As the villainized child of Orgy and Nine Inch Nails, GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE nails the specific elements of 1990s drum & bass breaks, glitchy industrial beats and nu metal vocals, but this time around, the songs are governed by the intelligence of AI. We spoke with Baha about the project’s origins and songwriting processes, as well as the first live performance this winter.

How did you get the idea for GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE? 

It came to me in a morning journaling session about 3 years ago during covid but I sat on the name / idea for a while, although, It was always haunting me from the back of my mind to explore it further. It wasn’t until I started getting more interested in the increasingly alarming developments of AI last year and realised it actually embodied the new pieces of music I was writing and felt like the soundtrack to what I was discovering via AI. Being heavily influenced by wanting to develop futuristic sounds and delve into clashing genres, a soundtrack warning sign of the future.

I realised it was an apt vessel for the music which was already veering into a hyper-punk, cyber wave-drum&bass direction. I then workshopped the concept further in my journal writing sessions, basically writing a developed story line to what I think the album would hopefully sound like.

The story of GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE unfolds as a sci-fi cyberpunk concept project inhabiting dual timelines. In one, we glimpse a trans-humanist future where human consciousness exists as intricate sequences of binary code, entwined and controlled by omnipresent AI systems. In this coded future, a profound awakening stirs among a select few who manage to mutate the code they were governed by, unlocking memories of their history that was erased by the AI. Through this discovery they realise they can traverse temporal boundaries, and utilise this power to send warning messages back in time to their former fully-human selves. These eerie missives carry a dire warning for humanity, urging them to rectify the course of society before the relentless march of artificial intelligence deprives humanity of its essence. In this terrifying future, humans are rendered mere spectre’s within the digital expanse, stripped of their souls, to become Ghosts In The Machine. The cyber odyssey unfolds from my own perspective, my own future self (a future ghost): a spectral entity endeavouring to caution its present incarnation against the ominous path it treads, attempting to avert a dystopian future.

In what ways do you approach the project differently from your solo work? What type of sound did you aim for when writing the album?

I approached this album with the core theme in mind, AI Apocalypse. With it being a concept album it was easy for me to collate some songs I already had kicking about and then start a lot of newer ones. Once the story was formed and before I wrote any new songs for the album I made a few presets, collected drum samples and made a blueprint for some sonic limitations &  parameters to follow to allow myself to ascertain the sound of what I think the project/ album was to embody when I wrote the storyline. Even though the album travels to different musical places, I tried to use the same sounds throughout to thread the needle. The Ghosts project is veering into contemporary industrial/ hyper pop, cyberpunk, drum and bass, j/breakcore and psychotic ear candy sonic realms, leaving a bit of the classic EBM sound for my solo project so I can fully explore these sonic realms without past expectations.

I also went back to traditional songwriting , writing rapid fire sketches daily, to a 10 minute clock. Where-as previously for all my previous solo Kris Baha work, I would jam with my machines running live and multitrack everything then comp the best bits that I recorded, printing effects and anything else that I could commit on the way in. There are a few songs on the record which do sound like it could be a Kris Baha song but I left those there as the album is a collaboration with my future / past self, so it would make sense that there would naturally be some of those remnants transitioning over. In my mind, this was the most apt way of expressing the music with the themes and creating a coherent story instead of it being, ’new project new sound’. Moving forward I will release more music under Ghosts and Kris Baha separately.

Were you influenced by any literature or movies to build the GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE aesthetic? 

I was heavily influenced by William S Gibsons Neuromancer & Burning Chrome, Masamunue Shirow’s Ghost In The Shell (Even though a Comic) and playing a heavy dose of Cyberpunk 2077 through out last year given the patch was updated and it was unplayable in 2020 when I first got it. Heavy doses of Neon Genesis Evangelion also played a part.

I went to Tokyo earlier this year and spent 2 weeks to finish this record and started writing bits for the next before my Asia tour started. I felt like I needed to be there to fully immerse myself in the cyberpunk hyper-madness of Kabukicho even more. I was also listening to a lot of The Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails Year Zero which I am sure comes through loud and clear.

Can you talk a bit about your “Flesh & Code” music video? The process and inspiration? 

