelings to the current political situation in Pakistan, he replies with what also sounds like the perfect summation of the audible hour and a half the collective have put to tape: “you embrace the tension and get on with life.”
Words: Nicholas Burman Photos: Pablo Lauf
Experimental dance track for "Zunn: Showgirls of Pakistan" Check it out here: www.showgirlsofpakistan.com Help fund us here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/zunn-showgirls-of-pakistan
TOP UNDERGROUND BANDS IN PAKISTAN
Top 6 underground bands in #Pakistan - #Music #Underground
At SiddySays, when we decide to write about music, we have two choices…. Do our research and spend hours online OR make a phone call to our resident music guru Ujay. When we wanted to compile a list of the top underground bands in Pakistan, we did exactly the same… take the easier, simpler route and reach out to the man behind most of the playlists in our lives.
Here is UJay’s list of the Top…
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Mouse on Mars - Spezmodia
Spent a lot of time with Idiology when it came out but never really felt like they had anything to say since. Says a guy who creates nothing. But this sampler is strong. Not willfully weird, but certainly not straight up club music nor a rote electronic sub-genre exercise either. I'm super intrigued. Oh yeah, it's Modeselektor approved...on Monkeytown Records.
Ryan Hemsworth does his thing and it's once again glorious.
Props to Dummy for this find. Love how dude tries to stuff way too much in here, and it shouldn't work, but somehow it does.
