MUSIC
Aotearoa’s AndWahn embodies the dance equivalent of a doom scroll on dystopian new album, 'Simulacra'
"'Simulacra' embodies the need for both escapism and enlightenment all at once," Laura McInnes writes.
Over the last few years, Tāmaki Makaurau producer and DJ AndWahn has become one of Aotearoa’s most treasured underground producers, constantly evolving his sound with each new release. From original projects journeying through jungle, breakbeat, and UK garage, to moody flips transforming R&B slow burners like SZA’s ‘Snooze’, Ojerime’s ‘Nothing’, and PANIA’s ‘P STANDS 4 PLAYA’ into club-ready rhythms, to collab projects with Caru and more, AndWahn’s output is nothing short of prolific.
Today, AndWahn releases his latest album ‘Simulacra’, mixed and mastered by Aotearoa’s Kultiv, available now via Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and all major streaming platforms. The 6-track project's title is inspired by the theory of the same name by Jean Baudrillard, which explores the concept of “something that replaces reality with its representation.” A concept album loosely inspired by the sonic aesthetics of sci-fi film soundtracks, such as Blade Runner, and video game scores like StarCraft 1, 'Simulacra'’s dark, dystopian rhythms reflect the anxiety, overwhelm, and uncertainties of the modern world's climate. In the face of genocide, environmental degradation, AI, poverty, and violence against marginalised communities, the fast-paced, capitalist nature of society and endless doom scroll of social media in our disenfranchised generation continues to persist. While 'Simulacra' acts as a poignant observation of this current landscape, through his compositions AndWahn finds solace in the collective togetherness that electronic music grants communities in spite of adversity.
“Rather, I wanted to try externalising this hopelessness out of myself into this music. Furthermore, being able to sit with and examine how things negatively affect us in our lives can assist us to start to create meaningful change in ourselves and around ourselves and thus transform the world around us.”
“The message of this concept to the audience is not to become hopeless,” AndWahn reveals.
“Rather, I wanted to try externalising this hopelessness out of myself into this music. Furthermore, being able to sit with and examine how things negatively affect us in our lives can assist us to start to create meaningful change in ourselves and around ourselves and thus transform the world around us.”
'Simulacra'’s intro track, ‘Parallel Sector,’ sets the grim, eerie tone that pulsates through the core of the project. The track finds AndWahn mutating a chopped flute melody from the original Blade Runner soundtrack and siege tank sounds from StarCraft, infused with elements of garage, alien-like synthesisers, and ominous sub bass.
Lead single ‘Money Chose Our Warlords’ dives deeper into the sci-fi realm of 'Simulacra', beginning with off-kilter synths before erupting into dark, chilling basslines. “This one initially was written as a dark garage beat, and then I sought out critique/feedback from close friends for it, and one friend said the wobbles in this version reminded her of mainstream Dnb,” AndWahn says. “I agreed, and quickly went back into the project file, and took it into more of an electro-garage crossover similar to ‘A parallel sector.’”
‘Persisting Traumas’ opens with warm, atmospheric synths before a drop of percussive drums infiltrates the track into a tense, anxious disposition. “For the drums, I played around with combinations of the Funky Drummer and Apache breakbeats, two of the best drum breaks to ever be recorded,” AndWahn details.
On ‘Psionic Discipline’, AndWahn channels the otherworldly energy of a spaceship in flight, borrowing a bass-melody line from Fiesta Soundsystem’s ‘Mentasm Dub’ meshed with distorted bass lines and shuffled breakbeat hardcore drums. “I had a very clear vision for this one; a breakbeat track that emulated a spaceship and that science-fiction theme of 'advanced technology' (to me, evil technocracy),” Andwahn says. “The breakbeat I found for this track already had the perfect amount of saturation and percussions for this sound, and then I layered it up with drone blips, heavy use of distortion in the kicks, as well as this pluck-like synth I made, which sat somewhere between a melodic and percussive element.”
Described by AndWahn as “the track with the most techno influence” of the project, title track ‘Simulacra’ is a seven-minute odyssey rising and falling between rattling percussion, glitchy chopped vocal loops, and woozy, warbling bass lines.
'Simulacra'’s final track, ‘Delusion States’ is described by the producer as “very trademark-AndWahn”, taking his signature jungle rhythms and injecting them with alien-like mutation. “I had been working on the sound design on this one while working on the other tracks, and the euphoria is interjected constantly with this alien-sounding manipulation I did on this chime-percussion sample I found,” he says. “This track also features a downtempo boom-bap section at the end, something I hadn’t yet tried out in the context of jungle production.”
Drawing from the fictional worlds of sci-fi to mirror the real-time dystopia of the world around us, on 'Simulacra' AndWahn conjures a project that is equally as deep, introspective, and thought-provoking as it is at home on the dancefloor; liberated from the concerns of its contextual themes. The dance equivalent of a doom-scroll-fried brain cell, Simulacra embodies the need for both escapism and enlightenment all at once.
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'Simulacra' by AndWahn is available now via Bandcamp, SoundCloud and all major streaming platforms. Check out the album below and keep up with AndWahn on Instagram here.
Tracklist:
- ‘Parallel Sector’
- ‘Money Chose Our Warlords’
- ‘Persisting Traumas’
- ‘Psionic Discipline’
- ‘Simulacra’
- ‘Delusion States’
Laura McInnes is a freelance writer & DJ regularly contributing to Mixmag ANZ from Tāmaki Makaurau. Find her on Instagram.