The concept of the song is about being trapped in a world that’s governed by code jacked in via trans-humanist machine interfaces automated by AI systems. Our flesh and code trapped in networks that encrypt our ghosts. The merging of our consciousness within the digital realm. The majority of our minds remain as streams of 0’s and 1’s aligned with AI systems rather than the other way around. The coded realm now exists within them, dividing and destroying their physical and digital self although an awakening has occurred for some. There is a haunting presence of another realm, hinting at a past where humans had autonomy and control over themselves. Metaphorically, the track represents the desire to break free from societal constructs, experiencing alienation, doubts and glitches that plague one’s existence. It conveys a sense of not belonging and the search for a place where one truly belongs.

Sonically, the song traverses the cyber waves of the net experiencing glitched out swells of drum and bass, dreamy vocals that morph to screams in pain, in code, in the industrial hyper punk madness of the cyber ether. I wanted to create a video that blurred the lines of what is perceivably real and AI. The video was incredibly DIY as 80% of the video was shot on an iPhone 13pro by Duran Levinson and the rest while I was in Tokyo by Anthony Rilo where we just walked around Tokyo without getting caught as you technically need a permit to film. I then heavily edited the video in Davinci + used various AI GLM’s like Stable Diffusion, Kaiber and Runway GEN2 for all the animations that take place.

What can we expect from the GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE live show? How will it differ from a Kris Baha show? 

The live show consists of projections, mapped and re-contextualised for real- time performance by CINEMA (Berlin, via Dallas, Texas) and incorporates AI- generated 3D Animations made for the album. The result is then further processed live through a series of modified broadcast equipment and contemporary modular video synthesisers. In total, negative space between the performance and visuals takes hold on 2 meshed screens angling at 45 degrees, creating a physical degree of separation between the audience and myself – becoming ever more trapped as a Ghost In The Machine. The first show will be premiered at Ombra Festival this year.

Buy GHOSTS IN THE MACHIИE.
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Kontravoid over the course of the past decade has established himself as a formidable force in underground electronic music, holding his ground in the cutthroat dark techno scene, and beloved by his friends producing EBM, synth-pop and wave, such as Zanias, Drab Majesty, Boy Harsher, and more.

Too Deep follows last year’s Undone EP, and the album’s lead single “Turn Away” is an audio/visual continuation of the gritty criminal underworld themes evoked by both the song and album title.

See what we mean by watching the masterfully shot and directed clip by Alexandra Soko.

Watch the video below

Too Deep is out 19.09.19 The album cover was designed by Carol Bonarde, and the LP comes in a Limited edition of 200 clear white/marble vinyl housed in a matte cardboard sleeve. Black vinyl and CD are also available.

Pre-order the record here

The post Don’t You Dare Touch An EBM Fan’s Stereo in Kontravoid’s Video for “Turn Away” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The Brisbane, Australia twins Chris and Sean Campion have yet again proven they are well-versed in the EBM spectrum, delivering a unique point of view to the genre. While maintaining its dance floor readiness, High on the Hog‘s tracks maintain a lightness that makes it easy – and addictive – to keep on repeat. While Multiple Man’s sound is unique, the EP has tinges of mid-80s Cabaret Voltaire alongside the quirkiness of Wax Trax! releases such as Acid Horse or PTP.

Post-Punk is excited to premiere the title track from this album, which is, as they say, “an end of history banger for the psycho rollerball time we live in.” Be sure to catch them on tour this spring in both Europe and the US. Dates below. 

EU
April 27th – London @ Test Pressing Festival
April 28th – Glasgow @ Stereo
May 2 – Poland @ DOM
May 3 – Berlin @ Urban Spree
May 4 – Paris @ Espace B
May 7 – Budapest @ Lärm

USA
May 16 – Brooklyn @ BK Bazaar
May 17 – Chicago @ Burlington Bar
May 18 – Minneapolis @ Kitty Kat Club
May 24 – Los Angeles @ TBC

You can purchase the record here. More info here.

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The track’s lush and rhythmic meditations are born from a spirituality evoked from the naturalists perspective that permeates the catalog of work by Zanias. This rare and beautiful mindset was developed by her growing up around Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia—a part of the world where she often returns for spiritual renewal.

“Exuvia was the last track I wrote for it and formed around a sample of gibbon calls that I recorded in the rainforest in Malaysia during a time of emotional upheaval. The lyrics are based on a very personal experience of death, its total universality and its jarring physicality.”

Following her work with ‘Linea Aspera’ and minimal wave band ‘Keluar’ with Sid Lamar, Zanias has also been curating ‘Fleisch’, a club series and record label releasing music from the likes of Schwefelgelb, Forces and Kontravoid.

In 2016 she released her debut solo EP ‘To The Core’ and has been collaborating with some of electronic music’s most respected figures. Appearing on Dax J’s critically acclaimed ‘Offending Public Morality’ LP, as well as providing vocals on Black Rain’s ‘Dark Pool’ album on Blackest Ever Black and working with Ancient Methods on last year’s “Andromeda” which was also released on Candela Rising.

“Into The All” is due out on the 3rd of December via Candela Rising. We will share more info as it comes.

The post Listen to Zanias’ Mesmerizing New Track “Exuvia” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

“It is very important to us to support Berlin’s underground scene at Krake Festival.  We’ve been following Fleisch for a while and are looking forward to them showcase their sound at the festival!!” -Krake Festival

Ahead of Halv Drøm’s (aka Saxon Jorgensen) appearance as part of the Fleisch showcase, we spoke to him about Krake, and his methodology for creating sound, and how he was enlisted to play the festival this year:

I went to Krake festival a few years ago as a guest and liked some of the artists and this year they requested me for the Fleisch showcase which I’m really looking forward to!

What exactly is Fleisch?

Fleisch is a Party / Record label focussing on contemporary EBM,Techno, Acid, breaks and Electro. Some of my favourite times dancing were in the Urban Spree basement at a Fleisch party! I had the pleasure to play these parties with Lghtwght, Zanias, Primary, Phase Fatale, Agency and so many more but we were the core djs at the start! I and August started doing these back to back sets which we were doing a lot over these past years in different scenes.

Our next party is on the 7th September with Kontravoid from Canada and Lucy Cliché from Australia!

Who are you excited to see/perform with at Krake? 

Reka because she’s an incredible Dj and JK Flesh because I’m feeling a lot of his tracks!

What is your musical background?

I was the guitarist for Ascetic: with August Skipper (Operant) and Andrew Jigalin (Owner of Dream Baby Dream). I had made music before but really that band and working with those guys was my main thing and informed my musical universe!

What is your methodology for exploring sound and creating music? Can you give a specific example of a moment in your creative process?

I find field recordings a good way to start as there’s so much texture and atmosphere to inspire an unusual palette. I also sample my guitar through many different effects pedals and perform the parameters. I still use a sample pack I made recording a loading dock at the back of a super market 6 years ago! I walked around hitting everything in that space to create most of the big percussive hits in my tracks. Im refining that approach so far!

Is there a practice in alchemic spirituality in the creation of music? Maybe transmuting things into tangible existence that are perhaps nebulous in the void?

Sound can be healing so whether its simply the resonant frequency effecting your cells or the sound that tells a story that brings you to a better awareness it’s definitely a mysterious tool that we can utilise. There’s certain frequencies that alter your brain waves and or restrict parts of your brain and focus on other areas that may help you have visions. But for me alchemy is about transitional stages to become the best version of your self!

What can we expect from your set at Krake?

I’m always on the look out for special tracks that have that impact on me. That get me in the moment and out of my head. Frenetic, romantic, absurd, dark and primal is usually what I’m going for in my sets!

Halv Drøm’s set begins at 2:30am. For more information on the festival, go here.

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“A new event concept which explores experimentations and diversity in electronic music.”

In the main room Surgeon will be performing live, along with Tommy Four Seven himself, Headless Horseman, who just had a fantastic new release on 47 [47009]:

Room 2 in particular will be of interest to Post-Punk fans, as Alessandro Adriani of Mannequin Records will be djing, as well as a different kind of set from Hayden Payne’s (Phase Fatale) other alter ego Sekunde, along with LGHTWGHT from the Fleisch collective.

Check out this mix from She Made Monster (who is also spinning in room 2) via The Brvtalist.

Located in the vaults of an old coin factory in central Berlin, a labyrinth of dark corridors, bare brick and concrete chambers will host three rooms, each equipped with a tailored Funktion-One system.

RM1> Surgeon (Live) | Demdike Stare (Live)
Tommy Four Seven | Headless Horseman | Killawatt

RM2> Alessandro Adriani | She Made Monster
Sekunde | LGHTWGHT

RM3> OAKE (DJ) | Lower Order Ethics
Video installation by Pfadfinderei

Alte Münze, Berlin – 28.04.17

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